COHEN DOWN
And so the Boys of ‘66 finalists tally falls down to two with the death of George Cohen. A right-backer, his playstyle was noted for its power and defensive prowess. He had been a stalwart at the club level with Fulham, but his international career was off to an inconspicuous start that might’ve not gotten anywhere were it not for Alf Ramsey seeing his potential, on top of an injured Jimmy Armfield giving Cohen the opportunity to play in more games. As part of the World Cup-winning England team, Cohen was far from the flashiest member but nevertheless pivotal to the team with his friendliness and fitness freak habits, and was memorably denied by Ramsey the chance to swap shirts with an Argentinan player after the acrimonious quarter-finals.
Shortly after retiring from football in 1969, Cohen dealt with a lengthy cancer struggle that took him over a decade to beat. He thus dedicated much of his later years to cancer activism, and likewise with dementia once many of his teammates began withering from the disease. Cohen was 83, and with the Boys down to a poorly Bobby Charlton and a Geoff Hurst still making media rounds, the guesses as to who’ll be the last man standing will probably be a little lopsided. He was picked by three teams, including 2023 aint for thee and the obligatory football theme team.
George Cohen
22 October 1939 – 23 December 2022, aged 83
3 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS)