If Maradona and Pele were the best 2 players ever, who comes close to be being called number 3

R9

40-60 Games[club and country] is normally what a full season consist of.
R9 had 7 of them.

Now lets compare his seasons to some others:
R9 = 7 [rated one of the top 3 players, 5 times]
Zidane = 13 [rated one of the top 3 players, 6 times]
Ronaldinho = 6 [rated one of the top 3 players, 3 times]
Henry = 11 [rated one of the top 3 players, 2 times]
Cristiano Ronaldo = 6 [rated one of the top 3 players, 2 times]

For club and country R9 scored 30 or more goals in 8 different years....there were only 10 years when he played 30 or more games. That is a 80% chance he'll score 30 or more goals if he plays 30 or more games....how many players can boast that?

brazil, holland, spain, italy = either a top scorer or a mvp at one time or another in all of them
Fifa = team and individual awards
Uefa = team and individual awards [the only thing he doesn't have from uefa is a CL, played only 40 games Henry and Zidane took more than 40 to win one]
CONMEBOL = team and individual awards
He is also an Olympic medalist
As of this moment there is a 89% chance R9 will score in a final and an 80% chance he'll lift the title.
Also has more individual awards than any player of his generation

 

I will assume you are a Ronaldo fan. A great player no doubt. I am basing it on what he did earlier in his career. Injuries had taken in my opinion a truly legendary player away.

 

His career was cut too short. Even though he won the WC in 2002, he was not the same player that he had been before his injuries. Otherwise he'd be considered more highly.

Concerning Ronaldo ,personally, I hadn't seen a player take so much control of a game since Diego Maradona. The "legendary" players, IMO, are the ones who leave you at the edge of your seat whenever they touch the ball. Ronaldo was the last one. Even Messi, Ronaldinho, Zidane, C. Ronaldo, don't have it.

 

But it did.

Before Pelé there were Didi, Di Stéfano, Matthews, Puskas, Zizinho, Labruna, Meazza, Leônidas da Silva, Moreno. At his time & after we had Garrincha, Beckenbauer, Omar Sívori, Eusébio, Tostão, Crujff, Maradona, Zico, Platini, Romário, Ronaldo, Dinho, Zidane (possibly Messi is the next on the list)

And Pelé was put in comparison to & challenged by all of them for the ‘title’ of the ‘best of the world ever’.

The problem is that - although those generations displayed their geniuses - not all of them though had one player that distinguished itself from their contemporaries so much like Pelé & Maradona.

For several reasons of course.

The fallacy-mother in the case of the Argentinian is that while ‘Pelé had geniuses to help him out, Maradona had nobodies & had to do all by himself’.

Besides that not being true – Maradona had around him in 4 Cups highly categorized players: Fillol, Passarella, Ramón Diaz, Kempes (82); Valdano, Ruggeri, Burruchaga (86); Goycochea, Burruchaga, Ruggeri, Sensini, Caniggia, Olarticoechea (90); Redondo, Ruggeri, Caniggia, Batistuta, Simeone, Goycochea, Ariel Ortega (94) & in Napoli: Careca, Alemão & others – that dominance depended not only on their personal quality but also on the quality of the opposition they faced.

Pelé against England distinguished himself against Gordon Banks, Bryan Robson, Tom Finney, Bobby Moore, Jack Charlton, Bobby Charlton – besides Yashin, Kopa, Beckenbauer, Best, Seeler, Overath, Müller etc etc.

Maradona against England became a world sensation against Peter Shilton, Gary Stevens, Kenny Samson, Terry Butcher etc etc.

Weigh those 2 generations out & take your own conclusions.

 

Ha, ha, ha , that is the way to dispell utter illogical posts, thanks and kudos for your research well done chamigo.

 

Maradona was a world sensation before that game.

 

Hugo Sanchez

 

Well, well, welll.

I didn't know my points...

...were about to be proved so quickly! ...

 

Maradona's career just reeeally boomed from 1986 on when he won his 1st scudetto for Napoli and scored the 2 goals against England.

Zico, Falcão & Platini reigned up to then. Cup 1986/87, the Supercup ’90 and what’s more, nd again in 1989/90. Also, the Italy Cup 1986/87, the Supercup ’90 and what’s more, uring the season 1986/87 Napoli had gone for its first scudetto and again in 1989/90. Also, the Italy Cup 1986/87, the Supercup ’90 and what’s more,

 

Hmm maybe so , but the comment was that he was only then a world sensation, wich is not at all true, he was allready a world sensation after the youth World Cup and many questioned why Menotti omitted him from the 1978 WC team even if he was only 18.

 

Ok, he was a world sensation (among how many others?).

BTW, Youth World Cup? 18 yo?...

You mean the Sub-20 World Championship?...

His black Brz 'twin brother' was World Cup champ (adult) at 17.

 

Off topic no and not the point.

 

When you see yourself against the wall that's always your last resource.

Besides, only mods have the liability to judge what's on topic or not.

And still many fail in discerning that.

Would you mind telling me...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKl4ufehjpA"]YouTube - The Beatles Tell Me Why[/ame]
...WHY?

 

Quite simple, the area where we entered into conversation was objectively around wether or not Diego Maradona was a world sensation before the England match of 1986, you allready said that yes he was, a direct reversal from your first statement. Having to bring Pele into it is just your way to goat something out of me, not biting this time, sorry. Also really if you think about it BOTH of us are off topic,lol.

 

All of us are off-topic - visitors, members & (super) mods included.

Do you want something more 'off-topic' than fanatics in a Soccer Forum scribbling dozens of posts while everyday hundreds die of hunger, wars & pork flu all over the world?...

So, let the people speak about whatever they wish, will you? ...

 

Uh-huh,

 

Nunca veí nada mas 'encima del muro' ...

 

How about Claudio Gentile.

 

Maradona was a sensation when he started playing pro with Argentinos Juniors at 16 or 17. Just that there was no internet at the time so most of Europe didn't know anything about him.

Also don't forget that when he went to Barcelona he was the most expensive signing of all time at that point, and by then guys like Platini, Rumenigge, Socrates, were near the end of their careers and had far more international experience than Diego.

 

It's quite clear that the WC 1986 cemented Maradona as a legend, but he was always regarded as the next coming of Pele since the young age of 18-19. By 1980 (easily one of his best individual years) he was already regarded as the world's greatest player, despite not winning anything and Zico, who was at his prime, (his top competitor of that time) winning almost everything. During that peiod, Platini was never part of discussions about who is the greatest in the world (he came a little bit after, during the mid-80s), it was all about Maradona and Zico, with other ''reserves'', like Rummenigge or Keegan.

Those huge comparisons with Pele became immense in 1979, and never stopped until 1986, but at that time, people started to question not if Diego was Pele's successor, but whether if he was better. Besides, he entered with all the spotlight on his back on WC 1982, where he played under immense pressure. During that tournament, he was the guy who could lose more than anyone else.

 

Exactly. And according to many, he was an even more unstoppable player during his early years at Argentinos Juniors and Boca, than he ever was for Napoli and later, despite the majority of his trophies came from his time in Italy and winning very little in Argentina.

 

You yourself admit then that he was a sensation only in Argentina.

Guys absolutely unknown or overrated in Europe get world record contracts in Europe: that's not a standard for quality.

In 82 Platini, Socrates were at their peak.

 

'Unstoppable' doesn't mean 'better'.

Besides if only in Argentina they knew that he was so - that was only an Argentinian & not a world affair.

 

Also false, the real futbol fans knew of him all around the world, just see the welcome he got in Japan as a very young man.

 

Matias,

Let's put it straight.

Maradona without the Hand of God & Goal Of the Century wouldn't attract 50% of his fame...

Just stop for a second & imagine him without them: it's simply unthinkable.

An infinity of great games as a fuoriclassi? No question: yes.

But...a One-Game-Legend.