Old guns with hard to break national records

Nowadays nearly every country plays more international soccer matches than, let’s say, thirty years ago. Perhaps more than twice as much. So it would be normal if the top goal scorer of each country would be a still active, or a recently retired player. But that’s not always the case. Six European soccer nations have a number one goal scorer, that played his last soccer match more than fifty years ago.  Here they are, listed from the old to the ancient, with a special Scandinavian flavor.

6  Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), 84 international goals

Ferenc Puskas (1927-2006) still occupies second place (behind Iranian Ali Daei  with 107 goals for his country), in the alltime goal scorers list for international matches. He was a goalscoring machine unlike any other, even though he was not a centre forward. The Galloping Major from the Mighty Magyars of the fourties and fifties put himself on the scoring sheet in 52 of his 85 matches for Hungary, modestly scoring just one or two goals most of the time. 

Best performances	Opponent(s)
Four goals	Albania (12-0, 1950)
Three goals	Luxembourg (7-2, 1946), Rumania (5-1, 1948), Austria (6-1, 1949), Austria (4-3, 1950)

Puskas scored his last international goal on October 14, 1956

Biggest thread in the near future: nobody, never. How could anyone? The closests nowadays would be Balázs Dzsudzsák. He  is 26 years old and has scored twelve goals. 73 to go…

5  Stjepan Bobek (Yugoslavia/Serbia), 38 international goals

From 1948 until 1962, Yugoslavian soccer was thriving. They won silver at the Olympics in 1948, 1952 and 1956, and finally won gold in 1960. They performed well at the World Cups and reached the final of the first European Championship. So it is no surprise that Yugoslavia’s/Serbian alltime top goal scorer is from this period, Stjepan Bobek (1923-2010). The Partizan Belgrade-forward played 63 international matches between 1946 and 1956, scoring a total of 38 goals, two more than the star from the thirties, Blagoje Marjanovic.

Best performances	Opponents
Three goals	Austria (4-2, 1952), Turkey (5-1, 1954)

Bobek scored his last international goal on October 17, 1954

Biggest thread in the near future: After Bobek, Milan Galic (37 goals between 1959 and 1965) and Savo Milosevic (37 goals between 1994 and 2006) came very close. At the moment it doesn’t seem likely that, for instance Zoran Tosic (26 years and 8 goals), can beat Bobek’s record.

4  Bernard Voorhoof (Belgium), 30 international goals

Voorhoof in his Lierse SK-outfit

Between the two World Wars, Belgium perhaps had it’s best moments. Up until Brazil 2014, of course. They took the Olympic title in 1920 and took part in all three World Cups. Bernard Voorhoof (1910-1974) was the leading goal scorer for Belgium in the thirties. His 30 goals seems in line with other performances in this list, but Voorhoof did fail to score a single hattrick during his international career.

Best performances	Opponents
Two goals	Netherlands (4-2, 1933), Italy (2-3, 1933), Switserland (3-3, 1933), Germany (2-5, 1934), Switserland (3-0, 1938)

Voorhoof scored his last international goal on March 17, 1940

Biggest thread in the near future: Paul van Himst (1960-1972) also got 30 goals, after that the present national coach Marc Wilmots came close with 28. For the future, who knows what magic Kevin De Bruyne (21 years old, 3 goals), Eden Hazard (22 years, 5 goals), Christian Benteke (22 years, 6 goals) or Romulu Lukaku (20 years, 2 goals) can bring about?

3  Jørgen Juve (Norway), 30 international goals

Jørgen Juve, standing first from the right,
with Norway at the Olympic games 1936 

Until the thirties, Norway had little to show for in international soccer. Heavy defeats (see ‘Opponents’ of the number one and two of this list below) were quite common. But then it slowly got better. Norway won the 1932 Scandinavian championship and qualified for the 1938 World Cup. Two years before, they managed to beat Germany and even clinched the bronze medal. Striker Jørgen Juve (1906-1983) was instrumental in most of these major and minor triumphs, scoring 30 times in 42 matches. The Norwegian FA holds on to 33 goals in 45 matches, but those three extra games were against the amateur sides of Hungary (twice) and Austria. So, internationally they don’t count. Still, 30 goals gives Juve a comfortable lead at the top of the list. Amazingly, he played about half of his international matches as a defender. For instance, Juve didn’t score a single goal in his last eightteen games for Norway, as he was in charge of Norway's defense instead.

Best performances	Opponent
Three goals	Netherlands (4-4, 1929), Finland (4-0, 1929), Finland (6-2, 1930), Sweden (3-6, 1930) and Finland (5-1, 1933)

Juve scored his last international goal on November 5, 1933

Biggest thread in the near future: There seems not really anyone in sight. John Carew came somewhat close, with 24 goals. But after him, you could hardly think that Tarik Elyounoussi (25 years, 7 goals) would add 24 or more goals to his total.

2  Sven Rydell (Sweden), 49 international goals

During the twenties (and early thirties), Sweden was doing alright for themselves. They didn't win a lot of trophies, but won far more matches than they lost. And scored lots of goals, with skilled forwards like Per Kaufeldt, Albin Dahl, Knut Kroon and Tore Keller, with Sven Rydell (1905-1975) probably the best of them all. His record shows for itself, 49 goals in 43 matches. Even AC Milan legend Gunnar Nordahl managed only 42 (albeit in just 33 matches). And what would have happened if Rydell hadn’t been forced to quit the game, at the age of 28?

Best performances	Opponents
Four goals	Egypt (5-0, 1924), Norway (7-3, 1925)
Three goals	Poland (5-1, 1924), Belgium (8-1, 1924), Norway (6-1, 1924), Latvia (12-0, 1927), Norway (5-3, 1927), Netherlands (6-2, 1929) and Finland (7-1, 1932)

Rydell scored his last international goal on May 16, 1932

Biggest thread in the near future: There is one serious thread: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In fact, everybody expects him to take the Swedish record to 50 goals and beyond. In 2012 Ibrahimovic scored eleven international goals, this year (as of September 7) he got another five and at 44, he is just five goals behind Rydell.

1  Poul ‘Tist’ Nielsen (Denmark), 52 international goals

On the continent, Denmark probably was the best soccer nation of all up to 1920. Of course, to prove it,  they won two silver medals at the Olympic Games in 1908 and 1912. While already having such great strikers as Sophus Nielsen and Anton Olsen, Poul ‘Tist’ (1891-1962) Nielsen was even more prolific. When he made his debut for Denmark in 1910, he was the youngest ever. And after two matches to settle in, he started scoring. In 1913 he was the world’s leading international goal scorer, with eleven goals. Two years later he won again, this time with 5 goals. In 1914 (4 goals), 1916 (6), 1917 (5) and 1919 (7) he came second.

 

Best performances	Opponent
Six goals*	Sweden (10-0, 1913)
Five goals*	Norway (12-0, 1917)
Four goals*	Germany (4-1, 1913), Norway (8-0, 1916)
Three goals	Netherlands (4-3, 1914), Norway (8-1, 1915), Norway (5-1, 1919), Norway (3-1, 1921)

*Odd statistic: every time Nielsen scored four, five or six times, it was during the month of October.

Poul Tist Nielsen scored his last international goal on September 27, 1925

Biggest thread in the near future: Jon Dahl Tomasson equaled Nielsen’s record, but failed to score another one. From todays squad, Niklas Bendtner (22 goals) is still only 25 years old, but adding another 31 seems way too much to ask for.

Notes on this story:

·        * Antonin Puc is the all-time top scorer of Czechoslovakia with 34 goals until 1938. I didn't consider him, because the Football Association of the Czech Republic has integrated the statistics from Czechoslovakia into their history since 1992. And as Jan Koller has scored 55 international goals (and Milan Baros 41), Puc isn’t the record holder.

·       * The Luxembourg FA has Léon Mart (active for Luxembourg from 1939 until 1945) as their record goal scorer. But Mart scored eleven of his sixteen goals against B-teams, and those matches are not made official by FIFA/UEFA.

·       *  Vivian Woodward (England) has scored a total of 73 matches against countries who considered each match as a full international. Only the English FA does not, as he 30 matches (44 goals) for the English amateur team. With only 29 goals for the official professional English team, Bobby Charlton (49 goals) and seven others performed better.

Dramatic debuts

Since 1872, when England and Scotland played their first international match (0-0), more than two hundred countries followed in their footsteps. Some of those national teams wished they had waited a bit longer, as they were crushed by the opposition. Here are eight devastating debuts of overall pretty decent national teams.

18-02-1882 Ireland - England 0-13

When Ireland planned their first international game back in 1882, they were the fourth country to do so. Only England, Scotland and Wales (1876) were already playing matches among each other. Ireland chose England to be their first opponent ever. Perhaps Wales (one victory and eight defeats until then) would have been a better choice – although Ireland lost their second international match 1-7 against the Welsh a week later.

Anyway, the hapless Irish lost 0-13 to England, with the Aston Villa-duo Oliver Vaughton (inside-left) Arthur Brown (inside-right) causing most of the damage.

The Irish line-up:

James Hamilton – John McAlery – David Rattray – Donald Martin – John Hastings – William McWha – John Davidson – John Sinclair – Alexander Dill – Samuel Johnston – James Buckle

The English goals were scored by: Oliver Vaughton (5), Arthur Brown (4), James Brown (2), Edward Bambridge (1) and Henry Cursham (1).

20-07-1902 Uruguay – Argentina 0-6

In South America, soccer was introduced by English and Scottish sailors in the nineteenth century. After nine years of national league in Argentina and just two in Uruguay both countries met for the first time in a official game in 1902, in Montevideo. For both countries it was their first match ever, but Argentina proved to be superior, winning 6-0. Looking at the line-ups, there was a large influence of Argentina-born Englishmen on the Argentinian side, which surely made their victory easier.

The Uruguayan line-up:

Enrique Sardeson – Carlos Carve Urioste – Germán Arímalo – Miguel Nebel – Alberto Peixoto – Luis Carbone – Bolivar Céspedes – Gonzalo Rincón – Juan Sardeson – Ernesto Bouton Reyes – Carlos Céspedes.

The Argentinian goals were scored by Juan O. Anderson, Jorge Gibson Brown (one of five brothers that dominated Argentinian soccer in those days), Edward O. Morgan and Carlos Edgard Dickinson. Uruguayans Carlos Carve Urioste and Germán Arímalo both scored an own goal.

12-10-1902 Austria - Hungary 5-0

Soccer in Austria and Hungary at the start of the twentieth century evolved nearly exclusively around the capital towns of Vienna and Budapest. It would remain that way for the next forty or even fifty years. So when both towns decided to play a match against each other, it was first labeled Vienna against Budapest. In retrospect, it was more appropriate to upgrade this match to the first international match for both countries, which happened.

The line-up of Hungary:

Gyula Bádonyi  - József Berán - Emil Gabrovitz – József Koltai - Imre Pozsonyi - Róbert Bayer  – István Buda - Bertalan Steiner - József Pokorny -  Alfréd Hajós -  Károly Oláh.

The Austrian goals were scored by Jan Studnicka (3), Josef Taurer (1) and Gustav Huber (1). Man of the Match Studnicka celebrated his 19th birthday on this very day.  

12-07-1908 Sweden - Norway 11-3

The Swedish team that beat Norway 11-3

Just like Ireland – who lost 23 of their first 25 matches - maybe Norway in 1908 wasn’t quite ready either, to compete at international level. But when the Swedish FA sent them an match- invitation, the Norwegian players were very excited and eagerly accepted. On July 12, 1908, Sweden proved their strength in their hometown Gothenburg, winning 11-3. On the bright side, Norwegian Norman Minotti Bøhn was singlehandedly responsible for the best start of a national team in history. He scored – after dribbling past a few Swedes – the first goal of the match, after only fifteen seconds! Bøhn scored another goal and so did Hans Endrerud, to give Norway some confidence in their ability, despite the double digits at the end. It took Norway until 1918 (27 matches) before they could finally claim their first victory (3-1 against Denmark).

The Norwegian line-up:

Sverre Lie – Macken Widerøe Aas – Wilhelm Brekke – Harald Johansen – Poul Houmann – Arvid Johansen – Fridthjof Skonnord – Victor Nysted – Hans Endrerud – Norman Minotti Bøhn – Tryggve Gran.

The Swedish goals were scored by Erik Börjesson (4), Erik Bergström (4), Karl Gustafsson (2) and Hans Lindman (1).

11-05-1919 Paraguay – Argentina 1-5

In the early twentieth century, only Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil had decent national teams in South America. Chili joined play in 1910, but could not win a single match until 1926. In 1919, Paraguay thought it was time for a national team as well. They decided to start in a laid-back way, though. While Argentina, Brasil, Chili and Uruguay were starting to compete at the South American Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Paraguay invited Argentina for its first official match. Argentina agreed, but could only send a B-team to play in Asunción. A crowd of 4000 spectators saw an easy 5-1 victory for Argentina. Paraguay then changed the whole team for the second match, and lost 3-0 four days later. This match only lasted 52 minutes, as extreme rainfall ruined the pitch for further play. On the upside, this match fielded the first superstar of Paraguayan soccer, Manuel Fleitas Solich, who later played for Boca Juniors in Argentina and was the most successful Paraguayan national coach of all time, winning the South America Cup in 1953.

The line-up of Paraguay on the first match:

Venancio Martinez - José Ríos Careaga - Ramón González – Ranulfo Benítez - Waldino Brítez - Angel Hermosilla - Carlos Casabianca - Wilfrido Carreras -  Clemente Ferreira - Faustino Casado (1) -Bernabe Núñez.

The Argentinian goals were scored by José Laguna (2), Alberto Enrique Ochandío (2) and Pascual Polimeni (1). Two years later, Laguna became the first national coach of Paraguay.

28-08-1920 Czechoslovakia - Yugoslavia 7-0

Competing already at the 1920 Olympics in Belgium the one year old independent state of Yugoslavia showed what sports-crazy people live there. Nonetheless their performance was poor, that early morning of July 28^th.  Goalkeeper Dragutin Vrdjuka kept a clean sheet for twenty minutes, then adversary Czechoslovakia (also a new country, but with lots of soccer experience) scored their first goal through centre forward Jan Vanik. It ended 7-0, with Czechoslovakia later in the tournament winning the silver medal, losing a heated and disputed final against host Belgium. Yugoslavia lost against Egypt (2-4) in the consolation round, with captain Artur Dubravcic scoring the first international goal ever for his country. Three years later, in 1923, the first national league was disputed in Yugoslavia, slowly improving the standard of play.

The line-up of Yugoslavia:

Dragutin Vrdjuka – Vjekoslav Zupancic – Jaroslav Sifer – Stanko Tavcar – Slavin Cindric – Rudolf Rupec – Dragutin Vragovic – Artur Dubravcic – Emil Perska –Ivan Grane – Jovan Ruzic.

The Czechoslovakian goals were scored by Jan Vanik (3), Antonin Janda (3) and Josef Sedlacek (1).

28-08-1920 Sweden - Greece 9-0

While Athens, Smyrna and Thessaloniki (the last two part of the then Ottoman Empire) already competing at the 1906 unofficial Olympic games in Athens, political turmoil prevented soccer to evolve. It took until 1920 before Greece played its first real international match. Again, the Olympics were the stage, and Sweden was the opponent. And it went terribly wrong. The experienced Swedes – neutral during the First World War – played against a torn country. The 9-0 victory really was no surprise. After this, Greece stayed away from the international scene until 1929.

The Greek line-up:

Andonios Fotiadis – Agamemnon Gilis – Nikolaos Kaludis – Dimitrios Gotis – Apostolos Nikolaidis – Hristos Pepas – Yeorgios Kalafatis – Ioanis Andrianopoulos – Teofilos Nikolaidis – Yeorgios Hatziandreou – Theodoros Dimitriou.

The Swedish goals were scored by Herbert Karlsson (5), Albert Olsson (2), Albin Dahl (1) and Ragnar Wicksell (1).

Greece seems to be a bit reluctant to acknowledge this dramatic debut. As the Greek Football Association was only established in 1926, and nowadays Greece being different from the Greece of 1920, they forgot about this match and claim a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria in 1929 as their debut. But 1920 really did happen….

21-05-1924 Austria - Bulgaria 6-0

Bulgaria in 1924

Apart from Albania, Bulgaria was the last country of the Balkan region to form a national team. The conditions were poor; there wasn’t a single grass pitch in the county until after 1945. Before communism, level of play was far below average. Bulgarians had other things to do, as the country was known as the powder keg of Europe in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The Bulgarian FA was founded in 1923, and one year later they travelled to Vienna for their first international match. They lost 6-0, which wasn’t all that bad, considering that Austria was one of the leading teams on the European continent at the time.

The Bulgarian line-up:

Peter Ivanov – Aleksandar Hristov – Simeon Yankov – Gheno Mateev – Boian Byanov – Dimitr Manolov – Dimitr Mutafchiev – Nikola Mutafchiev – Tsvetan Genev – Konstantin Maznikov – Kiril Yovovich.

The Austrian goals were scored by Hans Horvath (3), Max Grünwald (2) and Leopold Danis (1).

Even more dramatic debuts

Of course, things can get a lot worse than losing 5 or 6 to nothing. Listed below are the ten biggest debut defeats of all time with, remarkably, tiny Tahiti three times on the trigger:

The Cook Islands in better days (2011)

Year	Country	Opponent	Score
1971	Cook Islands	Tahiti	0-30
1979	Tuvalu	Tahiti	0-18
1965	Oman	Sudan	0-15
1963	Somalia	North Korea	0-14
1983	Niue	Tahiti	0-14
1882	Ireland	England	0-13
1979	Kiribati	Papua New Guinea	0-13
1942	Mongolia	Japan	0-12
1962	Malawi	Ghana	0-12
1975	Guam	Fiji	0-11