May 18, 2015

96-98 Ronaldo was all about the explosive acceleration, his top speed was fast but not that fast. But his acceleration, not even the fastest players in the world today could match up to that. Then injuries marred him for a year but he came back with a b--- and changed his game. Wasn't as quick in 2002 but holy s--- those skills were great. THE best number 9 ever I think, the perfect striker.

 

May 18, 2015

i remember him for this winning goal champions league final



zindane was an artist on the pitch

 

May 18, 2015

This was my fondest memory of him in our time with us when he scored a hat trick at Old Trafford to send us to the semis. That very season he scored the league winning goals vs Athletic Bilbao to seal the title too.

 

May 18, 2015

The best goal I've ever seen

 

May 18, 2015

his technique was 2nd to none

 

May 18, 2015

I'll never forget that goal, watching it live as a kid and the game was still tied vs a team that had the most rock-solid defense in that cup. It was struck with his "weaker" foot too...After the game was done I went outside and tried but failed to replicate that volley lol.

 

May 18, 2015

yeah, i think this is where you were going with your last point, but: accepting that athletes today are certainly better conditioned and benefit from better technology, you have to control for that when comparing two people across eras. who's to say pele (or gordie howe or jim brown or stan musial) wouldn't be just as good or better if they were born in 1980?

 

May 18, 2015

Who's to say they wouldn't be worse? I mean Arnold Schwarzenegger could probably have dominated football in the 40s lol. Not to mention team sports had a whole other swarm of variables to the question.

It all comes back to the problem with the question. It's a hypothetical and a poor one at that.

 

May 18, 2015

common sense?

 

May 18, 2015

tbh its extremely hard to say because the way the sport is played now is much different than back then. also, it is true that I think he is a bit overrated considering he never played in Europe or against any real "challenge"

 

May 18, 2015

Wilt Chamberlain was tall and lanky. He dominated because he towered over the other players. Name one comparable player since. Manute Bol? He didn't exactly score 100 points. Sports completely change their style of play over the course of time. I'd say it's definitely a case by case basis, and not a blanket statement like you're suggesting. Jim Brown could've been injured on his first play if Jadeveon Clowney took his head off. There are too many variables.

 

May 18, 2015

wilt chamberlain is maybe the best athlete at his size ever. he was a star hurdler. have you watched film of him?

 

May 18, 2015

Cant compare, Pele was the greatest at his time, Messi & Ronaldo are the greatest of our time. Zidane is the Greatest of all time.

 

May 18, 2015

Deandre Jordan is comparable if we're talking about a size and athleticism combination. He just isn't as skillful as Wilt was with the ball in his hands.

 

May 18, 2015

That's why the NBA scouts out olympic hurdlers. Because it's relevant.

 

May 18, 2015

I don't really agree with this. He didn't play in Europe but in the mid 50's -> late 60's Real was winning most of the CL's (6 times, 2 times runner up) and at the same time Spain wasn't even making it in the top 4 in WC's. West Germany was the most consistent national team during that era, but Bayern wasn't winning anything in Europe in the same time period. The World Cup is the best and most important challenge, and it had teams like Uruguay / Argentina / Chile who were contenders, not to mention the European teams like WG, Italy, Sweeden, Hungary at that time etc. Ofc Europe had more good national teams because of the size difference. Brazil won 3/4 WC's while Pele was a part of the team, the most important player in 2 of them and had a significant contribution in the first one (when he was 17 only). What bigger challenge do you have in mind, basically they were the best in the world and destroyed their opposition in all the finals (and they faced european teams in every final).

Also back then almost no one played in Europe, in fact most teams mostly consisted by native players; Real's squad during the 60's had 2-7 foreigners (out of 26 players). Jose Altafini (brazilian) had a great career in Milan but that was an exception. Puskas was another exception. I don't think that Pele was afraid of the challenge in his prime, but that's just how football was back then.

 

May 18, 2015

um, it is.

 

May 18, 2015

How can someone be more beautiful to watch on a pitch than Zidane ?

 

May 18, 2015

It's a shame that Cruyff's Netherland's didn't manage to beat west germany in that final. Ajax / Netherlands during that time changed the way football was played with their tactics. He definitely deserves to be in the goat discussion, along with Beckenbauer from the other side. Still, Pele has won 3 WC's and insane individual achievements, there's no way that you can overrate a player like him, but the discussion shouldn't be a dilemma between Pele and Maradona.

 

May 20, 2015

The bolded statement can be argued tbh.... Not sure if you read the OP but I kind of touched on that.