You are talking out of your rear end again Ronaldoooooooooo! The era in Brasil during the time of Zico isn't like it is now or even in the 90's. The teams down there still kept quality players within the league. Please don't talk about stuff that you do not know.
does that even matter? no. brazil's 3rd string goalie, gilmar, won a world cup in 94, on the bench, just like ronaldo. zico didnt win a cup. by your logic, gilmar is better than zico. did ronaldo win anything outside of the green and yellow? no. does it matter? no. cruyff and platini are arguably in the top 5 of all time and they never won the cup. but they won tons of stuff with their clubs. even ronaldo hasnt had an impressive club career outside of a uefa cup, which is pretty much worthless these days. just because you dont win titles or whatever, doesnt take away from your accomplishments as a whole. im not denying that ronaldo is a great striker. he isnt the best ever though for brazil. he is up there with 3 other guys...all level: friedenreich, leonidas, and romario. very simple man. i'm done with this thread since you're so blind in your admiration for this guy and can't even accept the fact that there are strikers who are equal to him...and other brazilians who were more well-rounded and better.
No No No, please. Ronaldo won 1 world cup in 02, who said i'm counting 94? and also came in second place in 98 just cuz Zico hasn't done that we supposed to ignore those accomplishements? damn man, you really are running out of arguments. And Yes Ronaldo did win something outside the Brazilian shirt. If your smart enough you'd notice that i posted his club achievements in my previous posts in this thread. This without saying that Ronaldo is 29 years old and still playing while Zico is long retired. If Ronaldo had stayed in Brazil he'd have won more club titles but he came to Europe where competition is harder.
First, to win a World Cup you need to have a good well balanced team around you. Then you need some luck. And BTW, in 02 Rivaldo was as important as Ronaldo on the team. The fact that Zico didn't win a WC has nothing to do with how good he was. Like Leonidas just mentioned, Cryuff, Platini, and other great players never won a WC.
Zico was the man, almost there with Pele, I woud pair him up with Garrincha's level I grew up seeing the guy playing every week in Brasi's and he was the greatest I've ever seen in the field in my life. Romario, Ronaldinho Gaucho are one level below him ronaldo? ahahahah gimme a break, that fat punk ain't sh!t
The difference is that you rely on what you've seen of Ronaldo and mostly stats. I, and many here, have seen both of them play. They are both amazing. But IMO Zico was more complete because he was almost as good as Ronaldo in scoring goals, and then much, much better as a play maker because he was a midfielder with outstanding vision. A guy that can dribble, shoot, and make create plays is probably the hardest type of player to find. Specially nowdays.
I agree, except that I think RG still needs to accomplish a few more things to be just a level below him. If he was an impact player in the WC, he would be just about there.
Okay, how many times do you hear people say that pre-injury Ronaldo is right up there with pele and Maradona and even majority say the greatest ever? I've seen Zico play but he was not as talented or have the same skills as in his prime as Ronaldo. Yes, watching both players in determining whos better is fine, but also we shouldn't ignore stats and the circumstances they played in.
Udine is right by Piracicaba in the Sao Paulo state. Very nice little town, a bunch of Italians live there for some reason.
This is not going to degenerate into another Ronaldo thread. Any more back and forth about Ronaldo will be deleted. If you really want to compare him to Zico make sure you do it in a civil way.
Boa! We all like Ronaldo, but this is getting ridiculous. ............. Pelé Garrincha - he was the man who almost single-handedly won the 1962 World Cup, not to mention his participation in the 1958 WC and the Botafogo years. Simply a monster football player.
The last night -february 6th 1990 By ARMANDO NOGUEIRA Maracanã, adorn your blenchers with flags, because today is a party day for soccer. Order a sky full of stars. Invite the moon (the full moon, if we can choose). Make your children dress their sunday clothes. Put new batteries on the fans' radios. And please do not forget to irrigate the grass (preferably, with perfume). Tell everybody that no one can miss the celebration. Its Zico's farewell and I know, from a responsible source, that he is going to share with us the beautiful collection of goals scored along his twenty years of Maracanã. I already picked my choice. I want that masterpiece: the second brazilian goal against Paraguay for the 1986 World Cup's qualifying. I remember it as if it was yesterday. Zico receives a half-distance pass from Leandro at the paraguayan midfield. An unpredicted effect slows down the ball for a moment. Zico is going to miss it - I think. My mistake. Without a bit of hesitation, without even lowering his eyes, he grabs the ball with the foot's top and, keeping the same rhythm, he shots two steps after, putting the ball on the left corner of the paraguayan goalie. I spent a week viewing and reviewing on tape such magic move of a body in complete harmony with time and space. And the ball, stuck to his feet, seemed tied up to his shoes. A remarkable goal. If the dear reader accepts a suggestion, please hear this one: pick one of the goals that Zico scored due to his unique art of free kicking. The ability to kick from the boundaries of the penalty area is a gift from God, but a gift not given for free, as some may wrongly think. Zico worked hard for years and years to reach the perfection of sublime effects. Every afternoon, when the training was over, he remained alone on Flamengo's pitch - he, an artificial wall, a ball and a shirt meticulously hung over the crossbar's upper corners. This shirt was the target. Zico spent uncountable hours kicking close to the wall and bringing the shirt to the ground. And when sundays came, on the free kicks, the ball already knew where she was supposed to go. I have no fear to say that it will take an eternity to find someone so gifted for free kicks from the penalty area's boundaries. Let's celebrate, my dear friend, the last night of the greatest striker in the history of Maracanã. It will be a crushing farewell. If you have a wish to cry, then cry. Cry without attempting to hide the purity of your emotions. It is necessary just a tear of love to immortalize the all-star's soccer. Let's sing, Maracanã, in the honor of your brave son, remembering together the most eye-catching moves, the most fortunate passes, the most luminous goals of the noble man who has a life replete of superlatives. Let's praise Zico, the poet that played soccer as if the ball was a half-opened rose below his feet.
ico is the greater scorer on Flamengo's history, with 508 goals on 731 games. He is the idol of a nation of more than 35 million fans all around the brazilian country. He scored 333 times on Maracanã, a record not yet broken by any other player. He took over Italy during the two seasons that played for Udinese, leaving a flavor of the brazilian spice on the traditional italian macaroni. In Japan, he is admired by people that never get tired of rendering him honors for all the things he did for soccer on the land of the rising sun. The japanese fans made a carnival out of his definitive farewell game (1994), building two statues for him. And the emperor himself gave him a medal for all he did on the country's benefit. The most important demonstration of trust, however, happened last year, when they gave him the harsh mission of leading the national team on their quest for a place on the 2006 World Cup. During his years as a soccer player, Zico also achieved a notable level of reverence on countries where he played, such as France and Spain. It is not possible to precise the exact moment that a man turns into an idol, when it happens naturally, with no influence of image building resources. Zico is a true old-fashioned kind of example, once it all started from the cozy neighborhood of Quintino, by the feet of a gifted boy, filled with love for soccer, respect, discipline and lots of courage. Just to mention some of the mix main ingredients. Nothing artificial or built up. During his childhood, his relation with the ball was already very affective. Zico used to sleep with it next to his pillow, treating it with a lot of tenderness. It could be just a ball made of socks or at a table soccer game, but his attentions were always focused on it. And on its turn, the ball never let him down. It learned to be always near his feet and to obey his will on the way to the goal. Zico's first memories of Maracanã date from April 23 of 1961, when he was only eight years old. And that day was marked by the beginning of the love affair between the all-star and the Temple of Soccer. Taken by his father to a game in which Flamengo ended up conquering the Rio-São Paulo tournament, the little Arthur could watch a very talented player called Edvaldo Alves de Santa Rosa, also known as Dida. Flamengo's number 10 scored twice for the championship and for the place of idol on Zico's heart. The little boy was completely fascinated. But there is also who swears that this love story started much earlier. "Di-Da" would have been one of the first words spoken by Zico, at the age of two. Four years later, Zico would make his first step on the field of the stadium that later enshrined him. He was taken by his neighbor Ivo, who worked on the stadium management. At that time, the all-star already made the opposing teams' backs go crazy and distributed precise passes for his teammates of Juventude, no matter if that was on non-grassy or indoor fields, or even on street matches so common in Brazil. But in his dreams, the Temple of Soccer appeared as his house's backyard. A kind of premonition.
armando nogueira is a true football poet. i dont think i've ever heard of a more eloquent, intelligent pundit than him...and this pretty much goes for any sport. once again, well said on zico. anyone who really wants to know a true opinion, read him. and this goes for Ronaldooooooo, especially.