Zidane, Pele and Maradona

[Tigers_eye]

If we constitute
3 points for 10
2 points for 9
1 point for 8
-1 does not belong to this list

at this point the standing of the pole becomes:


Pele: 3*10 + 2*2 + 1*2 + (-1)*1 = 34
Maradona: 3*6 + 2*5 + 1*2 + (-1)*0 = 30
Zidane: 3*1 + 2*3 + 1*2 + (-1)*6 = 5

Dated: July 13, 2006 - 2:05 pm

[thebest]

Originally Posted by Rubu
Mr. Ganja (aka maradona) own only one WC for Argentina. he gave argentina a hand (in every possible meaning!), pele own 3. Just look at the record, and you will know.

Here is a small anicdot for you: once play was playing and 2/3 of his shot went over the bar, he challenged the measurement of the post, and sure enough the post was short by about 6 inches. ask maradona to match that, he won't get it even with a pound of ganja and 2 legs and 2 hands.

the only reason some people rate maradona over play is simply the one stated above. few people has seen him play. see some of those black and white footage and u'll have to doubt in your mind.

Let me pose the question in different way? How many WC Brazil won solely by Pele. Let me check
1958 : Pele was the kid of the team. Didi, Vava, Amerildo were the main men in the team. So Pele can play without any pressure. Also this team one of the best 5 team ever assembled for World cup.
1962: Pele was injured after 2nd or 3rd match. This world cup is known as 'Little bird Garrincha's World Cup'. He single handly won it in semi final and Final
1970: This Brazil team is considered as the greatest team ever played togther. With the exception of Goal keeping there was no weak point of the team
In case of Maradona,
1986: It was Maradona and other 10. Without Maradona I have doubt whether they could have even beaten a half decent european team let alone World Champion. Valdono was the only other player of the team who can be considered as World Class. Maradona single handedly won it. He scored goal (5 to be precise of which 2 goals could be counted as best of the best) and assisted goal.
1990 : A half fit Maradona almost won the w/c if not Klinns'dive' man and mexican referry. With Cannigia the only decent player and penalty stopper g/k.

Maradona has been so much accused of the famous 'hand of God' goal. I think it is because he scored againest England. Why people forgot the greatest individual goal scored in that game. To prove that it was not fluke he did it again againest Belgium in next game. Regarding 'hand of God' It is nothing uncommon putting hand if you can not reach by head in every professional league.

In club level, Pele never played in rigourus european league. So comparing club record of Maradona and Pele is like comparing County cricket with our national league. But Maradona make Napoli an obscure club an Italian champion not once but twice. I think Napoli also won UEFA cup under Maradona.

So those who think Pele is greatest is just brainwased by media. Never forgot Pele is a good boy in media's eye. How many of you know Pele's daughter has earned her right after 5 years of court fighting. She has to prove that she is the daughter after DNA test. and Maradona's case it is all over the news when the boy just claimed it.

[Rubu]

I think you are actually posing the question from a different point of view. did u see that video on the other thread? A shame is a shame, and that cannot be justified by anything, how good the player is or anything else. maradon's good work does not justify the bad ones.

and when I compared maradona with pele, i did that as player pele vs player maradona. who cares about what their childcare history is? you may argue why drug came in then. well, drug influnce play and is illigal in game. the reality is, its not pele who is promoted by media, but its argentina who is always overrated. they failed to go to past quater final for last two world cups? what you call a team like that?

I call them a 2nd string team, statistically speaking. oh, you may say they won world cup, but so did urugay, twice.

[thebest]

OK check Reverse swing post. How many times Maradona injured a fellow player?From player vs player. Pele may be a complete striker but never a complete player. In a list of complete player in my book he is below Cruef, Platini and Zidane. But I rate highly him as a striker.
We are not talking about Argentina.

[mhferdaus]

The only player coming near to Pele's performance is Ronaldinho, for the last three world cups, Rivaldo is also good, but Ronaldo misses way more than a decent striker should, perhaps he was good enough at inter milan, but I did not see him play a world cup that good. Brazil did not have tough oppositions till reaching the quarter-finals in last 3 World Cup, so you can not really compare them with the super power Brazil teams of 60,70 and 80s.

About the comparisns, you can only compare Maradona and Zidane, Pele was an striker but he did manage some goals all by himself, Maradona and Zidane is supposed to give the ball to striker in a scoring position not score themselves, but they played the part of striker too sometime. Even comparing Maradona and Zidane would be mistake, cuz they come from different times, where different tactics is employed, and their team mates potentials were also different too.

Maradona was denied World Cup 1982, cuz of english enmity towards the Argentines at that time, otherwise it would be Maradona and not Zoff lifting the trophy , Pele would whave won 1966 World Cup if it were held any other country than england cuz the FIFA officials did not want to enrage the mighty queen in her home ground . Zidane's head could have won France's 2nd WC if not Buffon (one of my favorite goal keepers of all time ) pulling a miraculuos save .

[Ejaj]

I dont understand what does it mean to be a complete player. I seriously dont. If U want Franco Baresi to score phenomenal goals all the time..... then.. will that kind of gameplaye will make someone a "Complete player"? As far as my understanding for this game..... there are roles for which a player is assigned to. A defender is a defender and his main job is to defend an opposing attack and keep the goalbar safe. A midfielder is the creator of an attack.. mostly. And a striker's job is to score. This sounds very much clear to me. U wont see a striker ... do the following... he first defends the ball in his own defence, then makes millions of dribbling on the midfield, then.. somehow.. goes into the other D box and score. THIs is not the way the game is played. A player might have scored a goal taking it from lower midfield and end up scoring a goal. That is a great goal.. and it is great because, it can actually happen only very few times. Maradonna's goal can be equally comapared wth that Saudi arabian playre's goal in 94 against Belgium. Will that make Saudia arabian on the equal par of Maradonna??.. I dont think so. Pele and maradonna are completely two different players with different role. Pele was an extremely efficient Scoring machine, Maradonna was more like a playmaker. So they both were best in their postions, in their time. Pele played in the league when Brazillian league was the best in the world.They were generating many great players in 50's , 60's . So, it doesnt make any sense to compare game standard between Pele era and Maradonna's era. Pele scored like no one did and he did that for more than 10 years in his life. Moreover, Brazil doesnt produce one single player in 100 years like Maradonna. So.. Brazillian never depended on one single player to win someting. This is the not case with Argentina. The team argentina won mostly on the base of only one or two great players around a bunch of normal players. So.. how can pele and Mardonna be compared. If Pele had a team like Maradonna had,, then, we might have seen him changed his game from being a striker to a midfielder. Comparing on the basis of the play, these two simply can not be compared.

For my personal opinion, i would always rate Pele as the greatest striker in his time. I always get facinated by strikers snapping a goal like a fast bowler uprooting all three stamps with a yorker. Its someting I like most. No matter what, its the goal that makes the difference in the game. So, I would stick with Pele being my first choice for the ultimate. Offcoarse.. there is no comparision between him and Maradonna. With pele, I can afford to take Dunga, Falcao, or Vava in my team to create a supreme midfield and I just need someone to ensure that those passes get converted to goals. .and.. obviously........ I would not take anyone else except Pele in the snipper's postion.

[AsifTheManRahman]

i haven't watched pele play all that much - just a couple of footages. i have watched maradonna play, and have also had the chance to watch a lot more of his footages. imo, pele is probably the best striker ever, whereas maradonna had the individual skills that lack so much in today's soccer (not saying that pele didn't). having been born in the mid eighties, i guess i cant afford the luxury of comparing the two.

zidane, on the other hand, shouldn't be included in the same list as pele and maradonna. zidane ke khamaka r lojja diyen na...bechara already flash animatorder shopno howe gese :p

[BangladeshFan]

ok i am pasting it again, as it is more appropriate thread.....
pele recently said that ronaldinho is better than maradona. i dont whether there is a grudge between pele and maradona as why he said that. i havent seen pele in his prime so cant say much. but have seen maradona quite a lot in world cupts, italian league with napoli and also ronaldinho. both maradona and ronaldinho are good in dribbling, free kicks and corners. but in passing i think maradona was better. there are also things which maradona could do, i have never seen anyone else doing that. forexample: he could keep the ball bouncing on his shoulder and run at full speed. at the start of an exibition match, maradona just took the ball from the center on his feet and shot it from there. the ball goes in brushing the cross bar........ 60 yards. can you imagine this guy measurement /skill?

i am not sure what game pele was playing when he said the bar should be higher, it cant be in WC can it? as i said the things maradona did, i dont think even pele could do them. i ve seen one complete match of pele, 1970 final. and he didnt look that good then(he was just 30 at that time and didnt look as good as zidane at 34), made a headed goal and zidane can head better than that . maybe he was far better at 17 than he was at 30.

[Rubu]

good to see truth revealed from the poll.

[Tigers_eye]

Continuing with the point system:

Originally Posted by Cats_eye
If we constitute
3 points for 10
2 points for 9
1 point for 8
-1 does not belong to this list

at this point the standing of the pole becomes:

The Final tally:

Pele: 3*17 + 2*3 + 1*5 + (-1)*2 = 60
Maradona: 3*10 + 2*7 + 1*3 + (-1)*4 = 43
Zidane: 3*7 + 2*6 + 1*4 + (-1)*8 = 29

Dated: July 26, 2006 - 2:37 pm.

Just as I thought.

[akabir77]

What ball control?
One uses hand to control the ball, the other uses head to control the man.....

Its pele the best ever....have you seen his bycycle kicks? or the doges? no, cause we can't, live tv was not that popular at that time so why bother to compare with him....