Despite the superstars that have graced the World Cup over the decades, there is one record that may never be beaten by any player ever again. Only 3 times has a player scored double figures in a World Cup tournament, once in 1954, Sandor Kocsis scored 11, in 1970 the legendary Gerd Muller scored 10 goals. Yet one man surpassed both of these incredible efforts when he scored 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup, French legend, Just Fontaine.

It often astounds me that whenever lists of great strikers appear, Fontaine is rarely on the list. It’s not like the Swedish World Cup was a flash in the pan for him. He scored goals wherever he played throughout his entire career. Domestically or Internationally, Fontaine found the back of the net with unfailing regularity. It would seem yet another wonderful player is often overlooked in the modern era simply because people don’t look hard enough.

In those far away days before football became the global sport, the European Cup and European Championships were in their infancy and with only 16 teams qualifying for a World Cup, many great players missed the opportunity to play regularly on the main stage. His international career was only 7 years in total from 1953 to 1960, he missed out on 1954 through a lack of experience and was struggling with injuries by the time Chile held the competition in 1962.

That shouldn’t take anything away from his achievements and in normal circumstances scoring 13 goals in a World Cup should see you lift the trophy but for the greater strength of one team: Brazil. Yet we’re getting ahead of ourselves, before we’ve even begun. Fontaine was born in Morocco in 1933, or French Morocco as it was known then. At 17 it was his move to Casablanca that catapulted him towards history as he scored for fun in the league. French league sides fell over themselves to scout him but it was Nice that managed to get his signature first. Aged just 20, Just moved to France and his career went through the roof.

In 3 seasons at Nice, he scored 44 league goals in just 69 matches and attracted the attention of Stade Reims, who were the giants of French football in the 1950′s and 60′s. Reims are a team that we have also lost sight of, struggling in the French Third Division these days but incredibly reached the European Cup final twice, in the debut tournament of 1955-56 and 1958-59. The Olympic Lyon of the day, Fontaine was brought in to replace another French legend, Real Madrid bound Raymond Kopa and hit 30 goals in his debut season.

Ironically, it was the relationship at international level between Fontaine and Kopa that would prove so decisive in the 1958 World Cup as they combined so beautifully that Fontaine and Kopa seemed to have a psychic link. In Sweden, the bond was at it’s dizzying peak and it was almost rewarded with the greatest honour in the game. As strike partnership go, it’s certainly up there in post-war club and international football.

It is odd, especially in the UK that Fontaine isn’t more widely known as the 1958 World Cup is a watermark in British football. It was the only tournament that England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all qualified for and some should remember him more than others. In 1954, the French side had failed to qualify from their group so hopes were high for a more positive tournament in Scandinavia. The group was tough but not impossible and they had to play against Yugoslavia, Scotland and Paraguay.

The first game saw them face Paraguay and by half time the match was tied at 2-2 with Fontaine having scored both of Les Blues goals. 45 minutes later, he was walking off the field with the match ball after scoring his third and France’s 5th as Raymond Kopa destroyed the Paraguayans resistance in a 7-3 mauling.

Next up came the dangerous Yugoslavian side and they were right to be wary. A tense and physically bruising game saw Kopa and Fontaine on the receiving end of some brutal treatment in a 3-2 defeat, which was lost at the death. Yet Just added another two goals to his tally and Scotland were dispatched in the final group game 2-1, with another goal for Fontaine taking his total to 6 goals in the first 3 games. The French were through to the Quarter-Finals and faced another British side, Northern Ireland.

The Irish had impressively finished 2nd  in a tough group and had a goal getting striker of their own, AstonVilla legend Peter McParland who had scored 5 goals in the group. Fontiane and the French were just too good and routed them 4-0, our hero scoring another 2 goals to take them in to the Semi-finals to face the favourites, Brazil.

Despite how impressive France had been so far, they couldn’t hold a candle to the Brazilians. With Vava and Garrincha running rings around them and a young striker by the name of Pele scoring a hatrick, even Just Fontaine couldn’t keep them in it. Brazil were too good and despite recovering from going a goal down after 2 minutes, thanks to his 9th goal of the competiton, Fontaine and France faced a task too far. Brazil ran away with the game, winning 5-2 and the only consolation for them was the opportunity to play for 3rd place.

To say the next game had a bit of needle would be an understatement as they were to face the defending champions, West Germany. The reasons for the animosity were still fresh in the minds of the French and as if possessed, they ripped the legendary German defensive unit to shreds. Kopa seemingly single handly passing them to death at every opprtunity and Fontaine was at his lethal best. 4 times he struck the ball pase the German keeper, Kwiatkowski as the French ran them ragged in a 6-3 victory.

So, 6 games, 13 goals and scored in all 6 matches the French played. Two hat tricks and the French had arrived on the international stage again. Fontaine returned to scoring goals for fun in Ligue 1 and in 1959 was rejoined at club level by Raymond Kopa. Unfortunately for him and Reims, they only managed one season together until a knee injury curtailed Fontaine’s career at just 29 years of age. Who could have said where he would have ended up rather than limp through his last two seasons.

He could only manage 14 games and 6 goals in his final two years before injury robbed football of one of its most underated strikers. He tried his hand at managing to no great success apart from a spell as the Moroccan coach, leading them to 3rd in the 1980 African Cup of Nations. Fontaine is now 76 and is a legend in France. In 2003 he was voted the Greatest French player of the last 50 years and still holds the World Cup record of the most goals in a single tournament.  Il était magnifique!

“The man who taught us the way football should be played” Pele

Well if you’re going to start a series like this, there is only one person to start with in my opinion, Sir Stanley Matthews, the wizard of dribble. Matthews is a name that will always be mentioned as one of the greatest footballers of all time, never mind a legend of the English game. He was probably the first superstar footballer that we had as the growing medium of television began to creep into houses up and down Britian.

Born in 1915, in Hanley near Stoke on Trent, Matthews was a prodigious talent and was playing for England schoolboys when spotted by Stoke City. He signed for them in1932 and by the following season had become a mainstay of the Potters side. His England debut followed in 1934, even scoring one as England beat Wales 4-0.  His reputation and talent touched all that saw him, and by 1935 at 20, he was easily the biggest footballing star in the country.

Matthews had three abilities that would bamboozle opponents, he was lightening fast, could cross a ball on to a sixpence from the wing and made the ball seem to stick to his foot. If anything, Matthews created the position of winger by the power of his own talents. He looked set to take the world by storm, and after scoring a hatrick for England in another 4-0 win, history was beckoning. He almost left Stoke City in 1938 but a crowd of nearly 4,000 fans came to the ground and begged him to stay.

By the time he was 24, in 1939, Sir Stan had played 256 games for Stoke City when World War II broke out. For the next 6 years, Matthews was a member of the Royal Air Force, but played in numerous friendlies for Manchester United, Blackpool and Arsenal as well as still representing England. For most players, losing those prime years could have been the end for their careers but Matthews hadn’t finished. In 1947, he joined Blackpool, aged 32 for £11,500 and the manager at the time hoped he could get another 2 or 3 seasons out of him.

By the end of that season, he’d won the inaugural Footballer of the Year award and a runners up medal in the F.A.Cup. He was still playing for England and infamously against Italy beat his marker by so much distance, whilst wasting time in the corner, stopped to put his hair back into place. The legend became that Matthews had pulled a comb out of his shorts pocket and combed his hair, such was the time he had waiting.

Far from giving Blackpool 2 or 3 seasons, he actually spent 15 seasons at the Seasiders, reaching another F.A. Cup final in 1951, but once again Blackpool contrived to lose once more. The feeling was that the nations favourite footballer would never win a domestic honour, but in 1953 he finally earned his reward. Nowadays, the 1953 final is known as “The Matthews Final” but Blackpool looked dead and buried at 3-1 down shortly after half time but Matthews had other idea’s.

Even at 38, Matthews’ skill had not diminished and he took the game by the scruff of the neck, tearing Bolton to shreds with his pace and dribbling. With 22 minutes left, he crossed the ball to his partner in crime, Stan Mortensen to make it 3-2 and Blackpool were back in it. With time running out, Matthews kept going and Blackpool managed to win a free kick which Mortensen smashed home to bring them level.

Everyone thought they were going to have extra time, but Sir Stan had other idea’s, he broke free in the final minute and tearing down the wing for last effort. He seemed to take too long but at the last second he crossed the ball to the onrushing Perry who fired the winning goal home and finally get Matthews a medal his career so richly deserved. In 1956 he won the first European Footballer of the year award at 41!

This is a player that continued to play for his country until he was 42! His England career of 23 years will probably never be beaten and even as he moved in to his mid 40′s, he was still a regular for Blackpool. At 46 when most players are long retired, he returned to Stoke City and amazingly scored the goal that guarenteed them promotion in 1963! He also won the Footballer of the Year award again that season. Can you imagine a Second Division player achieving that these days?

He finally retired in 1965, just after his 50th birthday but felt that he retired too early. His final appearance in a football match was in a testomonial in 1981 aged 66. Matthews was also the only footballer to be knighted whilst still playing, such was the warmth that was felt toward the man. Sir Stan passed away in February 2000, 3 weeks after turning 85.

He put his longevity down to daily runs and never touching alcohol as a player, and he never received a booking or a red card in his entire career. Renowned as a gentleman, his influence far outweighed the skinny lad from Stoke on Trent born during World War I. A true legend, not just of English football but of the World game.

“I grew up in an era where he was a god to those of us that aspired to play the game. He was a true gentleman and we shall never see his like again” Brian Clough

• 795 games for Stoke City and Blackpool, scoring 81 goals
• 54 games for England, scoring 11 goals
• Never booked or sent off
• Missed 6 seasons due to the Second World War

Many scholars of art, literature, football and music will argue that the classics are far better than the recent and current crop of artistes. Legends such as Dali, Picasso, Shakespeare, Yeats, Dickens, Cruyff, Pele, Pukas, Lennon, Sinatra, Presley and Marley come to mind, people who were far more talented than our present day idols.

It’s easy to pick legends from a few hundred years of history, but can we really admit that as each civilization evolves, that it becomes less talented than the previous generation as well as becoming more of a retread than creating works of art? After all, how unique can artists be when their predecessors have already been there, done that?

To me, it’s difficult to compare current day legends to our predecessors. Reason being is that the world of art, literature, football and music are so different than during the times of the legends. In music, there appears to be far less talented artists than in the past. Amy Winehouse, while talented, is simply regurgitating her take on classics by Arethra Franklin, The Supremes and Billie Holiday.

In football, Cristiano Ronaldo has proven how talented the Portugese wizard is, but where he ranks among the superstars of the world’s game depends on what he does from here on. After winning the Champions League and the past two Premier League titles, maybe it’s time for Ronaldo to move on to Real Madrid where he can improve his game and become a legend in the country where he’s always dreamed of playing.

Over the centuries, civilizations evolve. There are many gifted writers today but they pale in comparison to the classic writers of the past. And the same applies to the world of art where modern day artists such as Damien Hurst prefer to shock the public instead of creating classic art pieces that amaze.

It makes you wonder whether each generation that comes along produces art (whether it be football or other classics) than are inferior to the previous generation. If that’s the case, should we expect that the level of football will continue to decline year after year and never surpass the golden generation of Pele, Jairzinho, Muller, Riva, Alberto and others?

After all, a lot of criticism is subjective. While greats such as Pele and Maradona were superstars, how gifted were the defenders who tried to stop them from looking suspect? As defenders have improved, it must be harder than ever to break down the barriers for a player to show his talents.

Overall, my point is that it looks like our future generations are doomed. Each one appears to be getting fatter, dumber and lazier than the one before, which impacts the level of quality of our footballers. They keep on becoming more diluted and may never exceed the greats such as Pele, Riva, Pukas and other legends.

What are your thoughts about modern day football and how it compares to the classics? Share your insight below by clicking the comments button.