my question is (also taking in consideration that in certain era's and in certain countrys competitions (for example italy in the 80'ies it was more difficult to score due to the playing style) WHO SI THE BEST PURE GOALSCORER EVER (so not the best forward or most complete striker but simply the greatest goalmachine ever. here are some contenders feel free to chooce or to add someone i may have forgotten. gerd muller, eusebio (more goals then matches what a career), sandor koscis (68 international games and 75 goals. wow), jimmy greaves, denis law, ronaldo, van basten, riva (playing for a relatively small club and scoring 169 in 337 games in the italian competition with their ultra defensive football is a very very good performance). if i where to chooce i would vote for muller. the man was incredible a chance was a goal. he scored with his feet, his head, his back, his knees, his ass, his shoulders with all parts of his body. gerd muller the greatest ever goalscoring machine. P.S. i have not included players like pele and puskas because they where not real strikers.
I agree with you here. Gerd Müller takes it imo. I cant think of another scorer that would have been as consistently prolific as Müller for so many years in one of the main leagues in the world during his time (unlike Eusebio, for instance), domestically and in continental competitions, as well as with his national team. Talking just about scoring, nobody like Müller imo. At least in post WW2 football. As much as I like him, Riva has not business in this thread imo. Nordahl, for instance, does Having said all this, my personal favorite striker is probably Marco van Basten.
i explained why riva should be in here. playing not for a big club in italy like milan or juve and scoing 1 in 2 games with that ultra defensive football is a great great achievement and ranks him amongst the best goalscorers ever.
Names that I saw play: Romário, Batistuta and Shevchenko. For my all time team I would have: Muller, Eusébio and Romário. Names in no particular order.
very strang list you name. the thread says pure goalscorer. messi and zico are/where way more then just pure goalscorers not even they played as n out an out triker. sanchez should not be mentioned with the likes of muller, romario, koscis etc etc
They were goal scorers. Hugo Sanchez was a scoring machine in Spain. Zico as unfortunate in some aspects was a machine and he proved it in Italy passed his prime for 1 year. Messi..he is the best machine right now. I can add to the list with Eusebio,Tulio, Alberto Spencer,PUskas, Pele etc..
If we ignore position (FW, poacher striker MF) then whoelse but PELE 11Topscorers Paulista + 5topscorers (brazil national champs) = no one came close + 750goals official career (#1) + 77goals NT (#2)
Pele has done really impressive, but it gives a good discussion when compared to Romario. 7Topscores in Leagues (3Dutch League + 1La Liga + 3Brazilian League) + 2UCL + 7TopScorers Campeonato Carioca + 2Copa do Brasil + 2Rio-SP + 2Mercosul + 760goals official (for El Gráfico, is the most goalscorer of history) + 55goals official/70matches in Brazil NT
Gerd Muller + 7Topscorers in League (7x German League) + 4European Cup + 1World Cup + 1Euro and others + 730goals official (according Rsssf. but El Gráfico is 680 goals) + 68 goals/62matches in NT
yeah if we only go for the number then ... the TOP5 would be: Biscan Puskas, Pele, Muller Romario historical order!
Numbers are always hard. Look at this list 'El Gráfico' of April 2012, only with official goals. ''In a discussion on the publisher, it was determined that would not be taken into account: club friendlies, tournaments organized by clubs, summer or winter tournaments, pre-season matches, games not involving the professional team, festive duels. Goals scored in juvenile selections were not computed, as well as in matches against clubs vs national teams'' Search on this would be a good thread and stirred a discussion, I can not do now hahaha
Tulio, the arm of God, is on the list. Not surprised he us above Zico. Artur Freidenreich on the list?
Having actually seen both Nordahl and Puskas in action and all the ways that they could stick the ball in the net: they both at least deserve a mention in this A-T category. Nordahl frequently fails to get mentioned when this category comes up IMO...
Agreed,Agreed Nordahl...MILAN LEGEND Deserves more attention.He is the 2nd top goalscorer in Serie A of all time after all
For the sake of 'goal scorer" , we all know the TOP 5 (Pele, Puskas Bican Muller Romario ) with most goals career of all! But those are just a number (include friendlies and unimportant games). What about the BIG GAMES where they count the most for Legend LEGACY? ESPN did an analysis on a few stats: http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/3482?cc=5901 1- Who got the most goal percentage in big games 2- Who scored in most games of big games 3- Who scored most "decisive" goals in those big games Out of those 3 stats and in either case of quantity or quality (over quantity) PELE is always on TOP ==================================================== The only mystery is that HOW they determined (categorized) what games are BIG GAMES? Pele seemed to have "easier ride" with his smaller number of games, while Ronaldo had "tougher ride" since they count almost all big games (97 is ALOT for such a player with short career) Messi is on the same path (with Ronaldo) if one will continue this stats, as he would accumulate more in years to come, and hence his GPG will only go down!
Yes if we go further to 4 significant figure in the ratio. However The whole point is that the combination of all cases is more important = Pele is king. Messi could be #1 in that 16goals/41games, but he ONLY CONTRIBUTED in HALF of those big games !
[Jimmy Murphy gives an interesting take on Law v. the likes of Pele and Puskas in his book "Matt, United & Me" w/then-contemporary commentary. It's a bit pro-Law and -United; but he does it from the perspective of a top-class club coach and an international manager w/Wales. Have any of you ever seen what I'm talking about?]
Exactly. That is a interesting idea, but journalist forgot to explain which games he is regarding as BIG. How explain that Rooney played +90 Big games, while Messi only played 42?