- Nov 12, 2007
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dunno about GOAT but Zidane against Brazil in 1998 is the best individual performance I can recall.
Need to watch more Pele. Forget the standard for a minute, as some of what he played against was a bit ropey, albeit the quality of the pitches and the balls back then was something else entirely, but the amount of "world firsts" he brought to the modern game is eye watering. There's almost no trick, skill or move that exists today that Pele didn't bring to the game first, including the Cruyff turn. Also you have to remember that the actual filming of sport adds a huge amount to how we perceive player's skills. Repeated slow motions in super high definition of Messi's flick to setup their second goal on Sunday is great, but Pele did this multiple times per game in just about every game, but the camera angles, slow mo, high def and post match analysis simply weren't what they are today.The only players I’ve watched from back in the day that pass the eye test as being close to what we have today are Cruyff and Maradona. Watching Pele and Best, the standard just looks so so bad compared to today. Maradona looks to me like the best of the lot that didn’t play in the modern era. Just my opinion from what I’ve watched
yeah that's why I rank Pele so highly. He 'invented' so much, he was dominating WCs at 17, he was also great in the air for a smallish guy.Need to watch more Pele. Forget the standard for a minute, as some of what he played against was a bit ropey, albeit the quality of the pitches and the balls back then was something else entirely, but the amount of "world firsts" he brought to the modern game is eye watering. There's almost no trick, skill or move that exists today that Pele didn't bring to the game first, including the Cruyff turn. Also you have to remember that the actual filming of sport adds a huge amount to how we perceive player's skills. Repeated slow motions in super high definition of Messi's flick to setup their second goal on Sunday is great, but Pele did this multiple times per game in just about every game, but the camera angles, slow mo, high def and post match analysis simply weren't what they are today.
It's also worth noting that Pele achieved his greatest feats (the 1970 world cup being the main one) against a very scary social back drop. Brazil was under a military dictatorship from 1964 - 1985, during which time a lot of popular figures were tortured or exiled (almost all musicians fled to Europe/US) during this period. It's hard to reconcile now, but the social achievement of winning that 3rd world cup for Brazil under those circumstances was immense.
Messi has undoubtedly been the best player of the current generation, and getting the world cup win two days ago has certainly helped to get him very close to the GOAT. But for me, it would take more than what Messi has achieved in his career to surpass Pele.
...and Maradona doesn't come first due to his 'Hand of God' incident, it just leaves a bit of a bitter tasteyeah that's why I rank Pele so highly. He 'invented' so much, he was dominating WCs at 17, he was also great in the air for a smallish guy.
There was a video going around where it showed Pele do a skill or dribble and then went to a more modern player doing the exact same skill/dribble. He gave the game so much.
He was even better against them in 2006. That Brazil team was arguably better, with Kaka and Juninho added to Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Yet Zidane ran the game, and set up the only goal of the game. Imperious.dunno about GOAT but Zidane against Brazil in 1998 is the best individual performance I can recall.
dunno about GOAT but Zidane against Brazil in 1998 is the best individual performance I can recall.
One of the reasons that some of us think that Pele was the GOAT is how well he did despite the abuse he suffered. This tweet shows a lowlight reel of defenders taking him on. The other thing that was striking was just how bad the pitches were. Feliz Natal
It's not because those players would be booked and that would be the only tackle they made like that in the game. Against Pele and Maradonna it was relentless for 90 minutes in some games. You can easily make a case for each of them that if argued properly is very difficult to disagree with. The more I think about it I don't think you will ever have a definitive answer on who is the goat because it all comes down to preference and the era you grew up watching. For me and I'd say the majority my age it was Maradonna, but I can understand the arguments for both Messi and Pele, and couldn't really refute either of them.watch a highlight real of tackles on Messi and especially in games against Real and it’s pretty much the same.