Futbol GOAT vote

[Ranvir]

It's Messi and Pele.

 

Maradona is a level below both.

 

Messi does everything Maradona does but much more consistently. Maradona's most famous attribute was dribbling with the ball at speed and Messi is better at this, he has better close control and agility. Passing wise and freekicks they are similar, in terms of shooting Messi is far ahead. Maradona was maybe a bit more flashy. In terms of physical strength I would give it to Messi as well, he is very difficult to push off the ball, I've seen Maradona tumbling and diving lots.

 

Pele was simply a more dangerous player than Maradona ever was. His dribbling and playmaking was slightly worse than Maradona's but still elite, everything else he was better at and being genuinely two footed gave him much more attacking options than Maradona. Even Maradona's coach in the 1982 World Cup Menotti said Pele was better. Maradona was just more pleasing on the eye. Whilst Pele won the 1958 and 1970 World Cups, his actual peak would have been the 1962 and 1966 World Cups in which he was sadly injured in.

 

I consider Maradona as a bit of a wasted talent. While he won quite a few trophies with Napoli between 1986-1990, he was already past his best, hardly able to dribble past defenders anymore due to being fatter, slower and less agile and it was largely his own fault. His routine at Napoli was to party hard for 4 days taking copious amount of cocaine and alcohol, and then train a couple of days before Sunday's match. He abused his body and that lead to him being past his best at 27. It's a myth that he single handedly won Napoli all of those trophies because the Maradona who played for Napoli between 1984-1986 that won no trophies was better than the one of 1986-1990, Napoli had a good team which they kept on strengthening. Maradona's peak was actually 1980 - 1986 during his Boca Juniors, Barcelona and early Napoli days. Just wasn't the same player after, watch some clips and see.

 

 

[coffee_rules]

@Lord moving this to the cricket section will get more votes

[BacktoCricaddict]

Great perspectives and good arguments for both Maradona and Messi on this thread!! Growing up, used to hear such conversations among the adults in my family about Pele vs Maradona.  For them, it was all Pele! For me it was Maradona (and still is).

 

Goes to show how hard it is to compare across eras - and this holds true for any sport. 

 

 

[BacktoCricaddict]

@Gollum, you may cringe at this cross-sport comparison, but for me, watching Maradona and Mohammed Shahid was like watching the same guy. Unparalleled individual brilliance in dribbling - magical feet vs magical stickwork. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

7 hours ago, Ranvir said:

It's Messi and Pele.

 

Maradona is a level below both.

 

Messi does everything Maradona does but much more consistently. Maradona's most famous attribute was dribbling with the ball at speed and Messi is better at this, he has better close control and agility. Passing wise and freekicks they are similar, in terms of shooting Messi is far ahead. Maradona was maybe a bit more flashy. In terms of physical strength I would give it to Messi as well, he is very difficult to push off the ball, I've seen Maradona tumbling and diving lots.

 

Pele was simply a more dangerous player than Maradona ever was. His dribbling and playmaking was slightly worse than Maradona's but still elite, everything else he was better at and being genuinely two footed gave him much more attacking options than Maradona. Even Maradona's coach in the 1982 World Cup Menotti said Pele was better. Maradona was just more pleasing on the eye. Whilst Pele won the 1958 and 1970 World Cups, his actual peak would have been the 1962 and 1966 World Cups in which he was sadly injured in.

 

I consider Maradona as a bit of a wasted talent. While he won quite a few trophies with Napoli between 1986-1990, he was already past his best, hardly able to dribble past defenders anymore due to being fatter, slower and less agile and it was largely his own fault. His routine at Napoli was to party hard for 4 days taking copious amount of cocaine and alcohol, and then train a couple of days before Sunday's match. He abused his body and that lead to him being past his best at 27. It's a myth that he single handedly won Napoli all of those trophies because the Maradona who played for Napoli between 1984-1986 that won no trophies was better than the one of 1986-1990, Napoli had a good team which they kept on strengthening. Maradona's peak was actually 1980 - 1986 during his Boca Juniors, Barcelona and early Napoli days. Just wasn't the same player after, watch some clips and see.

 

 

 

I don't know much about his exploits with Napoli, but his 1986 WC dominance is unmatched.

 

For me, as a young sports fan, these dominant performances in consecutive years are etched in my memory -

 

1983 India WC, 1984 McEnroe losing only 2 pro games, 1985 India ODI B&H WCC, 1986 Maradona WC

[Gollum]

7 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

@Gollum, you may cringe at this cross-sport comparison, but for me, watching Maradona and Mohammed Shahid was like watching the same guy. Unparalleled individual brilliance in dribbling - magical feet vs magical stickwork. 

I like cross-sport comparisons bro. Heard lots of stories about Mohd Shahid but he was before my time and hockey videos from the past are hard to find. 

[coffee_rules]

16 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

Great perspectives and good arguments for both Maradona and Messi on this thread!! Growing up, used to hear such conversations among the adults in my family about Pele vs Maradona.  For them, it was all Pele! For me it was Maradona (and still is).

 

Goes to show how hard it is to compare across eras - and this holds true for any sport. 

 

 

One way to compare sportsman across errors is to see how they compare among their peers. Pele was par excellence than his peers, part of 3 WC victories with impact on at least two of them. You see his old game videos and how agile and talented he was, as much as Peak Maradona in 1986. M’s campaign was abysmal in 90 and he was at his worst in 94. Marred with so many controversies drug ban in the end marred his greatness. Messi is skillful and a modern great after winning last WC barely ;on PSO I n the end. 

Edited June 19 by coffee_rules

[BacktoCricaddict]

1 minute ago, coffee_rules said:

One way to compare sportsman across errors is to see how they compare among their peers. Pele was par excellence than his peers, part of 3 WC victories with impact on at least two of them. You see his old game videos and how agile and talented he was, as much as Peak Maradona in 1986. M’s campaign was abysmal in 90 and he was at his worst in 94. Marred with so many contracts, drug ban in the end marred his greatness. Messi is skillful and a modern great after winning last WC barely ;on PSO I n the end. 

 

All that is true. But I had mostly lost interest by the 1990 WC, so 1986 is etched forever and not replaced by any memories. My GOAT vote to Maradona is based entirely on that impression. In tennis too, I will always hold Johnny Mac as the GOAT because I didn't watch much after the '80s. Only in cricket, I have kept up and can replace GOATs as new talents emerge!

[BacktoCricaddict]

11 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Mohd Shahid but he was before my time and hockey videos from the past are hard to find. 

 

I was lucky - watched some live matches (not many, but enough that they would serve as my mind's eye while listening on the radio). Yep, me old. 

 

PS: I literally cried when they switched hockey from natural to artificial turf.

Edited June 19 by BacktoCricaddict

[Ranvir]

34 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

 

I don't know much about his exploits with Napoli, but his 1986 WC dominance is unmatched.

 

For me, as a young sports fan, these dominant performances in consecutive years are etched in my memory -

 

1983 India WC, 1984 McEnroe losing only 2 pro games, 1985 India ODI B&H WCC, 1986 Maradona WC

Yes he was great in the 1986 World Cup but that's not enough to consider him the best ever, plus he never had any other standout international tournament apart from that.

 

It's like saying the likes of Schilaci, Klose, Thomas Muller who had great world cups are better than legends like Van Basten and Cristiano Ronaldo both of whom never shone in any world cup.

[BacktoCricaddict]

15 minutes ago, Ranvir said:

Yes he was great in the 1986 World Cup but that's not enough to consider him the best ever, plus he never had any other standout international tournament apart from that.

 

 

Am approaching it from a "If I didn't see it, it didn't happen" perspective

 

 

Having said that, Maradona's 1986 dominance was like none other - with an otherwise forgettable Arg team. 

 

Edited June 19 by BacktoCricaddict

[Vickydev]

I voted for Messi but og Ronaldo(Brazilian)was my favourite.

 

 

[Austin 3:!6]

Ronaldo 0 votes

 

[Ultimate_Game]

I would go with:

 

1. Pele - 3 WCs is no joke and he contributed in every one of those. He was so dominant that opponents devised a strategy to foul him and they literally took him out of 1966 WC

2. Maradona - Galvanized his team and much more than just a player. Received the Pele treatment a fair bit

3. Zidane - The reason for France's WC and Euro wins and one of the most dominant midfielders

 

[Ultimate_Game]

10 minutes ago, Austin 3:!6 said:

Ronaldo 0 votes

 

 

TBF I couldn't even tell whether the OP meant the Brazilian Ronaldo or the Portugal one  

 

I could think of voting for Brazilian one but the Portuguese one is a selfish player who brings the team down.

[vvvslaxman]

https://www.si.com/soccer/best-argentina-soccer-players-all-time-ranking-top-10

[BacktoCricaddict]

3 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

TBF I couldn't even tell whether the OP meant the Brazilian Ronaldo or the Portugal one  

 

I could think of voting for Brazilian one but the Portuguese one is a selfish player who brings the team down.

OP references Portuguese Ronaldo 

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

OP references Portuguese Ronaldo 

 

Brazilian Ronaldo had more impact for his team than the Portuguese one. Brazilian Ronaldo won his team a WC and his health episode in one final cost his team the cup and scored plenty of goals. Portuguese Ronaldo shows up for himself and taking penalties. Hasn't made any impact in the WC and Portugal actually looked better when he was benched.

 

[cricketfan28]

Messi and Pele, had more success .

[cricketfan28]

Ronaldo also had success in wcs but club wise not so much.