False. Categorically false. The legendary back line that completely neutralized Romario, was literally one player: Franco Baresi... it had fairly little to do with the other Italian defenders, be that Paolo Maldini or any other name. In other words, Franco Baresi did not played any of Italy's KO Stage games; Okocha was not playing against Franco Baresi... Okocha was not playing against the one man defence that stopped and neutralized Romario. Please, if you want to hate on Romario (as you always do), at least get your facts correct; Italy without Franco Baresi was not a great defence, in fact, Italy without Baresi conceded 5 goals in 5 games, not bad, but also not uniquely legendary; and especially not uniquely legendary when you consider the little known fact that Italy's midfield (much like Spain's 2010 midfield) was the one that was doing most of the defending, with Maldini and Co. having little to do and not doing it well; 5 goals conceded after 5 games... does not tell you just how unimpressive and inconsistent Maldini and Co. were as defenders. Maldini up until that game vs. Nigeria (and especially right after that game) had had a categorically mediocre World Cup 1994... It really is nothing short of shocking how Paolo Maldini World Cup 1994 has been - on the basis of pure fiction - inflated into an all time great defensive performance. The truth is, Maldini was literally (no exaggeration here) one of Italy's worst defenders after 4 games, in fact, Maldini v Nigeria was one of the worst performances I have ever witnessed by a world class defender, let alone by an al time great iconic emblematic defender such as Paolo Maldini; in summary, Maldini should have been red carded (probably two times in that game alone), and if memory serves me well, Maldini literally assisted one of Nigeria's goals. Absolutely terrible performance; it still is difficult for me to explain how Nigeria managed to not win that game... Honestly, Maldini should have been red carded (probably twice), and Nigeria should have won against a 9 men Italy (9 men Italy because Zola was red carded). Baggio really brought Italy back from the dead. After Italy v Nigeria, Maldini was good (but in my opinion Spain's defender was better) vs. Spain, Maldini was more or less completely pointless or ordinary vs. Bulgaria (a team that was mediocre and still did enough to score 1 goal vs. an overrated Italian defence), and in the Final vs. Brazil, it was Franco Baresi - who had not played any of Italy's KO games - who got the job done on Romario; Baresi was great and offered an iconic performance, Baresi in one game alone did more than Maldini had done after 6 games, and Maldini was merely good but nothing memorable, it was perhaps his best or his second best performance at World Cup 1994; Maldini vs. Brazil (Final) and vs. Spain (Quarter Finals) are his 2 best performances at World Cup 1994, and neither one those performances are anything special, in fact, as I see it, Maldini vs. Spain was outclassed by Spain's star centre back (Maldini was not even the best defender on the pitch, let alone an all time iconic defender), and Maldini vs. Brazil was outclassed by an injured Franco Baresi (Maldini was again not even the best defender on the pitch), etc. If you think Romario World Cup 1994 is overrated... you should really take a good look at Paolo Maldini World Cup 1994, one of the most overrated performances ever.
I need timestamps of actions that are impressive or at least of actions that you deem to be impressive
Copa America 1991 pitches were nasty, some of the worst I’ve seen. It rained a lot in Chile during that competition and the ball used to stop at times in the muddy pitch. I can’t imagine today a tournament under that condition being played. In 1987 and 1989 it was problematic too but 1991 was the worst I’ve seen.
One must ask how is it possible that Aguero is a phenom scorer at Manchester City but can’t buy a goal vs a South American side ? In just two chances Gabriel Jesus burned Argentina’s fullbacks and bang Argentina were out. With Aguero we have a player that struck the bar with a header and then never attacked again. These players you mention are all overinflated in the grande scheme of things. South American football produces more parity and as a result the real reflection of their capacities are apparently exposed.
1:02 till 1:07 travels with the ball and passes it to Bebeto 1:51 nutmeg 1:59 till 2:05 recovers the ball and has a shot that is deflected though 2:34 shot 2:59 till 3:03 nice one two's 4:37 till 4:42 creates danger following a run and a pass to Bebeto 7:02 misses a huge chance He didn't have a very productive game, but he held to the ball well and was fouled a lot. Couldn't do much against that defense. You're not wrong.
It beggars belief how with his "weaker foot" Pele was able to hit those leather balls with such ferocity and accuracy Maybe/probably the best footage I've seen of Pele and he didn't lie when he said technically as a goalscorer Messi isn't in his league as a complete player that's another discussion to have Purely as a goalscorer Pele was a freaking animal and with his skill set clearly able to succeed in any era
I think the skill set of someone like Pele,Eusebio and puskas is more likely to succeed than a George best or garrincha From the available footage it is clear to see a player like Eusebio was as fast as prime R9 with the ball Hit the ball like adriano,batistuta,CR Had world class positioning and finishing(could score from corner, long range, header, poacher, individual etc) These are attributes that are easy to transport to any era and be successful Pele is similar but even superior Puskas is less dominant athletically but with a unparalleled football brain for a forward and the best left foot in history Could strike the ball with ferocity and accuracy with his left from any angle or distance Players as garrincha in particular is the most overhyped in the history of football. His dribbling vastly overrated (a great wing dribbler maybe but nowhere near as effective in central areas) Never seen him beat multiple players in a tight space His shooting is wild and inaccurate and scoring at WC 62 an outlier for his career At least if anything George best was a demonstrably superior midfield and final third dribbler as has been noted his passing also improved with age (sir matt Busby said as great as George Best was at 22 years old he was not yet a complete player and had room for improvement-this isn't a slight on him but called a natural career progression) Garrincha or Gento could either dribble or run at break neck speed to the by line and whip in a standard cross They never had the technique to execute trivela pass as this with the weaker foot 0:42 The greater your overall skillset the less likely your are to be shackled George Best was a legitimately great aerial threat One of the all time wing and midfield dribblers Was equal footed( or at least wasn't overly reliant on one foot) Was a good/world class short passer Was ill disciplined too and not sure there are many managers today as Sir matt Busby or SAF who would give him the loving arm,indulge some of his wild antics and give him preferential treatment
Fair comments Well I’ve mentioned it a while ago and got ridiculed for it but I guess I’m the only one in here lucky enough to have seen both Eusebio and George Best in the flesh !! I saw Eusebio once at Bolton FC when he played in a testimonial and I saw George a few times when United played the away games at Burnley .. One of the best players I ever saw was the grossly underrated Peter Osgood ... I saw him a few times at Burnley and once at Bury FC .. Yes I am THAT old ... sadly I don’t remember an awful lot about the games as I was only young . I do vividly recall Peter Osgood practicing before the game at Bury and he was shooting from about 30 yards out and the shots were just incredible
Norway's do or die match where he was one of the best players on the pitch or either be the best player on the pitch. Anyone don't honestly believe on this has the chance to rewatch the game, the extent of the team suffering in this match was too high (bagliuca, baggio, baresi), but he and Costacurta in particuler did a lot of discipline and composure, to get it all together and put it in a backpack. Maldini was brilliant against Mexico too, one of the most enjoyable performance to watch, put a masterclass shift highly active on midfield and look defensively secure, a fit and in-form Luis Garcia was marked with his badge.
"Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1,000 times. Anyone can do that by practising. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate." Johan Cruyff
Dragan Stojkovic belongs in a top 10 best technique maybe. For sure the best technique of any player from the Balkans and East: .
Hagi was a better shooter and passer, but Stojkovic had a better touch on the ball. Was very fluid in his dribbling.
Better shooter yes Everything else goes to piksi (from ball control to general play making) Just from European cup competitions and J-league stojkovic had around 200 assists League Assists for red star belgrade aren't recorded but expect MANY more in the greatest technical era ever 1990-1994 era with piksi,savecevic,Hagi, baggio,Bergkamp,Romario,Laudrup,van Basten The talent of Zidane, ibrahimovic,iniesta,figo,suarez,Henry etc would be just normal (not otherworldly and exaggerated) They would be comparable to Stoichkov cantona,boban as world class technicians Nothing more nothing less
If technique was just ballerina ball control Zidane would rank 100/100 If technique was finishing, long passing,1 touch passing, through balls,close control dribbling in tight space,ball skills etc Then Zidane was behind many in those categories He was the most technically gifted player in a weak era 2000-2003 Bergkamp became old R9 and ADP suffered career defining injuries Rivaldo declined pretty early Ronaldinho was still a kid All was left was 1 great challenger Luis Figo who was top 5 in the world in only 2 seasons 99-01 TH14 who played in the upcoming premiership and was outshined by Zidane on the world wide stage IN between 1996-1998 (pre world cup final) Zidane was just a good player in the world (as top 20 player) In the early 90s the technical skill set of Zidane was surpassed by all those names I mentioned Easily Iniesta was demonstrably inferior to Zidane(technically) Ibrahimovic could never display his great technique against equal opponents (with rare examples as his 04 goal vs Italy)
If the word genius could be applied aptly to any European technician it would be Dennis Bergkamp. Even in his worst period at inter milan he destroyed prime Paolo Maldini in ways prime R9 never could 3:13 godly technique There are ball controls towards the end of this comp that should played and replayed several times over to kids and professionals alike A mercurial talent (top 5 technician in the history of football IMO)
David Ginola and Juan Román Riquelme come to mind for pure ability... Ginola has to be up there as best two footed player as well..
I think he was possibly a better short/medium passer, but maybe not long range, compared to Hagi. On the other hand maybe I don't think of him as a way better dribbler than Hagi could be at times. Interestingly (not talking about technique, but this can also be relevant to being a great passer) I saw in an old FourFourTwo magazine article about red Star Belgrade that Platini is quoted saying "he just thinks too fast" about Stojkovic and it's presented as Platini suggesting Stojkovic was better than himself although I'd be sceptical about what the actual quote and context of it was. In the same article it's suggested that according to Red Star/Yugoslav fanatics he was only prevented from surpassing Cruyff/Platini/Puskas by injuries. Maybe hyperbole again a little, but notable to read anyway!
I still think that the most skilful of all the players I’ve seen over the decades is Zinedine Zidane .. so many fabulously talented players who played and trained with him said he was from another universe..