Eusebio is a legend! Portugal might never have another Eusebio. Pauleta is not the greatest Portuguese player ever. You can make a case for him being in the top 10, but not number. Scoring goals doesn't make a player the greatest, because by that logic, I can say Mia Hamm is the greatest soccer player ever. Also, it's not only Benfica fans that believe Eusebio is the greatest Portuguese player ever, or that Rui Costa is far superior than Pauleta, but most Portuguese fans in general believe this. I respect your opinion Portugallia, but in my opinion, Eusebio is the greatest Portuguese player ever!
I vote for this thread to be locked, deleted, burned or whatever...this thread is not only blasphemy but also an embarassment to the intelligence of Portuguese fans in this forum to other forum posters. Pauleta- no goals in Euro 2004=junk 162,037 goals vs Liechetenstein doesn't count as the best player Portugal has ever produced... this thread has lost all credibility and will therefore, no longer warrant a reply or comment from me... GOOD DAY!
It just seems players like Rui Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo will end up receiving more recognition than Pauleta regardless how many goals Pauleta scores for Portugal and regardless if Cristiano and Rui score goals or not.
Rui Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo don't have to score goals, they are not strikers! If they play great, then it doesn't matter if they score.
Don't matter, England won the whole thing, so they obviously had a great team (although Portugal was screwed over in that tournament).
The problem is that younger generations of Portuguese have inherited a flawed concept of what constituites a great Portuguese player. I'm not saying for sure Eusebio isn't the greatest but where are the facts and comparisons. All we've inherited is word of mouth. The mere disgust at even thinking anything contrary is fascinating. Portuguese don't even know where a player like Jose Aguas fits in the rankings of all time players. Yet we probably know the world rankings of other players like Pele and Maradona. If one asks who's Portugal's third best player of all time no one really knows. Who's the fourth, fifth, sixth? This is what we've inherited - Eusebio is first and stuff everyone else.
I think it does matter. Was England just a modern day Russia in the footballing world or an Argentina?
Well then we need to award our national players some sort of greatness according to their position. In that case should Pauleta be regarded as the best STRIKER Portugal has ever seen? The second best STRIKER maybe? At the moment he's regarded as junk no matter which way it's looked at.
Higher Let me give u some stats for Eusebio on the National team,this will convince you once and for all that Eusebio was a Better player/goal scorer ,whatevee u want to call it..... 1st cap for Eusebio in the National team was October 8th 1961 vs Luxemburg Portugal won 4-2,and Eusebio scored his 1st goal..... His second game for Portugal was vs England also in 1961 and Portugal lost 2-0 in WEMBLEY...Little side note,Eusebio never won a game at Wembley,im sure most of you gusy know ,but some may not.... Following are opponents and the number of goals that Eusebio scored : Belgium 1962-1 goal Bulgaria 1962-1 goal England 1964-1 goal Spain 1964-2 goals Turkey 1965-3 goals Turkey again 1965 -1 goal Czekoslovakia 1965-1 goal Romania-1965-2 goals Norway-1966-2 goals Denmark-1966-1 goal Bulgaria -1966 -1 goal Brasil-1966 -2 goals North Korea 1966-4 goals England 1966-1 goal USSR-1966-1 goal Italy-1967-1 goal Greece 1968-1 goal Greece 1969-1 goal Switzerland-1969-1 goal Scotland 1971-1 goal Denmark-1971-1 goal Ecuador-1972-1 goal Iran-1972-1 goal Chile -1972-1 goal Argentina-1972-1 goal France 1973-1 goal Northern Ireland 1973-1 goal His last appearance for the Nationa team was vs Bulgaria in 1973..... These are some of the most important goals that he scored out of the 43 .....
Your being a bit critical here...This applies to any player not only Portuguese players..... You ask the younger generations who was better ,Pele or Maradona and you will get 2 answers....Myself and Frank Cunhas will say Pele ,where a guy in his 30s or even 40 s will say Maradona.... Who was better Garrincha or Socrates......Zico or Zidane......? See what i mean...Football is not a science ,therefore there are no staright answers......
Thanks for the stats Marco, I'll have to find out how those nations were ranked compared to Portugal in those years. I wouldn't have a clue which nations were footballing powers in those days but there are a many very weak nations in that list though.
Well i can give you some Nations that were powers back than and are no longer Today.... Hungary was a world power in the 60s ....They were know as the Magiars and were led by Frenk Puskas ,they embarrased England at Wembley ,something luike 6-3 USSR was power back than ,with the GREATEST GK ever ,LEV YASHIN.... England was a power as it continues to be,same with Brasil ,Argentina.....Czechoslovakia was a power ....TNow u have the Czeck Rep,still very strong.....One team back than that was a power was Scotland ,not anymore........North Korea was the Greece of the 1960s managed to knock out Italy in the 1966 Wc ,than lost to us....Italy was ,is and will be..... Overall Eusebio scored goals vs stronger teams than Pauleta no doubts about that.....Check my other post and you will see the teams that Pauleta failed to score against...U will soon realise that Pauleta fails against the big boys....I love the guy ,hes an Azorean like me....But Eusebio was Eusebio ,and there will never be another one......
Like it or not, it's all about stats these days I can assure you. It takes the bias out from the reality. It's very much about stats.
I understand what you are trying to say but sort like saying that Baia is the best goalie in history because he has the most titles..... Yeah Pauleta has been great. Scored numerous goals, etc........ But, he wasn't there at euro 2000, sort of showed up at WC2002 with a hat-trick in one game and then euro 2004, he was there but didn't do anythign whatsover. Yeah, it's great that he scored in the qualifiers but players are not remembered b scoring goals in the qualifiers. If you look at players like Luis Figo, he was there throught the whole qualifiers and showed up at euro2000 and euro 2004 and did his part. Deco and CRON also showed up at euro 2004 and we will see what they do in wc2006. Another thing is that Pauleta is not feared like a Henry or a Shevchenko. Figo was the World Player of the year and Deco was close last year. CRON will eventually win when he is like 26 and still plays the same way. Pauleta will never win any of those accolades and will always be known as the striker who can't score in tournaments.
Pauleta will never be on this list, Figo still a question mark? Paulo Futre made the list http://www.zerozero.pt/glorias.php
I'll try and prepare a spreadheet for comparison. The criteria will be: National team stats 1) Minutes played 2) Goals scored 3) Ranking of the nations encountered 4) Tournament placings obtained 5) Goals per game ratio 6) Goals per minute played ratio Club team stats 1) Minutes played 2) Goals scored 3) Ranking of the teams encountered 4) Tournament placings obtained 5) Goals per game ratio 6) Goals per minute played ratio I'll try and include at least 10 Portuguese players from all times. I don't think we'll need any other type of criteria. Though about including assists but I don't think I'll find them for the Aguas and Eusebios.
Figo will defenately be on that list...... The reason why him and other are not is because their still playing,plus that list made a big boobo.....Wheres Maradona and Pele on that list? Others players to be on that list will be :Maldini,Zidane,Ronaldo,Figo.Ronaldinho....
It seems to be you have plenty of time in your hands....What are you trying to prove that Pauleta is better or his stats are higher than Eusebio? If thats the case ,than its a lost cause.... It would be like trying to Milk a bull
I'm sure you're aware lists usually reflect the list sponsor's aim and not necessarily the hard truth.