World's Best Soccer Players

Mirror, mirror on the wall.

Who is the one with the Golden Ball?

Once in awhile, comes a genius of a soccer player who whenever a ball is at his feet, you expect something special to happen. I was indoctrinated and soccer crazy when I was at Victoria School since the school A, B and C teams are usually in some kind of semi-finals and finals. We watched our teams played in our very good school field where even the National Team used to train where we watched our famous 1977 Malaysia Cup winning team trained under the eagle-eyed late and legendary Uncle Choo. Then the highlights of the 1970 World Cup "The World at Their Feet" captured my imagination at the time they were ushering the 1974 World Cup. That was where I embarked on a journey of acquiring soccer knowledge with dosiers of Eusebio the Portuguese Black Panther, the world's best goalie Gordon Banks, the great Bobby Moore, the unstoppable and thundering shots of Bobby Charlton, the first and ever world cup hattrick hero Geoff Hurst. The possibly best-ever WC team Brazil boasting Pele, Rivelino, Jairzhino, Tostao, Garincha, Carlos Pereira, etc.

In the WC'74, we saw the the elegance of the Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer, other brilliant German machineries in goalie Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Gunter Netzer, "Der Bomber" Gerd Mueller, Grabowski, Wolfgang Overath, Bertie Vogts and the Orange's total football of Rinus Michels with such talented players like the great Johann Cruyff, midfield maestro Johann Neeskens, Robbie Resenbrink, Ruud Krol, etc. This World Cup coincided with the introduction of the colour TV which made it even more vivid.

Edson Arantes Do Nascimento otherwise simply known as Pele was king. Till this day he has been recognised as the greatest footballer ever. He was a gifted and complete player but he was the best because he has the discipline to stay focus, he trained hard and maintain a proper lifestylw which saw him scored more than a thousand goals at the highest level. Sometimes, you would wonder if the stocky Argentinian Diego Maradona is more talented when you reply that wonder goal int the WC against England. Though Maradona was not as good with his head and a dead right foot, he has a left foot like a magic wand. Although I have never watched George Best played but only on footages of old games I have read materials on this good-looking, drinking and womanising genius who could have gone on to be the best player the world ever saw.

George Best

It was a real pity that Best never played in the world cup while representing Northern Ireland. With such phenomenal success coming at a young age, money, alcohol and beautiful women swooned around him, Best could not handle them all. He became a womaniser, lost plenty of money and became alcoholic and finally succumbed to the latter recently when his liver finally failed. During the halcyon days where he terrorised defences with Bobby Charlton and Denis Law in Manchester United's Red, Best has no peers and was the very first soccer superstar pop icon long before David Beckham. Retired at age 26, way before a professional soccer players peak, Best showed the world his magic so imagine what he could do and have not yet shown us.

Legend has it that in one of the away games for Manchester United, Sir Matt Busby has given instruction for Man Utd to defend for 20 minutes before going for the jugular. 10 minutes into the game, Man Utd led 2-0 with Best scoring both goals. In another classic narration, Best in semi-retirement was appearing in a friendly match versus a team that featured Johann Cruyff at the time the best player in the world. Talking to a journalist off the cuff, Best told him that during the game, at the earliest opportunity, he will take the ball to Cruyff and nutmeg him (to nutmeg is to push the ball through the legs). 

All this was soon forgotten. On match day, Best being Best have ladies crowding the players' tunnel and as he ran out, he blew kisses and threw flowers to them. 20 minutes into the game, Best took the ball, ran diagonally across the middle of the pitch dribbling past a few players, not towards goal but towards Cruyff on the other side and nutmegged him. The crowd was delighted but only the journalist knew what Best had told him earlier which made it even more amazing.

In recent memory, many has come and gone - Mario Kempes of Argentina, Karl-Heinze Rummenige of Germany, Michel Plantini, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry of France, Zico, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Ronaldo of Brazil, Paul Gascogine of England and though Kaka is still in there with best of the current crop which include Cristiano Ronaldo of Man Utd. and Portugal, Wayne Rooney of Man Utd and England, Steven Gerrard of Liverpool and England, Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina, you could say that none has come close to the stature of Pele, Maradona and Best. Tierry Henry himself was a pure joy to watch while playing for Arsenal but has since faded and now with Barcelona.

The modern game has its detractors being played at breakneck pace where speed, tactics and the physical part of the game reign supreme. Kaka will be very successful given his disciplined approach to the game keeping himself away from the limelight and being a very religious person keeping himself sane. Steven Gerrard is valued for his all action and commanding style stamping his authority and bossing the midfield. Wayne Rooney is indeed a talent and with his powerful built, has both strength and a deft touch with the only suspect being his temperament. 

In his league and age group would be Cristiano Ronaldo no doubt gifted but he is not going to achieve the same high of last season with his haul of 42 goals in all competition as a winger. Ronaldo has a worse problem than Rooney and that is his character. How often did we see his petulance and arrogance an constant diving. It is this weakness and his narcissistic pattern that could destroy him. He is exciting to watch and has now improved in that at the beginning he was just a show off overdoing his dribbling and unnecessary side steps, step overs and pony tricks becoming less effective. Just before Brazil played Portugal in an international friendly, Cristiano ROnaldo was intreviewed by the press and he bolydly proclaimed that he Ronaldo is the world's best, second best and third best player. Brazil promptly despatched Portugal 6-2. You will not see Cristiano Ronaldo like he was again last season because of possible injuries, success getting to his head and opponents now knew better how to handle him. Do not forget that Rooney took away quite a chunk of the burden at Man Utd.

To me, the beautiful soocer comes from two little guys - Manchester City's and Brazil's Robinho and Barcelona and Argentina's Lionel Messi. Watching Robinho reminds us of Pele while Messi is the closest thing to Maradona - a pure joy to watch. Lionel Messi has some physical defects in his little body which in some way caused him to suffer injuries otherwise he should have the honour as the best player. 

I would suggest the best players in the world right now are Lionel Messi, Kaka and Robinho. Rooney, Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo would come next. Theo Walcott of Arsenal and England has the potential based on today's game to reach the pinnacle. Walcott is a player whom once he gets past the defenders, he would never be caught as he is blessed with phenomenal speed and acceleration. You would know what I meant if you had watched him destroyed England's nemesis Croatia single-handedly and he is only 19.
A professional sportsman needs great discipline, focus and hard work to reach the top. The harder part is to maintain the standard and keep it there.

But there was one of the world's greatest player that many of us have never seen in action - Duncan Edward of Manchester United and England who perished in the Munich air disaster at the age of 21 among the legendary and famed Busby Babes. In the words of the great Bobby Charlton himself, he has never played with, against or seen a more complete footballer than Duncan Edward and the list included Alfredo di Stefano, Pele, George Best and Maradona.