He could - eventhough mostly in liga games ... but .. He did win games (vs Sweden) and LED Portugal into this WC2014 (he won Ballon Dor over Messi for those extra games)
Led Portugal to WC14... Even in Ballon d'Or 13 he needed to cheat and change the rules after the vote, to get those 3% of votes ahead of Messi.
yes I agree with that weird change (sepp Ballter), but I meant the votes were more because of the last 2 games where CR7 won to get Portugal qualified
Out of the two I prefer Rivaldo, I think he had greater match-winning ability. If you can ever find full matches of some of his great games (hattrick vs Valencia, hattrick vs Milan, 2 goals vs Madrid, should have been a hattrick too but had a goal wrongly called off) you'd start to understand. http://www.averageopposition.com/2012/02/player-comparison-romario-vs-ronaldo-vs.html?m=1 there's a comparison there of Rivaldo to the other South American greats that played for Barca. Note how he scores high on 'big game' goals and goals that were directly worth points to his team. Zidane too was a big game player, win or lose he rarely had poor finals or eliminations in the CL during his prime (vs Dortmund, Madrid and Man U at Juve and vs Juve at Real) I felt he usually showed up. Then you have the International finals too. All said, it's a weird comparison. Zidane was a 'create first' type of attacking midfielder and therefore excelled in that more than Rivaldo as well controlling the tempo of games. Rivaldo was a 'score first' type of attacking mid and you can see it in his superior scoring.
While Rivaldo performance in WC02 have some recognition among the fans, Rivaldo´98 has been totally forgotten. And, in fact, he had a good claim to be regarded as the best brazilian of that WC too. And the media ratings of that time are with him: L´Equipe ratings 7,17 Thuram (France) 7,07 Desailly (France) 6,92 Petit (France) 6,60 B. Laudrup (Denmark) 6,40 Ortega & Verón (Argentina), Bergkamp (Holland) 6,36 Rivaldo (Brazil) 6,33 Davids (Holland) 6,30 Henry (France) France Football ratings 30 points: Thuram (France) 28: Desailly (France) 27: Šuker (Croatia), Barthez & Petit (France) 26: Davids (Holland) 25: Dunga & Rivaldo (Brazil), F. de Boer & Stam (Holland) 24: Taffarel (Brazil), Ladic & Jarni (Croatia), Deschamps (France), Cocu (Holland) 23: Cafu, Leonardo, Roberto Carlos & Ronaldo (Brazil), Asanovic & Stanic (Croatia), Van der Sar (Holland) 22: César Sampaio & Júnior Baiano (Brazil), Bilic & Stimac (Croatia), Lizarazu (France), R. de Boer (Holland) 21: Verón (Argentina), Bebeto (Brazil) 20: B. Laudrup (Denmark), Boban & Simic (Croatia), Djorkaeff (France), Overmars (Holland) Gazzetta dello Sport's ratings: 7,10: Thuram 7,00: Zidane 6,95: Davids 6,90: Mondragón 6,75: Pagliuca, Ince, Owen, Luis Hernández 6,70: Petit, Vieri 6,65: Desailly, Bierhoff 6,60: Di Biagio, Mahdavikia 6,55: B. Laudrup, R. Baggio 6,50: Barthez, Dunga, F. Cannavaro, Overmars, Šuker, Blanco, Wilmots 6,45: M. Laudrup, Deschamps, Rivaldo, Bergomi 6,40: Ronaldo, Hadji, Konsel Kicker's ratings for Brazil players: 7,43 Dunga & Rivaldo 7,17 Cafu 7,08 César Sampaio 7,00 Taffarel, Júnior Baiano & Roberto Carlos 6,86 Ronaldo & Leonardo 6,83 Aldair 6,50 Denílson 6,36 Bebeto
Very true and with that said GMO's are healthy and are of no threat. There have been no studies that suggest otherwise
Rivaldo was a boss no doubt but also struggled with the selecao without Ronaldo by his side. The 2002 World Cup qualifiers gave us a glimpse of this granted he also didn't have much to work with at times.
Well I preferred Zidane but thats more for aesthetics, not saying he was better or worse than Rivaldo.
Take it easy. I am not calling you a hater. I'm just saying the level of hate Zidane gets is ridiculous. I'm not a hypocrite either. Everyone is entitled to their opinion just like I am entitled to mine. There's nothing hypocritical about me disagreeing with the level of hate that Zidane gets. I don't know why you are taking this so personally. Did Zidane do something to you personally? Did a Zidane fan do something to you personally? This is the first post I've made in this thread and you are acting as if I insulted your entire family. When did I say that it's ok for Zidane to get credit that he does not deserve? What accusations? Try being a little less insecure. I'm just adding my opinion to a thread full of OPINIONS. I'm not taking away anything from Henry, Ribery, Viera, or Makelele. However, you can't take the 2006 World Cup away from him as much as you dislike him. Zidane was the most crucial part of France's run in 2006. Where in my post did I say that 2006 France was an average team? Just because I said Zidane was the most important piece of that team leads you to conclude that I think 2006 France was an average team? Nice logic. There is no such thing as an average finalist. 2006 France was a great team and Zidane had arguably the biggest influence on that team. This is just my opinion, but I find it silly when you say that you don't need to have watched Pele or Cruyff play to know that they are better than a player from today. That's just silly. Without watching them play how do you know that they are better? The younger generation just gets to see the good highlights of those players. What about the ugly highlights? We don't get to see those because it takes away from the mystique of those players. Just because they played in a bygone era doesn't mean that they were perfect players. Even the great Pele had weaknesses.
Ronaldo was the best player of WC 2002, there should be no question about that. He scored and created memorable goals, and if it weren't for easy goals missed by the likes of Rivaldo and Gilberto Silva amongst others, he would have added to already spectacular statistic count at that tournament. Maybe if Ronaldo was better against England, he would have won the Golden Ball, which is stupidly given before the final. Ronaldo would comfortably have won the Golden Ball if it was voted for after the final, that is for certain.
That would've happened likely because of his two goals in the final. If Rivaldo scored two in the final, he would've been the main man. Scoring in finals seems to be a big factor in giving one player the edge over another (how big would the ''Zidane image'' be without those two goals, even though he played very well). Rivaldo is a more complete footballer to me than Ronaldo. Ronald0 was also very Rivaldo- dependent. Rivaldo had a lot more assists as well. I know aesthetics are less relevant, but he also made the more beautiful goals (free kicks, bicycle kicks). None of Ronaldo's WC goals are beauties (2nd against Japan maybe).
NOt really ... Ronaldo was proven great without Rivaldo (Copa97 - MVP, COnfed 97 all star team and WC2006 qual topscorer) Besides, at club level (6 different clubs) Ronaldo never needed a Rivaldo besides in fact : - it's the other way around, Rivaldo seemed to play better WITH RONALDO - Ronaldo had more assists for Brazil than Rivaldo as fact
A good video for the duo Rivaldo-Kluivert in Barcelona. Both sharing goals and assists up front, feeding each other.
The curious thing about this video is that I was expecting to see Rivaldo assisting Kluivert in most part of the video, but it´s the other way round. Kluivert assisted Rivaldo so many times. And Rivaldo could finish from difficult angles for sure. They had great understanding between them. I was looking for a video for Rivaldo passing ability and found this one. Credits for Kluivert and Ronaldo for took the chances created by Rivaldo, while others players wasted some of them.
Rivaldo was a great player - could be a very good #10, but he likes to score more than passing ... (that's why he kinda failed in Brazil 98 as "true #10" ... and in 2002, Scolari played him as FW (at his will) and he did just better Similar to Barca 98-01, Rivaldo had a bit of difficulty with the coach as he played him sometimes as left FW , while he loved to be at center or just behind the striker (like Kluivert) But he coped very very well there and even took the spotlight in scoring goals, on Kluiverts' sacrifice. If Rivaldo was to play now (in this era) he would be a great "false nine" , no doubt
At Barca 99-02, Kluivert did have a very good assist number (similar to Rivaldo) with an average of 8 or 9 per season. However, like Bruford spot on, most assists were well finished by Rivaldo, while some of Rivaldo "create chances" were blown up by eitehr Kuivert of others like Enrique, or Figo