Totti has never come in the top 3 for FIFA Player of the Year or Ballon D'or Wow, this is an easy one to pick on. Talk to us again when Lampard wins a Treble (Lampard can't even win the Champions League with the super stacked roster from Abramovich's spending). The problem I have with Xavi is that he wasn't the best player on Barcelona when they won the Champion's League. Ronaldinho was the best player on Barcelona the first time Xavi won, and Messi was the best player on Barcelona this last Champion's League. Beckham was arguably the best Manchester United player when ManU won in 1999. And Del Piero made the top 3 for FIFA Player of the Year and Ballon D'or when? Oh, that's right. HE DIDN'T. Scroll up for my earlier reply about Nedved. Gerrard made it to 3rd place for Ballon D'Or in 2005 and that's it. Gerrard has never been considered for FIFA Player of the Year. 1999 Beckham > ???? Gerrard. You must be thinking of 2009 Gerrard > 2009 Beckham but sorry to say, Gerrard in his prime never played top football like Beckham did in his prime.
IMO, Cantona never had the year that Beckham did in 1998-1999. Arguably, Beckham's prime in 1998-1999 was better than Cantona's prime. By your list, Beckham is a contender for top 50 if you put Cantona in that list.
The problem is, Beckham makes it on Pele's FIFA 100 list before many of the English players you just listed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_100 Now do we take Pele's opinion or yours? Hmm... ...
Interestingly, World Soccer did a ranking of all players in the 20th century. Suprise, surprise, Beckham came in 49th: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Soccer_(magazine)#The_100_Greatest_Players_of_the_20th_Century Their ranking is quite interesting because it was just as Beckham was breaking into the scene of interational football. One wonders how they would rank it again, given Beckham came in as runner up to FIFA World Player of the Year in 2001, and Manchester United went on to win the Premier League in 2001 and 2003 with Beckham.
According to World Soccer's rankings for the 20th century, they ranked the England players as follows: 1. Bobby Charlton 2. Bobby Moore 3. Stanley Matthews 4. Gordon Banks 5. Gary Lineker 6. Michael Owen 7. Duncan Edwards 8. David Beckham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Soccer_(magazine)#The_100_Greatest_Players_of_the_20th_Century Note that the World Soccer's ranking exclude's Beckham's career after 1999 (he would win the Premier League with Manchester United 2 more times and came in runner up for FIFA Player of the Year in 2001). Taking into consideration Beckham's career up to 2004, Pele's list of the top England players all time up to 2004, in no particular order, are: Gordon Banks GK David Beckham MF Bobby Charlton MF Kevin Keegan FW Gary Lineker FW Michael Owen FW Alan Shearer FW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_100 Now that's the opinion of a professional magazine devoted to football/soccer, and the opinion of the best player in the world.
Ok, to make things fair, if you're going to name players in the last 15 years that are better than Beckham, at least name a player that has made the top 3 for FIFA Player of the Year, top 3 for Ballon d'Or, or won UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. Some of the names people put out there as being better than Beckham haven't made it into any of the 3 award categories such as Xavi, Totti, Del Piero, etc, which is laughable. FYI, Beckham was runner up to FIFA Player of the year in 1999 and 2001, runner up for the Balon d'Or in 1999, and won UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 1999.
See, comments like this make no sense at all. Beckham was the 4th best midfielder for Manchester United during his days there, yet Beckham is runner up for FIFA Player of the Year, runner up for Ballon d'Or, and wins UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 1999. Where is the logic in that?
Uhmm, who is then? In fact, name somebody in the last 15 years that has more accurate long crosses than Beckham.
dude beckam can kick long balls only with his right foot... how is he a great player? you should never put beckam and weah in the same sentence, that is just rude.
long crosses? who cares about long crosses, now if you talk free kicks then we can talk some good stuff. do we have to go back 15 years? roberto carlos riquelme valderrama pirlo totti ronaldinho baggio seedorf del piero zidane the thing is, most of them are complete players not just long crosses gods. just stop with the beckam thing you are embarrasing yourself.
And he plays right mid. What's your point? Huh? Weah was possibly the best player in 1995, but you make him sound like he's Pele or something, ROFL.
Beckham in his prime was a better long crosser than anybody you listed above. He was also a better dead ball specialist than the majority of the players you listed as well. Dude, Beckham is untouchable in those two areas, and he used it to get ManU their Trebel in 1999. Have you thought why Capello is considering a 35 year old player that can't dribble, can't run, and can't head, as a possible player for the England 2010 World Cup squad? Capello must believe Beckham has something invaluable to consider a 35 year for his 2010 World Cup squad. Almost all the players you listed above would never get consideration for their national team in a World Cup at 35 years of age, except for a few.
maybe bc capello is a great coach and england isnt a great team, other than gerard, lampard, and maybe terry not other english dude is that great. dude, please just stop, all those players mentioned above were the main reason why their teams did great, or i can put it in better words so you can understand it, the teams they played for, depended on them, if they did good, their team was good, if they did bad, their team was bad... a team has never depended on david beckam, not even the galaxy in crappy mls. capello may considere beckam only bc england is not that great of a team, and yes, Weah was a MEGA star on the best team in the 90s, beckam was a good free kicker on a descent manU team. stop embarrasing yourself, fabio cannavaro won a fifa player of the year, cristiano ronaldo did also, kaka did also and they are nowhere near the legendary players, beckam does not belong to that list. seriously dude.
Oh please! That list has Sepp Blatter's fingerprints all over it. Allow me to repeat myself yet again... Quit pimping that trash. It's is by far the least legitimate facet of your argument.
yep and bc there is a video of youtube where Maradona says Magico Gonzalez was one of the best 10 players ever saw, that means Magico Gonzalez is is fifas top 10 of all times? Pele was prob watching a rap video when he said that, not to mention how much money he got pay by epl marketers. beckam, a great long crosser? yes beckam a great free kicker? yeah but not the best. beckam a legendary player? nah, not even figo, edgar davies, seedorf, maybe romario... beckam does not belong to that list, dont kid yourself. kind of hard to socialize with a hardcore epl fan, they think great long balls make a legendary player. thanks god im not part of the epl community, mediocrity long ball would never be my taste.
i don't see how you could say "no" to the original question. I think when rating players, you don't just measure their success on the pitch, but also what they have meant to the sport. I realize Becks isn't the most popular name in MLS, but he is one of the most popular players of all-time in the sport. Heck, in 2003 and 2004 he was the most searched-for athlete in the world on google. Everytime he signs with a new club (or goes on loan), he draws new & record crowds. Would you be able to do that if you weren't a very influential person? I say he's easily in the top 50. He might even be in the top 10 depending on what criteria you're using to rank.
there is a difference between michael jordan and dennis rodman, A HUGE ONE. whats next? britney spears is the best singer of all times?
that's a completely different analogy. are you saying Beckham is more like Rodman than Jordan? I'd beg to differ. and the britney comment is so far off base, i don't even know what to say to that. With Beckham, you're talking about a guy that even people that don't know what soccer is, know his name. You're talking about a guy that has the record for caps for the English National Team. You're talking about a guy that has played in more Premier or top-flight Leagues (Tier 1, Division 1, whatever you want to call it) than any other active player (save for maybe 2-3 IIRC). You're talking about a guy that was the backbone of Man U's dominance in the EPL earlier in the decade/90's. and you don't think he's in the top 50 all-time? then i'd challenge you to list 50 soccer players that you feel are better than him.
who is england anyway, a team with lengenday beckam that withouth capello cant beat croatia, sad. how well did top50 of all times beckam in the last euro?
You are obsessing too much about 1999 and FIFA Player of the Year awards. You need longevity to be considered top 50 of all-time. Or if you don't have longevity you have to be Ronaldo-esque for at least a couple of years and Beckham's peak was never that good. You also seem to be confusing team accomplishments with individual quality. A common mistake which leads to dumb conclusions.
I just listed 20 that were better over the past 15 years. And I was very generous by excluding players like Giggs, van Nistelrooij, Ronaldinho, and Messi. The last 2 I excluded because their peaks were too short (but Beckham's peak didn't last that long either and he was less dominant during his peak). If you're not top 20 since 1994, how can you be top 50 all-time? PS... we're not talking about popularity here.
It's a no-brainer. The real question should be, "is Beckham an all time top 50 MLS player?" Now with the quality the MLS has produced during its short life-span, that question will should bring in some real debate, I guarantee you.