read the second part of my comment. Back then, it was more about individual glory, whereas these days, it’s about teams, structures and how everyone fits in together. Look at videos of Pele pretty much dribbling his way through entire teams.
They also won the quarters that year 2-1 with the first goal off of a hand ball (not taking away from the second one bit).
Rory hit the nail on the head, it was an average side and his individual performances in that WC were sublime.
It was an even more average side in 1990 and they were a Rudi Vollet dive away from going back-to-back.
Pele had an absolutely stellar supporting cast for all of his World Cups. There may have been the occasional passenger e.g. in goal but generally those teams were chockers with absolute legends. Messi got to two WC finals in a pretty fallow period in between some terrific generations of Argentine football.
TO your point regarding individuals being able to sway it more, individual flair players didn’t have the protection they have today. Messi (who I think is phenomenal) would have a very different time of it with the hacks from those days. In a way that would make it harder.
But as plenty have said, these were different times and the game was so different because of these things and others such as tactics, and particularly fitness & conditioning etc. At the end of the day, Maradona is more beloved than the others because of his rough edges which come about from where he came from and his struggle to cope with it all.
Definitely. Remember the kind of tackles that ended Van Basten’s career. Just a couple of those on Messi and we may not be having this discussion.
RIP Diego. A truly unique player and personality.
Messi and Christiano Ronaldo wouldn’t have coped with the pitches and cynical defending that Maradona (and Pele, Best, Cruyff) had to contend with.
When carrying Napoli to the league and European glory Maradona had to wear to pairs of Shin pads, one on the front and one on the back to protect his achilles from being raked
Today is George Bests anniversary as well. How freaky is that?
Being outrageously talented is clearly bad for the health.
I think you can compare say Pele and Maradona and Messi and Ronaldo but not across generations. Maradonas an all time great obviously and it feels an awkward discussion to be having at this point.
Its true that in Maradonas time the defending was rougher/pitches were different quality but the flip side is now is theres far more video analysis, far different conditioning, and even the technologies behind equipment like boots and the ball is different. And tactically things are very different too, positions are different nowdays. An out and out winger like Giggs (though not putting him in a goat discussion) would not be as effective nowdays. Or in recent tika-taka you arent going to get Maradona dribbling past six in a world cup.
I don’t remember any of the players mentioned above playing in every position on the field. All of them are clearly in Rhyan Grant’s shadow.
If I had to put the big 4 in order though I’d go Maradona on top, Ronaldo 2nd and Messi 3rd. I can’t place Pele as it’s to hard to compare him to the other 3 and consider him to be “equal 1st”.
Maradona found success everywhere in his club career prior to his decline and not just because he played for the best team. Ronaldo has only played for the best or one of the best teams in each country he has played in, Messi has only played for Barcelona. What Maradona achieved at Napoli you could argue the other 2 could not replicate.
His brilliance also carried his country to one World Cup and early won them another. Messi hasn’t been able to inspire Argentina to any success while Ronaldo has helped Portugal to a Euro Championship.
Probably means Gazza will go this time next year. That would be quite the reunion when those 3 get together again.
Could do with a few livers but
one thing I will say, is i’ve always imagined what Maradona and Pele could do if they were playing in this day and age. With the support, training and technology behind them, they’d destroy the leagues in my opinion. You’d struggle to find two players with more natural talent, even when comparing Messi and Ronaldo.
Also, nothing weirder than watching old games and players passing back to the keeper. Thank eff they got rid of that rule…
Just think even with that backing that Maradona would still fall into the extra curricular traps he fell into back in the day because of his personality. This time it would be all over the media and his career would be a lot shorter than it was.
Also people, if you haven’t seen the Diego Maradona documentary now is the time to remedy this.
Thats a good point to add to my “different times have different situations so its hard to compare across generations” post above. Who knows how Pele or Maradona would have faired in todays highly pressurised intense news and social media cycles.
Instructive today to see videos of England players from that day, Gary Lineker and Peter Reid, both stand up solid blokes (and that’s coming from an LFC fan) with a love and admiration for him, and Peter Shilton (a shit) still bitter.
Can I also remind people that Puskås and Hidegkuti existed.
Also, Puskås died on the 17th Nov. Shitty month for top talent eh?
You keep spelling Cruijff wrong.
For innovation it’s gotta be Cryuff and Hidegkuti.
