The Official World Cup 2018 Thread

[Boycey]

I think it depends on your age, I'd be very much in the Maradona camp too but would respect people's opinion of including Messi and Ronaldo into the debate.

Maradona was a Street fighter, still is  , in a way neither of those guys ever had to be.

I don't get the whole Maradona hype. I know he basically won the world cup on his own in 86 which was probably his best season in his peak, but comparing that to what Messi did in 2012 is ridiculous. I mean 91 goals in 69 games and probably 30+ assists. Those numbers will probably never be seen in my lifetime again. If I were to rank them I'd go 1. Messi 2. Pele 3. Cristiano Ronaldo. 4. Maradona 5. George Best

I'll not change your opinion any more than you will change mine, but genius isn't covered simply by stats. Messi and Ronaldo played in free flowing La Liga football teams when constant tactical fouling hadreplaced savagery.. Maradona played a lot of his football in the ultra cautious Italian league where he was fair game. I'd reckon the 2 Italian titles he won with Napoli were his pinnicle especially his 1st one.

What age are you by the way?

[mrdeeds]

Maradona didn't set the world alight at Barcelona.

[Wildweasel74]

Obviously many backing Ronaldo and Messi are of a younger age group and probably they best don't even remember the times tackles  from behind were legal @fotball is not better nowadays but assault on forwards has been a removed from the making the game more free flowing! Its more than world's cup@ he made Napoli sthing in a league with 2 Milans, juventus, and roma and lazio in a time the best players in the world played in that league!

[JimStynes]

I'd say there is a lot of nostalgia attached to people voting for Maradona. He was shite in plenty of games too! Messi and Ronaldo won't be fully appreciated until they are retired. They are definitely in the argument for best ever and we got to watch them going to toe to toe with each other for the guts of 15 years.

[Insane Bolt]

Maradona and Messi are/were more team players than Ronaldo. He always reminds me of a lad in our club( think most clubs have one)......how did 'yous' get on today? ......I scored 1-5....but how did the match go? ....oh we were beat by 6 points. It's all about him.
Anyway it's all a matter of opinion, and certainly age groups will differ, but I have been blessed to see them all albeit on tv Pele, Best, Maradona, Messi and Ronaldo.

[An Watcher]

No doubt in my mind.  Maradona all the way

[ziggy90]

1 Maradona
2 Messi
3 Pele
4 Ronaldo
5 Cruyff
6 Best
7 PlatinI
8 Beckenbauer
9 Gullit
10 Francis (Trevor, not Kevin)

[seafoid]

It's like saying which was the gretest ever gaa forward. Totally subjective.

What about best ever World Cup goal?
Eder 82

https://youtu.be/jx9KMhX4lzo

[seafoid]

1 Maradona
2 Messi
3 Pele
4 Ronaldo
5 Cruyff
6 Best
7 PlatinI
8 Beckenbauer
9 Gullit
10 Francis (Trevor, not Kevin)

Who had the most la sting impact on soccer? Who is the reason Pep is manager of Man City? The reason Messi is who is?

https://youtu.be/CYtzf7YD8oY

[LooseCannon]

Xabi Alonsoooooooooooooooooooooo

[ziggy90]

1 Maradona
2 Messi
3 Pele
4 Ronaldo
5 Cruyff
6 Best
7 PlatinI
8 Beckenbauer
9 Gullit
10 Francis (Trevor, not Kevin)

Who had the most la sting impact on soccer? Who is the reason Pep is manager of Man City? The reason Messi is who is?

https://youtu.be/CYtzf7YD8oY

Oh how I remember that piece of skill and that team. Probably the second best team (international) I ever saw.

[north_antrim_hound]

How would Messi or Ronaldo fair in that era where the likes of maradona would get the legs cut off them on a regular basis by tough defenders.
Maradona as big a idiot as he was has produced more moments of genius in tougher environments.
He also produced for his country at the World Cup which gives him the nod.
Some people just don't want to accept that the greatest footballer to ever kick a ball also happened to be a self centered, self destructive ignorant clown.
Still not an excuse to deprive Him of his status  as the best ever. 

[imtommygunn]

No matter about any of them - I've rarely seen a player with a work rate like suarez. His will to win is phenomenal. He is a bit of an unsavoury character but he must be an absolute nightmare to play against.

[sid waddell]

It's like saying which was the gretest ever gaa forward. Totally subjective.

The greatest of the great have to have the ability to do things that no other player can do, that appear almost superhuman, that can't be coached, because they are by definition only achievable by geniuses.

There have been very few of those type of players in history.

Pele, Maradona, Messi and Ronaldinho are the four that immediately spring to mind. When each was in their prime, no other player in the world could come close to their genius.

Then you have to balance that against their achievements. George Best's ability was in the same bracket as the above four. But his achievements weren't.

Of those four, for me Maradona wins.

He had the purest ability to beat a man that has ever existed, and he performed on the greatest stage of all in a way nobody else ever had or will. He was a fantastic team player with the ability to lift those around him, he had longevity.

His peak, and his genius, was higher than anybody else's. All the above four regularly performed feats on a football pitch which were jaw-dropping. But none of them were more jaw-dropping than Maradona's.

Ranking the greatest players in GAA for me follows a similar logic. That's why I'd always rank DJ Carey above Henry Shefflin or Peter Canavan above Maurice Fitzgerald.  Carey and Canavan regularly performed feats which were jaw-dropping, and which no other player had to ability to perform. Great as Shefflin and Fitzgerald were, they didn't.

[north_antrim_hound]

No matter about any of them - I've rarely seen a player with a work rate like suarez. His will to win is phenomenal. He is a bit of an unsavoury character but he must be an absolute nightmare to play against.

Have to agree
Not the sort of chap you would like standing behind you if he was hungry but putting in a great shift for his country.

I often contemplate is ronaldo and Messi's performances in the World Cup compared club the absence of salary.
When you look at Suarez or Cavani your not questioning the commitment.