If you ask, who is the greatest footballer ever, there would be two options for all of the lovers of the game - Either Pele or Maradona. Only those who have seen other greats, or have strong club affiliations wll give any other name. I have said about these two greats because, statistically speaking these two were great in respect to winning every possible honours in the world, both at club level and national level, and, more importantly, defining an era. Wherever they went, they made the team they were in, win. Though, having said this, pre 1966(I am taking world cup as a reference) football was troubled with lack of video footage, bad rules and whatever opinions/reports are available are very biased. It would be very difficult to comment on certain players, but ultimately, two or three names do come as universally acknowledged to be the best in the game at that time. Ferenc Puskas, Stanley Mathews, Garrincha and Alfredo di Stefano would be some of the names that meets this description. My personal favorite player is Ferenc Puskas. I would like to say he is the greatest, but just the memories of Pele and Maradona scoring makes me say, "I will not go into the GOAT talk" . Other players who is up in this list are George Best, Johan Cruff, Jairzinho, Bobby Moore, Leonidas, Beckenbauer, Fritz Walter, Guisseppe Meazza, Ronaldo, Gary Linekar, Franscescoli, Eusibio, Schillachi, Rossi, Cantona, Zidane; I will not leave anyone whose footage(still or video) I have seen. Post 1966, Johan Cruff was the best player I have seen playing, even if he hasn't won the ultimate prize. Although the goal keepers are as important to the team as the playmakers, they are not directly involved in the win(unless they score, and there are such players too; Ceni being the best in that respect). So I have not put some of the players who are best in their business in this list. They are a different subset itself and their best will have no relation to this particular talk.
Football cannot be won by individual players. In any match, the team that sticks to their game wins. It will not be a Brazilian team if they defend, rather than attack. A Brazilian with a ball always tries to do something extra. There will be magic when they play. A particular video which shown the bloopers of 1970 squad made me think, this is an over confident bunch. If instead of the bloopers only, the entire match is seen, then you would realise that they attacked at will. The team was not dependent on Pele. There was Jairzinho, Gerson and a lot more. As the Brazilian team of 1962 had Garrincha, Pele, Didi, Vava. From 1950, each Brazilian side was considered to be a potential winner. The 1950 loss in front of home crowd is the worst in their history. The Brazilians, generations later, have never gotten over that loss. Neither have we. Still, in 1950 a great team won. So did in 1954, and 1966. In Argentina, the game is as passionate as ever. They had to wait for almost 44 years to lay their hands on the prize. It was not that they did not have great players, half the players in Spanish and Italian sides were Argentine. It was always a matter of a team, because to win was a teams choice. Ultimately, the two nations have given some of the greatest players in the world and of them two are topic of GOAT talk.
So the main two names in contention for GOAT talk are Pele and Maradona. For those who wonder why others are not considered, here is one reason, these two created chances as much as they scored. Though Maradona scored the goal of the century single handly, that year, he was not the top scorer. There was other guys who scored equally in that great world cup. In the moments of individual brilliance, Pele is equal to Maradona. Though a tad slower than Maradona, this Brazilian, nicknamed El Rei, has great vision, a supreme ball control, could score from right foot, left foot and head, a great dribbler and would go towards opposition like a cannon ball without losing balance. The squat Argentine on the other hand had the ultimate ball control. To see him play was to consider that the statements said about Dhyan Chand's hockey stick would very well be applicable to this guys foot. I have never seen a player move as fast as Maradona does with the ball.
Even when FIFA tried to find out from the public who was the best, they got shocked when Maradona scored so heavily over Pele. A win by small percentage for either Pele or Maradona would have made the result valid, but this was not acceptable. It would just mean Pele is far behind Maradona. I wouldn't accept that also, a result powered by lot of youngsters who find those who break rules and still produce stuff that only Gods(read simply as genius) can do as their legend is not a real poll. I will only blame FIFA for this situation to arise at first. If those who cannot accept the goals that Pele scored are marks of a genius, and would rather dismiss Pele as a statisticians legend, I will say that kafirs are not allowed in the discussions even, let alone enter the pantheon of the game. This game has been enriched by many rivelries. Of those, the most rewarding is that of these two legends. Even while their fans debate, these two also doesn't leave any chance to go one up on other, leaving them as mortal as any other away from the field. On the field, Pele had more friends and supporters. Off the field, it dwindles and Maradona reigns supreme. Maradona loses on field because of his temperament, so does Pele off the field. If this is the case, then who is the best?
For all those persons who think which player is better, I say, get a life. Enjoy the game. Don't compare these two or else I shall say Puskas is the greatest.
Notes:
1. GOAT: Greatest Of All Time; courtesy HVR
2. FIFA: Federation Internationale Football Ass.; a big Ass. conundrum with four British asses in tag.
