Nobody had the skills as possessed by the little man. Maradona is the greatest footballer of all times. It doesn't matter whether he scored with the hand or he dived to claim for the foul. Why the hell the refree is for? This is all part of the game. So what if hes addicted to cocain, if he tested positive for some banned substance. We are here to select the best footballer, not the best person of all times. All the pele's team mate were as talented as pele, but Maradona was alone in his team, not much support from other team mates. he single handedly won the worldcup. just compare the time when pele and maradona played. during pele's time the defence seldom used to foul and you just can imagine, the red card rule came to existence in 1970. during the 80s and 90s players forgot fair-play. Even then he single handedly conquered the worldcup.
Number of goals shouldn't be the yardstick to assess a footballer. Pele is stastistically the highest goal-scorer. So he can be called the greatest striker ever (even that is open for debate). If footballing skills are the yardstick, then, Maradona is by far the greatest ever. He was a joy to watch - his speed, his skills, his footballing brain. He really took the beautiful game to even higher levels. I can never forget the pleasure he gave the football fans the world over. If football is a religion, then he is the supreme god. All others simply pale into comparison with him. A player like him is born only once in a century.
Selecting Top 20 is always tough and the final choice is always dependent on the person's knowledge of the game through the years and of course his personal biasesc ... and it is this bias which seems to be the key factor behind the inclusion of Schmeichel. Definitely a great goalkeeper but nowhere near the likes of Banks and Zoff(who are already in the list) ..Yashin(66 semis and 1st Euro champ)...Sepp Maier ..Pat Jennings etc. In fact Schmeichel wouldnt even figure in my top 100
Well,Pele's the best there's ever been,easily,& even though we never got a chance to see him,like most others in your survey,the clips that we DID get to see,as well as the awe in the voices of old-timers when they talk about him puts him head & shoulders abov the rest.Maradona was great,too,but had a tendency to take a dive & claim a foul when there was none,which is why he doesn't get my vote.Mind you,not many of us in India would be very familiar with world famous greats like Garrincha & Puskas,which seems to be why they have such a paltry number of votes.And like one person has already pointed out,it doesn't make sense that All time greats like Lev Yashin,& Bobby Moore too,don't make the list.
it seems that the writer has not heard of names like gullit , campas , zico and lothar . how can he include maldini and rossi and not consider the above . anyday gullit is a far better and more complete player than van basten . please do more research before penning your thoughts .
RE:best footballer ever
by Nadir Sheikh on Mar 31, 2004 01:18 AM
Samit, the names u mentionned like zico, lothar, gullit, campas,...are no doubt great players. U also said that Rossi and Maldini shouldnt be there in the list. About Rossi, know that without him, Italy wouldnt have won the 82 world cup. Check the match details of italy in 82 world cup, and you will know what I mean. He was the only reason that Italy won the Cup. He was an outstanding scorer. For Maldini, who can dare challenge him ? Look his records really. Nothing to be said. the most successful defender in the world in winning trophies. Gullit never won the World Cup, not even played a semi final. Van Basten was better than Gullit as he was a great scorer, brilliant technically. He won the Euro 88 for Holland by scoring important goals. Yes, Lothar Matthaus should have been there, also Zico.
Maradona is the best ever world football created. There is no person ever lived in football equaling to the footballing skills of Maradona...Pele might have scored many goals.......The beauty of football maradona has created is incomparable....... Maradona is the greatest ever......
whatever be the number of football legends....included in teh list..pele stands far ahead..there is no need to see him on t.v..but just the numbers speak for him!!
