The greatest teams in history.

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
1

**Which is the greatest sports team in history? **

This week, the claims of five different teams from five different sports have been put forward by the sporting heroes who knew them best.

Here, we look at football, and Jairzinho and Rivelino’s account of Brazil’s World Cup-winning XI from 1970 - a side that played glorious football, scored all-time classic goals and contained some of the finest players in history.

** Brazil 1970
Roberto Rivelino
Moustachioed midfield maestro **

"If you put a team from nowadays against our 1970 side, it would be a no contest.
"We knew each other so well. We didn’t even have to look to put the pass in the right place. Nowadays the technical level of the game has fallen so much.

"The game is full of players who spend ages looking at where they’re going to pass the ball, and still hit the pass wrong.

“We were so well prepared. Even playing in that heat I don’t remember having to go over to the touchline to drink water.”

**Jairzinho
England’s nemesis **

"Our preparation was very detailed. It had all been worked out by the coaching staff, and you could see the results.

"At the end of the tournament, Brito and I had the honour of being chosen as the players with the best physical preparation in the competition.

"We were a group in which everyone participated. That’s how I became the top scorer.

"I was feeling good about my game, but on top of that is the fact that the group was extraordinary.

"It worked so well together, so the opportunities just kept coming my way.

“There was specific marking on Pelé, and they forgot about Jairzinho, Tostão and Rivelino. By the time they woke up it was too late - I already had seven goals.”

**ACHIEVEMENTS **

  • First country to win three World Cups
  • First team to win every match at a World Cup
  • Pele wins a record third World Cup
  • Record 19 goals for World Cup winners

**Jairzinho
England’s nemesis **

"Our preparation was very detailed. It had all been worked out by the coaching staff, and you could see the results.

"At the end of the tournament, Brito and I had the honour of being chosen as the players with the best physical preparation in the competition.

"We were a group in which everyone participated. That’s how I became the top scorer.

"I was feeling good about my game, but on top of that is the fact that the group was extraordinary.

"It worked so well together, so the opportunities just kept coming my way.

“There was specific marking on Pelé, and they forgot about Jairzinho, Tostão and Rivelino. By the time they woke up it was too late - I already had seven goals.”

**Tostao
Main man in the middle **

"Our system was the same as that used by the side that won the World Cup in 1994. When we lost the ball we withdrew and filled the spaces.

“The difference is that our side had more individual attacking options.”

**Felix
Grey-jerseyed goalkeeper **

"We were so confident of winning the final against Italy that no-one got especially nervous for the game. You could say that we won a tactical victory before the game started.

"In his team talk, coach Mario Zagallo told us how the Italians played, with a man-to-man marking system. So Jairzinho came off the right wing and moved across to the left, which confused the Italians.

"You can see this with our last goal, the Carlos Alberto goal, where the whole right side of the Italian defence was open. We had worked out their system.

“We were like a basketball team. Everyone defended, and everyone attacked.”

**Jairzinho **

"I look back at the goal against England as the most important, the goal that won us the title.

"Both England and Brazil were firing on all cylinders, and there was a feeling that whoever won the game between us would go on and win the title.

"When Pele received the ball he drew three defenders, including Terry Cooper, my marker. He cushioned the ball and gave me the pass.

"Most people think I hit the shot first time. People even bet against me that I hit the shot first time, but I didn’t.

“I took a touch, watched Banks come out and then fired the ball high in the middle - the only place it could have gone in.”

**1970 WORLD CUP TEAM **

  • 1 Felix
  • 2 Carlos Alberto
  • 3 Brito
  • 4 Piazza
  • 5 Everaldo
  • 6 Clodoaldo
  • 7 Jairzinho
  • 8 Gerson
  • 9 Tostão
  • 10 Pelé
  • 11 Rivelino

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We opened with the 1970 Brazil football team. Now legendary scrum-half Gareth Edwards recalls what made Wales' Grand Slam-winning rugby team of 1976 such an inspirational force.

Wales 1976
By Gareth Edwards

Like any great team, Wales were blessed with some world-class players coming through in the early 1970s.

At that time, the schools system was good for producing young players with the skills that could then be developed at senior level.

The club game in Wales was also very strong and there was good competition week in, week out.

The games were not always classics, but you played under intense pressure so they were good preparation for international rugby.

It was early days in the northern hemisphere in terms of coaching and preparation, but with a lot of natural ability, we thrived.

Coaches Clive Rowlands and John Dawes understood our background and what made the boys tick.

They didn't interfere too much and we played with a style which suited our temperament.

We came from very close-knit communities and there were a lot of players from London Welsh, so a lot of the guys knew each other very closely.

There was a great team spirit and success helps that, no question. There was a tremendous buzz and we all got caught up in it.

People say the present Welsh team is under pressure from losing so many games, but you also have that pressure when the expectation is so great.

It wasn't plain sailing but we were a happy squad and that was a distinct advantage.

*ACHIEVEMENTS - 1970s *

  • 3 Grand Slams (1971, 76 & 78)
  • 5 Triple Crowns (1971, 76-79)
  • 8 consecutive wins: 1970-72
  • 1 defeat in 14 Tests: 1976-78

The main problem for opponents was that we had flair in every position. We had so many match-winners, they couldn't keep everybody quiet.

We had scoring power on the wings with JJ Williams and Gerald Davies, and there was a lot of flair and experience through the spine of the team from JPR at full-back through myself and Barry (John) or Phil at half-back, to Mervyn at number eight.

People remember the elusive running of Gerald and the guile of players like Phil Bennett, but we were very lucky to have exceptionally strong forwards and good ball winners like Geoff Wheel and Allan Martin.

Cardiff Arms Park was a real stronghold for us, but we didn't look forward to going to places like Twickenham or Murrayfield or Lansdowne Road.

We were a pretty difficult side to beat but there were one or two instances when we could have lost.

The match that typified our ability to soak up pressure was the 1978 match against Ireland in Dublin, when we were going for the 'triple Triple Crown'.

We rattled up a few early scores, which was unusual at Lansdowne Road, but then spent the next hour under the cosh as the Irish made a super comeback.

But the mental strength of the team was such that we took so much pressure and came back to score in the last couple of minutes to win 20-16.

From my position at scrum-half I could see the super-human effort of the forwards, as they started to turn possession over and get on the front foot.

In the cold light of day it seems matter of fact, but we were right up against it and ordinary sides would not have been able to come back from that.

We worked our way downfield and when the opportunity presented itself there was wonderful improvisation to get the ball along the line for JJ to score.

In the dressing-room afterwards the forwards couldn't move for an hour and we were all absolutely drained. We didn't even feel like going out that night.

*1976 GRAND SLAM TEAM *

  • 15 JPR Williams
  • 14 Gerald Davies
  • 13 Ray Gravell
  • 12 Steve Fenwick
  • 11 JJ Williams
  • 10 Phil Bennett
  • 9 Gareth Edwards
  • 1 Charlie Faulkner
  • 2 Bobby Windsor
  • 3 Graham Price
  • 4 Allan Martin
  • 5 Geoff Wheel
  • 6 Tommy David
  • 7 Trefor Evans
  • 8 Mervyn Davies (c)

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3

Here, the McLaren Formula One team's dominance of 1988 is explained by Gerhard Berger, a rival with Ferrari at the time and the only other man to win a race that year.

McLaren 1988
By Gerhard Berger

McLaren had been building up an image of perfection over many years.

Team boss Ron Dennis always liked to see himself as Mr Perfect and built up the team round him in this way.

McLaren were already seen inside F1 as the best team because each detail was thought through and it was driven to perfection.

In 1988 came the proof of how close they got. Suddenly they had a car with the two best drivers, the best engine and around it the best organisation.

*ACHIEVEMENTS - 1988 SEASON *

  • 15 pole positions out of 16
  • 15 victories (Senna 8, Prost 7)
  • 10 one-twos in 16 races
  • 199 points out of maximum 240

You couldn't see any weak point. With Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna they had the two best drivers, who would probably have been able to win even with lesser cars.

But on top of it there was the strongest engine and a fantastic chassis, so there was no way for anyone to beat them that season.

There were certain rules changed that year, and McLaren's engine partner Honda definitely got the best out of them.

They found over winter testing a way to over-pressure the pop-off valve and get more turbo boost than all their competitors.

So they had an advantage, especially at the start of the season, when it took us at Ferrari a long time to understand what they were doing.

McLaren's handling of the drivers was also superb. First they had to make Prost understand that his team-mate was going to be Senna and then to try race by race to calm the situation.

They had a situation where the best car and the two best drivers were fighting only themselves race by race, and to handle that is really a masterpiece.

Both drivers had completely different styles. Ayrton had unbelievable speed whereas Prost understood the whole game of setting up the car so well, which helped him compensate for the speed difference.
As long as everything went right, Senna was able to put the car on pole, and in the race Senna just went away, but he had more technical problems so they ended up with similar points.

People underestimate how quick Prost was. You forget how quick some of his other team-mates were - like Keke Rosberg, Jean Alesi or Nigel Mansell - and Prost handled them all quite easily.

It is difficult to say if McLaren were the strongest ever all-round F1 team because of other teams like Mercedes in 1955 with Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss.

There were also times when Williams dominated, although that was more the car, and they never had two drivers like McLaren did.

But in pure racing terms, 1988 was a very impressive year for one team, certainly the best in my time.

Racing is a mixture of factors - technical, human, sport and business. It's a very complex situation.

A lot of different aspects have to work together to make it work, and McLaren managed to get it all right in 1988.

They were even the best at the marketing side, which they did in a different, better way.

Add that to the best technical performance and the two best drivers, and they moved F1 to a new level that other teams had to match if they wanted to compete.

McLAREN LINE-UP

Drivers:
- Ayrton Senna (champion)
- Alain Prost (runner-up)
Team principal:
- Ron Dennis
Chief designer:
- Steve Nichols

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We opened with the 1970 Brazil football team, continued with Wales' Grand Slam-winning rugby side of 1976 and then moved on to the dominant McLaren F1 team of 1988.

Here former player Steve Kerr explains what made the Chicago Bulls basketball side which won the NBA title in 1995-96 one of the finest teams in the history of sport.

Kerr, who retired from the NBA two weeks ago, is the all-time NBA leader in three-point shooting accuracy and played a full role as the Bulls swept to the title.

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Chicago Bulls
By Steve Kerr

I played in the NBA for 15 years and this was definitely the best team I saw during that time.

Phil Jackson's coaching had a lot to do with it.

He had such a knack for getting the most out of every player and finding roles for everybody. So the team was perfectly designed.

Obviously without Michael Jordan none of it could have happened, but the pieces fitted perfectly around him.
When Michael came back in 1994 for the last 15 or 20 games after taking time off to play baseball he showed flashes of his old self.

However, he also had flashes of mortality - he was up and down - so at the start of the next season I wasn't really sure what to expect.

But right away, from the first day back in training, it was apparent that he was on a mission.

That was the summer he filmed the "Space Jam" movie.

And while out in LA, he basically let it be known that any of the NBA guys who were in town should come and play with him.

They had unbelievable games all summer long.

*ACHIEVEMENTS *

  • NBA champions: 1995-96
  • 72-10: Best regular season record of all time
  • Michael Jordan: Regular season MVP, All-Star MVP, Finals MVP, leading scorer (30.4 ppg), All-NBA team
  • Scottie Pippen: All-NBA team
  • Dennis Rodman: Rebound leader (14.9rpg), All-Defensive team
  • Toni Kukoc: Sixth man award
  • Steve Kerr: Second in three-point shooting (.515)
  • Phil Jackson: Coach of the year

That meant that when Michael came to training camp he was in incredible shape and incredibly motivated.

That was also the year we picked up Dennis Rodman.

Our weakness the year before had been interior defence and rebounding but that was Rodman's speciality - every rebound was his.

Defensively he just pestered people - muscled them - and did anything he had to do to keep them from scoring.

So right away, within a few days of the camp opening, it was apparent we were going to be awesome.

When you combined Rodman with the perimeter defence of Scottie Pippen, Michael and Ron Harper it was lethal and teams really struggled to score against us.

I don't think a lot of people realised just how good our defence was because everybody focused on Michael's offence.

But our defence was as good as that of any team that I have seen in the league in a long time.

Everyone concentrates on Michael but he knew he could not do it on his own and he says he couldn't have won all those championships without Scottie.

Pippen was awesome - the perfect complement to Michael.

Although he was a forward on the roster he was really our point guard. He handled the ball, he distributed the ball, he kept everybody happy, and he was an incredible defensive player. He was the glue.

Michael was spectacular but Scottie was the guy who would hold it all together on the court.

And there was also Toni Kukoc, who would come off the bench as our X-factor, giving something extra to the team.

The rest was down to coach Jackson.

A lot of people do not believe that he is a great coach and say "well, he had all that talent".

But he had a much more difficult job than people understood because he had to mesh all those egos together and get everybody to play well together.

He was the perfect man for the job.

I think his speciality was getting people to defer to the team's ultimate goal and he was awesome.

We had a real winning mentality and everybody would be furious when we lost. Michael set the tone and if we did lose we would then go on a long winning run again.

*CHICAGO BULLS 1995-96 *

  • Michael Jordan - Guard
  • Scottie Pippen - Forward
  • Dennis Rodman - Forward
  • Ron Harper - Guard
  • Luc Longley - Centre
  • Toni Kukoc - Forward
  • Steve Kerr - Guard
  • Phil Jackson - Coach

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We opened out with Jairzinho and Rivelino's account of the 1970 Brazil football team, and followed that with Gareth Edwards' inside story of Wales' 1976 Grand Slam-winning side.

Gerhard Berger argued the case for the McLaren Formula One team of 1988, while Steve Kerr discussed the Chicago Bulls of 1996.

Justin Langer advocate the current Australia Test team, a side that is statistically the most successful in history and has taken the game to new levels of brilliance.

Australia 2003
By Justin Langer

Why has the current Australian cricket team been able to celebrate so much success over the last few years?

Why is it that this team, or squad of players, has enjoyed so much prosperity, culminating in numerous record breaking feats and distinguished accolades, such as being the number one-ranked team in both forms of the game and the 2002 Laureus World Team of the Year?

Before, and since winning consecutive World Cups in England and South Africa, the team has broken records for consecutive victories, by winning sixteen straight Test matches and twenty one successive one-day internationals.

These achievements in themselves are phenomenal, as it is difficult enough to win two or three consecutive games of cricket let alone sixteen or twenty one as has been the case in recent history.

The foundations of the Australian cricket team's success are not really secrets, but rather a basic set of values, principles and assets that we are lucky enough to possess.

These ingredients include sheer talent, strong leadership, a proven game plan and a very powerful culture that encourages elite performance and excellence from everybody who becomes involved in the team.

The team has an enormous amount of talent at its disposal. It is unusual to boast so many extraordinary players in the one team.

Many of the guys will retire as 'great' players; a description, or compliment that should never be made lightly. In this team you have the Michael Jordan of basketball, the Ian Thorpe of swimming, the Michael Schumacher of Formula One and the Pete Sampras of tennis, filling a number of the eleven available positions.

*ACHIEVEMENTS - 1999-2003 *

  • Record 16 straight Test wins (Oct' 99-Mar '01)
  • 13 series wins out of 16 (2 drawn, 1 defeat in India)
  • Won 41, drawn five of 53 Tests
  • Most successful captain ever *S Waugh: 39 wins / 52 (75%) *
  • 2 World Cups - 1999 & 2002

Players like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting, just to name a few, are not only fantastic players of this era but also great players who will be compared with the best of all time.

The greatness of these players is not only highlighted in their outstanding statistics but also in the way they play the game and by the impact they have on the next generation of cricketers coming through the ranks.

In Australia there are thousands and thousands of kids trying to bowl leg spin like Shane Warne, lightning fast like Brett Lee or hitting sixes like Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist.

It is this legacy that the great players of this team leave on the game which distinguishes them from the rest.

The team has taken the game to a new level in terms of performance and the style of cricket played; a style which is exciting and entertaining to so many fans, while crushing and disintegrating to so many opponents.

This style is a reflection of the strong leadership of Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, John Buchanan and many others within the squad.

There are players in this team who you would have no qualms going to war with and it is this enormous respect and admiration which allows everyone to go forward with confidence and determination to winning games of cricket.

By following a game plan of playing a positive and exciting brand of high pressure, relentlessly patient and committed team cricket, in every aspect of the game, we have been able to create our own piece of cricket which will be admired and respected for many years to come.

*THE BAGGY GREENS *

  • Justin Langer
  • Matthew Hayden
  • Ricky Ponting
  • Mark Waugh
  • Steve Waugh
  • Damien Martyn
  • Adam Gilchrist
  • Shane Warne
  • Brett Lee
  • Jason Gillespie
  • Glenn McGrath

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6

while I agree that the football , basketball and F1 teams that are mentioned are the best , present Australian team is certainly not the best..( i dont follow rugby so cant say)

I consider the Windies side of the 70s-80s to be the best...present Aus team may have better winning %ages but the sheer brilliance of the team captained by the Big Cat dwarfes them by miles...

How can the McGraths , Gillespies , Lees match up with the pace battery of Roberts , Holding , Garner and Marshall ? or for that matter how can Hayden / Gilchrist / Ponting measure upto the batting geniuses of Gordon Greenidge / Desmond Haynes / Viv Richards / Clive Lloyd?

You have to consider the era in which they played their cricket...Most of the teams in that period were top quality teams and these Windies players made a mark in that era is really the factor that I consider them the best...

7

Certainly don't know much about Rugby and the 1970s Brazillian football team.
I have very limited knowledge about Formula 1, but don't you think Micheal Schumacher and Rubin Barrichello of Ferrari are the best team in F1 history.
Just looking @ Schumis record alone tells you that he is the best ever.

Bulls, oh please!
They were a good team, but the fact that the early 80s Celtics and the late 80s Lakers were equally good.

8

Interesting articles LM.

what about such dynasties as:

the WI cricket team of the 70's
Manchester United (esp. during the past decade or so)
the NY Yankees

?

9

Wow - this is an incredible and big topic to discuss - It will certainly take 5-10 pages to describe each dynasty - Anyway here are my favorites

Cricket

  1. Legendary Clive Lloyd and WI Big Boys of the 70s.

  2. Steven Waugh’s Aussies - Best Test Skipper of the 90s and Y2K upto now.

Soccer

  1. Brazil - Pele’s Warriors of the 70s - 3 WC Trophies(70, 74, 78)

NBA

  1. Bill Russell’s Celtics of the 60s - 8 NBA Champions in a row.

  2. Arch-Rivals of the 80s: Lary Bird’s Boston Celtics & Magic Johnson’s LA Lakers

  3. Phil Jackson’s Chicago Bulls of the 90s - The Jordan Era.

  4. Phil Jackson’s LA Lakers of Y2K - Dream Team In The Making.

:smokin2:

10

Let's consider Ice hockey as well
The 1980's Edmonton Oilers
70's Canadian's
70's/80's Islanders
early 90's Penguins
any hockey fans out there care to guess which one?