Legends of the Past IV

My good friend Mr. West pointed out that there are few players who transcend time and for him these are the players that are truly in the upper echelon of the footballing world. I would agree somewhat with this assertion. These players are known by everybody who has an interest in the sport of football because of their play on the field that seemingly puts them in another time period of the game because they have already passed the standards for greatness in their own time period. But I would not agree that these players cannot be compared with players from the past and future. For me it is a simple matter of transposition as I have already let Aaron know.

The game has become increasingly about speed and strength as these fine tuned athletic machines trod on the green daily. I honestly wish it wasnt that way because to me it has taken a way from the purity of the game. Case in point George Best- smoked, drank and partook in the same activities that the ballers of his day did. But the complete wizardry with the ball at his feet was not lost. Could the same be said for Messi? If he did not partake in daily fitness tests, drank beers daily, partied all night as these past heroes did, would his feet have the same trickery? Would the mental speed which controlled his feet as he glided with the ball still mantain the same level? I think not. As Aaron said, the game was based on a purely technical ability back then. And with that, my feeling is that the greats of this age would not be the phenomenal talents they are today without the conditions of todays game.

In the same way, I feel that George Best would have had a ball playing todays game because he would have been blessed with the same skill set that he had and would have been even more enhanced by the military like regimen that he would have had to undergo to play for Machester United. But the question is whether his passion would have been the same if he had to go through hoops as he would have to presently. This is important because in my book, passion breeds talent- it is the presence of passion that allows one to work tirelessly at perfecting their craft.

But there are timeless wonders such as Ronaldo, Zidane, Riquelme, Van Nistelrooy, Inzaghi, Maldini, etc. whose games have not relied heavily on speed and in some cases fitness for reasons such as injury or the fact that they were simply not built that way. I will hand over to Mr. West to continue our discussion.

Legends of the Past III

As my esteemed colleague rightly put it, it's incredibly difficult to rate players in football simply because of the widespread base of reference. Whereas basketball has the NBA, we have the whole world from which to judge talent. While for the most part, the best players tend to be massed in the biggest European leagues (Spain, Italy, England, etc.), there are phenomenal talents spread throughout the world. In addition, we have the issue of not having seen the talent of the past due to technological deficiencies and the fact that our generation was not alive to see said talent.

Given that fact, what do we use to rank talent? In my opinion, for the most part we cannot truly rank modern legends against past legends because of the simply fact that the game has changed so much over the years. Watching a game from the 1980s compared to today's game is such a different experience that it would appear to be two different sports. The game of the past was played at an almost leisurely pace, without excessive physical exertion and with more emphasis on technical ability. Today's game is dominated by fine-tuned athletes whose initial mindset is to run at full pace for 90 minutes without care for finesse and beauty.

That being said, I believe there are indeed timeless legends that would seem to be able to burrow through the sands of time with ease. Such players as Marco Van Basten, Pelé, Diego Maradona and Johann Cruyff would all seem to have some sort of place in the modern game. By the same token, Zinedine Zidane, Eric Cantona, Juan Román Riquelme and the like seem taken straight out of a 1965 Real Madrid squad. But how would the majority of the future and past stars stack up if transplanted to a different period? How would Ronaldo Luís Nazario de Lima do faced with the brutal tackles and indifferent refereeing of the 70s? How would Alfredo Di Stefano do when faced with the searing pace and technical ability of a centre back like Carles Puyol in his prime?

I leave that to my friend Machel Turner as he continues our scholarly debate.

Legends of the Past II

As the good creator of this blog said, we were involved in a long discussion last night regarding the comparison of legends of the football world. As we discussed Ronaldo (not the soft one that plays for Man Utd.) and Henry I asserted that there is a microscopically slim line that separates the two, but this leaves Ronaldo at #1 and Henry behind him. But these two names are only on the list as the great out and out strikers (# 9s if you will) that we have seen play. This is a very important factor. We have been able to witness these players play, and while I could make a case for Samuel Eto'o who I think is the world's best #9 right now and has been consistently for the past 4 or 5 years he does not possess the same phenomenal skill set as the same two. This man, much like Van Nistelrooy or Raul is deadly in front of goal but is very hard pressed to create something for himself, magically out of nothing.

For this I brought up one Marco Van Basten. The man is a true legend but had his career cut short at age 27 from knee injuries when us in our early 20s were only 4 or 5 years old. I would advise those of you who have not seen this man to go to youtube right now and prepare for a feast. As Aaron did point out the basketball argument can be used when we compare the greatness of all these legends over time (from Di Stefano, Puskas, Pele, Cruyff, Gullitt, Maradona, Baggio, Batistuta, etc.). But where as the basketball base has a much narrower base of reference (there is only 1 legit league and 1 legit basketballing country that produces stars) the base for football is much wider. Because of this, while the younger generation may not have seen Michael play as we did, there is still the myth of Michael that surrounds him and will always surround him. This myth is powerful and while Lebron and Kobe are great themselves, the Myth of Michael will always place him above them in the pecking order.

In terms of football, this is not true. A new star pops up every day such as your Lavezzis, Hamsiks etc. and no country (except maybe Brazil) or club can claim to have a dominant stranglehold on the international scene and producing stars. Because of this it is easy for us to forget the great ones of the 50s and 60s such as Mr. George Best, Garrincha and Eusebio, etc. But that does not make them any less great. With the wide base it is much harder for us to rank players, even by position and this is what we will take into consideration as we move forward with this debate. Your go Mr. West.

Legends of the Past

I was talking to one of my good friends, Machel Turner today about "O Fenômeno" Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima and the conversation shifted to how to compare footballing legends. The discussion started with my assertion that Ronaldo is the best striker of all time. Machel's valid argument was that Thierry Henry in his prime could rival the great man, but we eventually settled on Ronaldo as the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time). The crux of the winning thesis was that although both men were phenomenal finishers, Ronaldo's superior dribbling ability and absolute devastating finishing within the box made him a better all around forward. One needs only to watch videos of Ronaldo from the PSV, Barcelona and Inter Milan years to see this made plain.

Moving on from this topic, we began to talk about how Ronaldo, Henry and the legends from our day stack up against the legends of the past such as Marco Van Basten, Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff and the like. The list stretched on to luminaries like Ferenc Puskás and Alfredo Di Stefano. The main question was this: How do they all compare?

To use basketball as a reference, such giants of the game as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, etc. were considered the G.O.A.T. in their day until a certain man named Michael Jordan came along and snatched the title. However, we are approaching a generation of teenagers and young adults that will never have seen Michael Jordan play a game. In lieu of that fact, will they respect his achievements? The same goes for Marco Van Basten, Maradona, Pelé, etc. For the simple fact that we didn't grow up watching these players, our generation (and by our, I mean my generation of 20-somethings) will find it difficult to truly appreciate their accomplishments. Because of that, will the next generation recognize our current legends (Ronaldo, Zidane, Henry, etc.) for their true brilliance?

I'm going to throw it up for Machel to continue so we can debate the issue further. Hopefully we'll see a good debate over the next few days.