Who Was/Is the BEST Soccer Player EVER?

[bhoor]

zidane really good, as were Pele and Maradona. Tough to compare because guys like Messi took a lot from zidane and pele and maradona. If you watch just from a pure skill perspective, it's Messi and isn't close. Maradona himself would admit that. The ball appears glued to his foot.

Zidane too is probably not even as good as Christiano Ronaldo from a pure skill perspective. Ronaldo is in another class than him, although Zidane is definitely one of the most skillful midfielders ever. Ronaldo is just a different breed of player. Not many ever in the history with his combination of skill and athleticism. Probably has never been a more fit player in the world, ever, than Christiano Ronaldo. Prolly like 5% body fat.

But the thing is, Zidane, Pele, Ronaldo, Maradona, these guys all have better resumes than Messi and Ronaldo. Sure, Ronaldo and Messi kill them in club play. And Messi and Ronaldo have more MVPs (Ballon's (world player of the year awards -- with Messi having the record for them I believe)) But they don't have the World Cups. This is tough, because you can only have citizens play for the national team. Obviously France and Brazil have produced some elite talent for decades, and Argentina was great in Maradonas day with world-class players everywhere. Argentina since has taken a few steps back, and it was a miracle for them to make the finals in the last World Cup, with Messi drawing so much attention (Loew said he had 3 guys focused only on Messi for 120 minutes...) that they almost won since everyone else either had 1 on 1 coverage or was left open (Aguerro, Higuine, etc).

Kinda tough, but I'm gonna have to go with Messi. The man is still only 30 years old, and he can arguably play in 2 more World Cups if he wants.

Lol! Ronaldo of Brazil was way better player than C.Ronaldo of Portugal.

[Dollars2Donuts]

1. Lev Yashin

2. Pele

3. Messi

[Axman3000]

Pele because he is the only soccer player I know of.

[franz555]

The greatest player, and perhaps all around athlete of all time is Pele. He scored 1281 goals in his career, more then double the next highest tally ( Franz Bimbo Binder 1930's is 2nd ). He was the hero and MVP of the World Cup in 1958 at the age of 17 and continued to dominate the game for the next 20+ years. If you take into account longevity and assess a players career in its entirety, he is unparalleled. George Best was brilliant but faded at a very young age due to excessive drinking , snorting and womanizing. The same can be said for Diego Maradona, who went on a downward spiral after signing with Napoli and became addicted to cocaine. At present, both Messi and Ronaldo are accumulating plenty of votes from those who follow the game today, but i would be hard pressed to give them a top 5 or even top 10 spot ( yet ) on the " All time greatest " list. For me its Pele at #1 and the next group of players are a distance behind. Players such as....


Johan Cryuff

Garrincha

Eusebio

Puskas

Di Stefano

Beckenbauer


The rest......... Messi , Ronaldo , Best , Ronaldinho , Zidane , Charlton , etc

[bhoor]

The greatest player, and perhaps all around athlete of all time is Pele. He scored 1281 goals in his career, more then double the next highest tally ( Franz Bimbo Binder 1930's is 2nd ). He was the hero and MVP of the World Cup in 1958 at the age of 17 and continued to dominate the game for the next 20+ years. If you take into account longevity and assess a players career in its entirety, he is unparalleled. George Best was brilliant but faded at a very young age due to excessive drinking , snorting and womanizing. The same can be said for Diego Maradona, who went on a downward spiral after signing with Napoli and became addicted to cocaine. At present, both Messi and Ronaldo are accumulating plenty of votes from those who follow the game today, but i would be hard pressed to give them a top 5 or even top 10 spot ( yet ) on the " All time greatest " list. For me its Pele at #1 and the next group of players are a distance behind. Players such as....


Johan Cryuff

Garrincha

Eusebio

Puskas

Di Stefano

Beckenbauer


The rest......... Messi , Ronaldo , Best , Ronaldinho , Zidane , Charlton , etc

Pele played in the era of Beer League.

[franz555]

Pele played in the era of Beer League.

Actually , the era of " The Beer League " is modern day sports. Like hockey , Football , Baseball and any other sport played for the entertainment of others, the leagues are all expanded. Its about making money and the quality of the game is therefore diluted by comparison to what it once was. The era that Pele played in had 1/10th of the opportunity to make the professional level then todays era, and only magnified his overall accomplishments.

[grease lightnin]

Soccer? My buddy Pat was pretty good in high school.

The only thing I like about soccer is the players used to buy a lot of weed from me back in the day