Thread: Ronaldinho

Will this world cup lay to rest all the pish about comparing him to Pele and Maradonna.
Once he starts to raise the whole teams performance ,and do it consistently world cup after world cup,THEN these comparisons may be valid!
Up until then,he is one of the best in the world just now,but of all time?C'mon!!!

I hate to say it about a Frenchman, but I think Zidane is up in the same bracket as those guys?

Needs to cut down on needless fouls though - check out his stats, he gets pulled up a lot.

Did Dinho play in the World Cup?

I don't think he can be compared to the great yet but he has at least 1 more world cup and he has been AWESOME at Barca.Having said that,he was poor at this world cup but I think it's because he does not have the same freedom as he does at Barca,same with Henry at Arsenal and France. They are not allowed to express themselves as they are at club level.

Zidane is the greatest player ever to me.


what didnt the bloke win

I reckon it is between Zidane and Maradona for the title of "best ever"... I would probably lean towards Zizou though. The man has supernatural talent... amazing dribbler, laser like accuracy off either foot, incredible vision, very strong and balanced and he always rises to the occasion.

Originally Posted by Oggie

I reckon it is between Zidane and Maradona for the title of "best ever"... I would probably lean towards Zizou though. The man has supernatural talent... amazing dribbler, laser like accuracy off either foot, incredible vision, very strong and balanced and he always rises to the occasion.

Surely you can't think that Pele is not up there?

Originally Posted by X

Originally Posted by Oggie

I reckon it is between Zidane and Maradona for the title of "best ever"... I would probably lean towards Zizou though. The man has supernatural talent... amazing dribbler, laser like accuracy off either foot, incredible vision, very strong and balanced and he always rises to the occasion.

Surely you can't think that Pele is not up there?

i think he's only going for players in his lifetime!

Pele was part of one of the best teams ever... he was one of many talents to play for Brazil at that time. Pele would not have been as successful if he hadn't had the likes of Garrincha, Nilton Santos, Didi, Zagallo, Zito and Vava around him. Some argue that Garrincha was a more skillful all round player than Pele and I tend to agree... You also have to remember that football has evolved since that time, the game is played at a higher tempo nowadays. No doubting that Pele was an exceptional talent, but I still don't rate him quite as high as Maradona or Zidane.
Maradona single handidly carried an otherwise average Argentina team to the World Cup in 1986, scoring arguably the greatest world cup goal in the process against England. He had a glittering club career too, with Napoli in particular, scoring 115 goals in just over 250 games against the notoriously tough defences of Italy.
Zidane... well... where do you begin? He has done it all at the highest level and made it look so easy. You probably don't need me to list off all he has accomplished.

I'm not going to agree with you, but at least you have thought it out enough to have an opinion!

I will agree though, that Zidane and Maradona stand comparison with anyone who ever lived

Originally Posted by X

I'm not going to agree with you, but at least you have thought it out enough to have an opinion!

I will agree though, that Zidane and Maradona stand comparison with anyone who ever lived

Cheers man, have a cool click.
That is the good thing about the debate, we will never know for sure and each player will always have their admirers sticking up for them. If you ask a Brazilian, they will say Pele or Garrincha. If you ask an Argentinian, they will say Maradona and a few will bring up Di Stefano. Ask a French person and you will definitely hear Zidane's name and possibly Platini's too... ask an English person and it will be George Best... ask a Dutch person and it will be Johann Cruyff and the Portugese will argue that Eusebio is up there too, haha. :P

Have a cc back.

I'm Welsh, but will not be coming back at you with Vinny Jones (!)

Oggie,you make your points well but the fact is had Pele not been playing with those same players in the Brazil team,he still would have been amazing.Also,he was(until very very recently)Brazil's highest scorer ever and if you look at tll the great players they have had,that is some achievement. He also scored over 1,000 goals in his career,which is absolutely incredible and led to his average team,Santos to 2 world club championships.He was two footed,could head,dribble,long range,tap ins etc etc etc. Follow this link,it's a great read.

http://www.latinosportslegends.com/Pele_bio.htm

It's because maybe we did not see Pele all the time that we think he is not as good Mardaona etc etc because they plied their trade in Europe but I'm sure the South American contingent think the same of Zidane etc because they did not get to see them play all the time.

Originally Posted by The Game

Oggie,you make your points well but the fact is had Pele not been playing with those same players in the Brazil team,he still would have been amazing.Also,he was(until very very recently)Brazil's highest scorer ever and if you look at tll the great players they have had,that is some achievement. He also scored over 1,000 goals in his career,which is absolutely incredible and led to his average team,Santos to 2 world club championships.He was two footed,could head,dribble,long range,tap ins etc etc etc. Follow this link,it's a great read.

http://www.latinosportslegends.com/Pele_bio.htm

It's because maybe we did not see Pele all the time that we think he is not as good Mardaona etc etc because they plied their trade in Europe but I'm sure the South American contingent think the same of Zidane etc because they did not get to see them play all the time.

Thanks for that link man.
No doubt that Pele was an extraordinary player and his strike rate speaks for itself but, I honestly believe that if you took Garrincha off the late 50's/early 60's Brazil team, that would have been a bigger loss than Pele. Pele was playing with some of the greatest playmakers you will ever see in the likes of Nilton Santos, Zito, Didi, Zagallo and Garrincha and while he scored some spectacular goals, I just feel he didn't do as many individually brilliant things as Zidane or Maradona.
I don't mean to downplay him in the slightest because he is one of the all time greats and if I was to make a top 10 list, he would most certainly be on there but like I said, for individual brilliance, I think Zidane and Maradona (Garrincha too) are ahead of him in my opinion...

i think garrincha was a better player than pele, pele stands out though cos of his strike rate.
but garrincha made half them goals possible and he had a gammy leg which looked weird but he could run like the wind!!!