Look at his Naivety in conclusion: But the virtue of youth is its resilience. Perhaps in a half-century from now, Pele’s name will be long forgotten, and our grandchildren will be embroiled in a similarly tedious debate about the relative merits of Lionel Messi and Ross Barkley. Every generation ultimately remakes its own truth. ============================================ I can challenge him that in the next century Pele was always the king of football . Pele hung up his boot in 76-77, and "HALF century passed" in WC2006 and WC2010 ... who did ever come close to his status? NONE ... Messi failed at 2010 and people are still have a very slim hope with his WC2014 ... and even so ... Pele won 2 or 3 "half a century" before
As a continuation of the post in the other thread ( http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/footballs-mount-rushmore-by-era.2013078/page-3#post-31409227 ), I looked at the composition of Brazil their squads between 1957 and 1970 (except the 2nd South American championship in 1959, 1963 and 1967 when they sent clearly sub-par squads, dropped out entirely or some state leagues refused to release players). 1957 Carioca 13: 3 Botafogo, 3 Flamengo, 2 Vasco da Gama, 2 America, 2 Bangu, 1 Fluminense Paulista 9: 4 Corinthians, 2 Santos, 2 Sao Paulo, 1 Portuguesa 1958 Carioca 12: 4 Flamengo, 3 Botafogo, 3 Vasco da Gama, 1 Fluminense, 1 Bangu Paulista 10: 3 Santos, 3 Sao Paulo, 2 Corinthians, 1 Portuguesa, 1 Palmeiras 1959-1 Carioca 13: 5 Vasco da Gama, 5 Botafogo, 1 Fluminense, 1 Bangu, 1 Flamengo Paulista 9: 3 Santos, 2 Palmeiras, 2 Sao Paulo, 1 Portuguesa, 1 Corinthians 1962 Paulista 13: 7 Santos, 3 Palmeiras, 2 Sao Paulo, 1 Portuguesa Carioca 9: 5 Botafogo, 3 Fluminense, 1 Bangu 1966 Carioca 11: 4 Botafogo, 3 Fluminense, 2 Flamengo, 1 Bangu, 1 Vasco da Gama Paulista 10: 6 Santos, 2 Sao Paulo, 1 Palmeiras, 1 Corinthians Gaucho 1: 1 Gremio Mineiro 1: 1 Cruzeiro [note: purportedly more decided by intra-club politics as actual performance by players] 1970 Paulista 11: 5 Santos, 2 Corinthians, 2 Palmeiras, 1 Portuguesa, 1 Sao Paulo Carioca 6: 3 Botafogo, 2 Fluminense, 1 Flamengo Mineiro 4: 3 Cruzeiro, 1 Atletico Mineiro Gaucho: 1: 1 Gremio That is quite a change compared with the 1940s, as expected and congruent with what I've personally read in history books (= Paulista league had increased in quality since the early/mid 50s). Of course, the heavy representation of the Santos football club has an effect on the numbers.
Yes it does. Actually, the number of Paulista players not from Santos is rather unchanged throughout. There are less Carioca players in proportion due to the significant increase of players "provided" by the Santos team, which makes all the difference. There is always 6 or 7 Paulista players form other teams but Santos except in 1966 that had only 4.
the only problem is that the NFL is not a "world game" (that I know of). It's not even an olympic sport. I think the concept of a "greatest athlete" is not just about their skill but also of the global reach of the sport he plays. It's why people consider guys like Pele, Michael Jordan, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, in the category as opposed to a Joe Montana or Wayne Gretzky or a great indian cricket player who may have all the athletic skill and championships imaginable.