Top 20 Soccer Players

[thedarknight]

Landon Donovan

[sam h]

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Ronaldinho not remotely close.

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You dont watch too much football, right?

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He has been a great club player for 3-4 years now, with mixed results in internationals. Putting him anywhere near the top 20 all time right now is ridiculous. Check back in about 6-8 years and we will see then.

[Oderec]

Ive read on this thread a couple of times that Zidane is the 2nd best player behind Maradona. I was suprised when I read this(although I am new to watching soccer), but I just didn't know that people would put him ahead of someone like Pele. Is this widely accepted?

Although I was extremely impressed with his performance against Brazil, it has to be classic and is the best in this tournament by far, IMO.

[sam h]

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Ive read on this thread a couple of times that Zidane is the 2nd best player behind Maradona. I was suprised when I read this(although I am new to watching soccer), but I just didn't know that people would put him ahead of someone like Pele. Is this widely accepted?

Although I was extremely impressed with his performance against Brazil, it has to be classic and is the best in this tournament by far, IMO.

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Comparing players across eras is obviously difficult and subjective. I would not say that Zidane is a clear cut #2 behind Maradona, but it is probably fair to put him in the very top upper echelon all time along with Maradona, Cruyff, Pele, and maybe a couple others.

[MATT111]

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Ronaldinho not remotely close.

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You dont watch too much football, right?

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He has been a great club player for 3-4 years now, with mixed results in internationals. Putting him anywhere near the top 20 all time right now is ridiculous. Check back in about 6-8 years and we will see then.

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Fair point. I think he has the potential for the Maradona Pele league.

[pureklas]

Ballack, Zidane and Riquelme. All masters in their teams.

[BigSoonerFan]

Not knowing much about football, is there anyone in goal on this list?

[bueno09]

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no one ever won a WC by themselves, ever.

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Maradona 86

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that's not true

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Winning teams are often made of some very good players.
74´Germany had Beckenbauer, Muller, Breitner and Maier.
70´Brazil had Pele, Carlos Alberto Torres, Rivelino, Tostão, Jairzinho
66´England had Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst
82´Italy had Paolo Rossi, Gentile, Zoff
02´Brazil had Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos
88'Holland had Van Basten, Gullit, Rikjaard

86 Argentina had Maradona and?
94 Brazil had Romario and?
So yes, you can say some players won the World Cup by themselves because they were the ones that carried over their teams over the competition, Maradona gave 3 assists to goals against Germany in the Finals, made two Goals alone against England... Romario saved Brazil alone against Sweden twice in 94, saved us against USA when he was guarded by 4 players and still managed a way to feed the ball to Bebeto in position to score.
I will give you the Brazilian team that won in 94.
Taffarel, Jorginho, Aldair, Marcio Santos, Branco; Mauro Silva, Dunga, Mazinho, Zinho; Bebeto and Romario (who is the second very good player in this team??) (have you ever heard of Mazinho?)

[bueno09]

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Beckham is not even close top50.
I Think Zidane is the only one, with Ronaldo maybe crackin the top 20. Ahead of him there are
Pele
Garrincha
Maradona
Cruyff
Beckenbauer
Di Stefano
Platini
Zico
Romario
Zidane
Best
Bobby Charlton
Eusebio
Puskas
Matthaus
Baggio
Nilton Santos
Yashin
Tostao

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Can you explain to me how and why Romario got on that list? And Baggio?

You are forgetting loads of great players like Eder, Socrates, Nordahl & Liedholm

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I know one play is not enough to judge a player. But: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek2cZ...%20corinthians

Romário didn´t have the spotlight the others guys had, so that is the reason you don´t know Romario enough to know he is along with Zidane the best player in the world since Maradona retired.
When Romario was in Europe he carried an average PSV team to winning the Uefa Cup, then he went to Barcelona where he was elected best player of the world, and then he won by himself the WC of 94. But Romario is kind like Gascoigne and Best, he doesnt like to train hard, he likes to party... So he went back to Brazil , where he could not train, spend the day playing futvoley (which is a mix of voleyball and football) in the beach and go out at night, then he would still destroy other teams in Brazilian Championship. He never had the publicity Ronaldos had, even though he was better than these two. (Just as a note, Romario didn´t play WC98 because he had a fight with Zagallo and Zico), had he played that Cup, the history could be different.

Baggio is more debatable, but i think his performance in WC 90 and specially WC94 puts him in top20. In WC 94 he took an average Italian Team to the finals passing through very good teams and DECIDING the games, like when he tied the game against Nigeria at 88´ , when he made the game winner against Spain at 87´ and when he made the 2 goals against Bulgaria, who had previously beat Germany of Sammer, Klinsmann, Matthaus and Voller.

Socrates might belong in a top 50 list, Eder doesn´t, he was a good player, played in 82, had some success in Brazil but that is just not enough, he had no dinasty, like Eusebio with Benfica, or Cruyff with Ajax.

The other two sewdish played had great success with Sweden olympic team and by carring them to the finals in 58, also they had a nice history in Milan, but its hard to judge players from 40-50 since you don´t have enough material to compare and analise, and then it is even harder to put them in a top20 because of that.
I see Ronaldo the same way i see Van Basten, both genius in their ways, but you can´t judge them because of the injuried, Ronaldo best years were 96-98 and 02-03 other that he didnt have the consistency Romario had through his career, just like Van Basten had only a few years to play before he retired, so it is unfair to judge their history in either way, when you compare them with players who played 10 years of good football and when you see them as players who played only 4 years of good football.

[bueno09]

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Zidane definetely, Henry definitely (although thats based more on his club career thus far) Ronaldinho is close. Maybe Ronaldo.

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You really think he belongs into all-time top 20?

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Yep, I think he's done enough in his career to this point to sneak into the bottom of the top 20 all time. Barring a catastrophic injury, by the time he's done he'll almost certainly be in the top 10, and maybe the top half of the top 10. Winning a European title with Arsenal, this World Cup, and a World Player of the Year or two will help him get to that level. He is one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the history of this game.

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Henry is a very very good player, to me the Best Striker in actual football, but for him to go even to the top10 list he has to accomplish more than those guys acomplished in their carreers, and to do that he has to suceed more than he suceeded so far in his carreer. He never was elected player of the Year, Arsenal never won a Champions League, won the Premier only once.
Well, i don´t think any player currently playing can accomplish more than Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Garrincha, Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Zico, Platini, Romario and Zidane accomplished in their career. They can prove me wrong, but they need to prove first.