[Jack Sparrow]

I have never seen Pele play. I have seen Maradona and he was amazing. But that can't really give me the right to judge now that Diego was better.

Pele's a Brazillian legend. Maradona is Argentina's equivalent. I'd love to give Brazil the benefit of the doubt, since there have been more Brazillian talents doing better in Europe than Argie, but there just isn't enough evidence to make a judgement.

People who have seen Pele say he was better. His chemistry with the team was also brilliant. Point is we haven't seen him play have we??

So in the end, I think this is a pointless, useless discussion. It's all down to our favourites really. I'd say this is what Pana would call a 'np-complete' problem.

[Fillipo Simone]

I have never seen Pele play. I have seen Maradona and he was amazing. But that can't really give me the right to judge now that Diego was better.

Pele's a Brazillian legend. Maradona is Argentina's equivalent. I'd love to give Brazil the benefit of the doubt, since there have been more Brazillian talents doing better in Europe than Argie, but there just isn't enough evidence to make a judgement.

People who have seen Pele say he was better. His chemistry with the team was also brilliant. Point is we haven't seen him play have we??

So in the end, I think this is a pointless, useless discussion. It's all down to our favourites really. I'd say this is what Pana would call a 'np-complete' problem.

I haven't seen him play live, but I've seen tons of old video tapes, so that should count,..

[dst]

Pele's a Brazillian legend. Maradona is Argentina's equivalent.

Never been to Brazil myself but I know from friends who have that Garrincha is a bigger legend than Pele there.

[Jack Sparrow]

^^^

I know...but it was Pele who was officially heralded as legend. Garrincha I guess never managed to promote himself as well as Pele did. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I remember Best also saying something about some player, saying this guy could have been better than him.

But I still think it was difficult. You can't compare Diego and Pele, also because I'd say their roles in the team were a bit different. Pele was an out and out fantasista. A true blue number 10. Maradona also had the play from mid sometimes.

For me I could never choose between, Pele, Diego, Cryuff and MvB. Their contributions to my awe of football have been huge.

In recent times only Zidane and a certain Andy P have made me sit up and take notice. Don't hurt me Mo, but I could never see anything beyond a clever trickster in R10. Kaka's great to watch, but he doesn't challenge my footballing theory.

And the day, Cristiano Ronaldo shows up in Europe and carries his team like he does in the EPL, I'll add him to the list.

[mishie]

Diego Armando Maradona-simply the best footballer ever, yes his reputation will be tarnished with all his off the field problems but even with them he is the best footballer this planet has ever seen.

[dst]

Pele, Garrincha, Maradona, Cryuff, MvB, Zidane and Baggio are the best players I know of. I don't even know why only the two are separated from the rest.

They are different players anyway, Pele was a true forward, Maradona was an attacking midfielder/second striker like Kaka.

This post has been edited by dst: Feb 2 2008, 06:44 PM

[Jack Sparrow]

Football and Society


Check the link out Pana. Besides being a good read, it also has a small bit on Artur Friedenreich. Brazil's first great footballer.

The only guy who I've heard Pele mention as being better than him.

Don't forget in those days of Friedenreich, he has to wrestle obstacles that Maradona never faced.

For instance:

1) Artur was of mixed ancestry (half black), and Brazil was at that time heavily racist. The referees would not blow the whistle whatever a white guy did to a black. So Artur had to invent ways to avoid tackles.

2) The equipment at the time, was sh!te. No Puma or adidas or any scientific research. Don't know if you've seen a program, where they gave modern day players modern boots and old boots and asked them to play. These players could juggle, do an ATW, whatever with the new stuff. But on the old fashioned heavy boots, they could do sh!te. And the footballs weren't pressed. They were stitched leather, with the stitches on the outside. And tearing your head when heading the ball was the norm.


Anyway my point was inspite of all this, Artur has just as many goals as Pele. Maybe more.
Link
EDIT: Much Better Link (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


It's pointless to judge these things and compare.

Like Tera Patrick and Jenna Jameson. Some days I like the blonde, somedays the brunette. I'm just grateful we have both. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

This post has been edited by Jack Sparrow: Feb 2 2008, 07:05 PM

[dst]

It's pointless to judge these things and compare.

It's just in the human nature to make lists and pick the best... we can't do without it. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

This post has been edited by dst: Feb 2 2008, 07:06 PM

[redbabies]

Pele, Garrincha, Maradona, Cryuff, MvB, Zidane and Baggio are the best players I know of. I don't even know why only the two are separated from the rest.

They are different players anyway, Pele was a true forward, Maradona was an attacking midfielder/second striker like Kaka.

Nowadays football is much more competitive, and there are a lot of great players that you can't separate one or two from the others.

While at that time there were few great players and kinds of Pele or Maradona outshined the others and that's why they are still thought to be the best of all time.

I think that if players like Zidane, MvB, Ronaldo, or even Kaka & Ronaldinho would have played 30 yrs ago, they would have had the same impact.

And I rate them equal to Maradona and Pele.

----------------------------------------

BTW, from what I've seen Maradona was better than Pele.

[kurtsimonw]

I don't even know why only the two are separated from the rest.

I completely agree.

But hey, they're from Argentina and Brazil, just being from one of those countries automatically makes you a great player. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

I think Maradona was better than Pele, in my opinion. But neither is the greatest ever. It's an opinion anyways, there are no facts when you try to decide ability. If I say Darren Fletcher is the best player ever, he is. There's no real arguement against it. It will always differ on each individual opinion, and even if everybody did agree with the same player, it still doesn't make it true.

[dst]

But neither is the greatest ever. It's an opinion anyways, there are no facts when you try to decide ability. If I say Darren Fletcher is the best player ever, he is.

Well, there is a limit... (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[LaPalma]

Th best ever? Like you guys said it's an almost unananswerable question. Maradonna was great, but I haven't seen him playing on his prime (can only remember the WC '94 Diego)...just like Pele. Other than them people also say Arthur Friedenreich (the son of a german migrant and a brazilian who played in the 20ies and 30ies of the 20th century) was an amazin player. He invented some basic football tricks and the twisted shot.

From the players I have seen Zidane is without a doubt the most amazing...I just can't find words for this guy.

[jefri91]

Maradona for sure, this is coming from a brazil fan

[jefri91]

Whos the top 5 footballers in our time?

[dst]

Whos the top 5 footballers in our time?

Top 5? You mean who is the best right now? Or who is the greatest overall?

The best right now would be
1.CR
2.Casillas
3.Ibra
4.Adebayor
5.Robinho

The greatest are (in no particular order except for the first! (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) )
Maldini
Raul
Casillas
Giggs
Scholes
Buffon