what do you think, who was the best player in the 90's and 00's ? in the 50's, 60's, 70's , 80's it was a simple choice but in the last two decades ? it's hard because we had a great players which play great in a half of decade ( some of them in two halfs in two decades)... and in the begininng of the 90's we had matthaeus, v. basten, romario, baggio, in the second half - ronaldo, rivaldo, zidane, figo... similar to the 00's - ronaldo, zidane, rivaldo, figo in the beinning , henry & ronaldinho in the middel and messi, xavi or cr now... so, maybe peak time + individual awards& titles .................and awards go to ronaldo ( 90's ) and ronaldinho ( 00's ) ???? what is your chocie ?
From 1990 - 2009 overall? Zidane or Ronaldo. An interesting thought for those who underestimate Zidane's importance for French football: Zidane played in bolded WC 98 Champion Euro 00 Champion WC 02 Group Stage Euro 04 QF WC 06 Runner-up Euro 08 Group Stage WC 10 Group Stage One might notice a pattern here Was the team in 2002 (Henry missed one game IIRC) really that much worse than 2000? Or 06 compared to 2008/2010?
If the period is 1991-2010 then yes, I agree on Zidane. He made his teams better weekend after weekend and he always showed up under pressure. Paolo Maldini is second in my book. For 1991-2000 I would probably pick Roberto Baggio, followed by Hagi. I find the choice for 2001-2010 very difficult, but I think Steven Gerrard is a good candidate, followed by Iker Casillas.
OK,according to FIFA,In the mid-90s Ronaldo was best player,and called "II Fenomeno" or "New Pele",he was as good as Pele at that moment(you know Pele was greatest soccer,so meaning Ronaldo was best player ever at that moment) FIFA:In the mid-90s Brazilian striker Ronaldo was regarded as the best player on the planet, a status that was underlined by the two consecutive FIFA World Player awards he won in 1996 and 1997. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=997356.html http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/awards/gala/news/newsid=71877.html And Baggio,Romario were best players in the early-90s until 94,But who was better?I think Baggio was a more skillfull player,Romario was a much better scorer,their rank? See these data by IFFHS,FIFA,World Cup on 20th century . http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/iffhs-century.html#world http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/100magn.html http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsWldSocPlyrsCent.html And the 00s,I think Ronaldinho,II fenomeno,Zidane were Top three!Early- 00s was belong to Ronaldo and Zidane,Ronaldo scored 8 goals in 02 world cup and show his great skills in 02-04 season in REAL MADRID,Zidane was one of two best players in 00-01 with Figo(Rivaldo'time was 97-99),twice this decade Zidane has won the World Player Of The Year.Since 2004 to 2006,Ronaldinho become best player in the world ,at that moment,Henry was second best player.Since 2007,Kaka,C.ronaldo,Messi were best,but now Sneijder was much greater than these three,Now Sneijder like Maradona in the 86-88,and CRonaldo,Messi,Kaka like Basten,Rijkaard and Guliti. PLEASE 100% believe me Sneijder will win the 2010 WPOTY
Back to history: http://www.sportstar.in/tss2522/25220660.htm BRAZIL * RONALDO. Position: Striker. Age: 25. Club: Inter Milan. Ronaldo's career has been in the doldrums since Brazil's 1998 World Cup final defeat against France, when he was played in the match just hours after suffering a fit in his hotel room. Recurring knee injuries have decimated his playing career in the past four years, but he has made an encouraging return to action for Inter Milan and Brazil this season. If he can recapture just some of the form shown in his pre-1998 career, the Brazilian striker could well be one of the stars of the World Cup. Superb strength, explosive pace and a wide range of skills made Ronaldo unquestionably the best player on the planet for a spell in the mid to late 1990s.
If we're talking about the whole of the 90s and not just the back end, you could make an argument for Stoichkov. Arguably Barcelona's leader through several league titles and a European Cup, and great performances in two international tournaments (WC 1994 and Euro 1996).
One thing that hurts Ronaldo is his longevity on the highest competitive level. He played only 5 full seasons (over 30 games) in Seria A and La Liga compared to Zidane's 10 full seasons. If I'm a club manager and can sign either of them for a (hypothetical) career contract I would take Zidane over Ronaldo, though Ronaldo was obviously a better football player at his peak.
Ronaldo was better than Zidane in any seasons in Seria A and La Liga ,Zidane also was not one of best player in the world in 2005 and 2006 (he was best player in 06 world cup,but in La Liga in Real madrid ronaldo was better) Zidane,Romario,Maradona ,Cruyff ,Messi,Kaka ,Raul...these players even couldn't compare Ronaldo,Ronaldo was II Fenomeno,do you believe a terrestrial player better than O fenomeno?if that,why we called him O fenomeno? Ronaldo won the Seria A Player of the A Decade in 2007 by Italy Soccer Association.
“The Phenomenon”, that two-season spell – his year at Barcelona and his first campaign with Inter Milan – when he was arguably the most dominant player in the history of the game. --------------- By THE SUNDAY TIMES http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/gabriele_marcotti/article3471503.ece If Zidane was better than Ronaldo ,then Raul was greatest ever,the man played in Madrid for 16 years and he had 16 full seasons.
You said that Wesley Sneijder is comparable to Diego Maradona. Why should I even care to read anything you write? If you have any worthwhile or new to say rather than the usual Il Fenomeno, WPOTY blabla stuff then go on and impress me ....
Sorry for my bad english.That is a metaphor,I meaning that Wesley Sneijder's rank in today beings to be equal to Maradona in the late-80s ,but he never close to Maradona,he will win WPOTY,if he couldn't,i will so surprised And Zidane was a great player,but not that great,if you ask Zidane ,he will tell you "I am not better than Ronaldo" .After Ronaldo retire,you will see that Ronaldo will become a legend,even a biggest legend like Pele
NOT ONLY European, but even the Placar Brazilian magazine also rated Ronaldo higher: Os 100 Craques das Copas (Placar Magazine) 1 - PELÉ (Brazil) 2 - GARRINCHA (Brazil) 3 - Diego MARADONA (Argentina) 4 - Franz BECKENBAUER (Germany) 5 - RONALDO (Brazil) 6 - Johan CRUYFF (Netherlands) 7 - Ferenc PUSKAS (Hungary) 8 - ROMÁRIO (Brazil) 9 - Zinedine ZIDANE (France) 10- Eusebio (Portugal) ======================================== I believe we had a separate thread for Ronaldo vs Romario somewhere
Asian believe that Ronaldo was better than anyone,maybe only Argentina and some Brazilian believe Romario was better than Ronaldo
Yes and so :? Is not WC the most important fact to hinder player's legendary status? Maradona was sealed as #2 all time "mostly becuase of his WC86" . Pele was sealed as #1 all time for his 3 times WC winner, plus 2 great performance there! Why Baggio and Romario regarded as great players bc they had a great WC on their name. Unfortunately for Romario, Ronaldo had even better , 2 great WC's in his name, and slightly better club flASHES in people meory than Romario's
So, the WC is not the be all and end all. Compare Toto Schillachi's WC performances to Alfredo di Stefano's, and one will come out on top. Doesn't mean that that Toto was better than Don Alfredo.
Why bother to compare Toto to Don Di? Di Stefano deserved MUCH better than that! Toto was just a ONETIME HERO made by WC90. Even Paolo Rossi a hero in WC82 could not be close to Don name! Let's face the fact that MOST PEOPLE put Pele, Maradona, Cruijff, Beckenbauer above Don Di - to certain lists, some even put Puskas, Boby Charlton, Zidane , Ronaldo, and Garrincha higher! No coincidence, all those names were associated with at least 1 great WC !
I compared them to show that WC performances are not the be all and end all. Your post again is muddled, because you are not comparing like for like. You are claiming that Brazilians rate Ronaldo more highly than Romario, based on a listing of the WC. But while the WC is massively important, it is not the only thing. So the comparison based on the listing in Placar doesn't work. I don't dispute the thrust of it (ie that Ronaldo was better than Romario) but the logic for it doesn't hold.
I always wanted to be in good enough shape to be a professional athlete, but this is not what I had in mind...........
no it was your comparison muddled. First. my point is to against the claim "most Brazilians or people in SA" rated Romario as better than Ronaldo (whic I have never seen any "official list") in other hand at least 3,5 official list ranked Ronaldo higher - FACT that is what I like to highlight and I am sure you (and some) might dislike them: Worldsoccer Mag, Placar mag, France football mag, ... had Ronaldo higher! Secondly, "like for like" way - like the two R's played in WC, the two played for same team (Barca) same league Liga, and Holland. Brazil- so the comparison was clear - Ronaldo edged out in most cases like WC, Barca, and Holland. Romario was better than Ronaldo in Brazil league yes. Now. your (muddled) or "like for like" comparison: Di Stefano who did not really play in a WC compare to Toto the" worst WC goldenball winner" in history is REALLY SOMETHING "strange" for your knowledge of football! and that was not fair and the LEAST FACTUAL case - as if Di could shine or maybe not at all in a WC - we don;t know. No one said that b/c G.Best or dI Stefano not having a WC so their status are lower. READ MY line: I said "Coincident" D Stefano was ranked lower than Pele (who never played in Europe/CL), lower than Maradona (who played great in Europe but did not even have good CL like Di Stefano) and WHY? Skillset is onething as not easy to evaluate clearly since we lacked of Di Stefano footgage a lot. the rest is WC that made difference, no? Even Cruijff, who got same success in CL like Di Stefano, but he "might" edge out Don Di for his performance in WC74 (!)