Messi-ah?

Same old same old - who is the world's best soccer player? There was a time not very long ago when Tiger Woods and Roger Federer were unstoppable. Rudy Hartono and Carl Lewis too. Invincible. They had a good run and there was an aura about them. 


Pele said that unless Messi won the World Cup with Argentina Messi cannot be considered one of the greats? Do you agree? Pele also said he scored 1289 goals which is hard to equal. In this case was George Best a great legend since he not only did not win the World Cup, he has never been there? Cruyff remains one of the greats but he too never won the World Cup with the Netherlands. So what now?

The Game and Pele

Is is always hard to compare unless you compare apple with apple. During Pele's time the ball was not the same nor were the jerseys and the pitches. While these were true, Pele had advantage of more open play compared to today's very strategic play. However, Pele was less protected against hatchet men but the modern game is much faster and physical. No doubt Pele was a great goal scorer but he knew how to take care of himself so that he could last the distance and added more goals. Not only that, soccer today is a lot more defensive than in the old days making goal-scoring more difficult. Watch Pele:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QEmnP48PEc

If you were selecting the most complete player then Pele would be the one as he could pass, use either foot and was a good header of a ball. There is no doubt that Pele can dribble but he was never one to take a ball and dribble like Maradona or Messi. He was a great team player not just for his unselfishness but his every movement was to involve the team. Pele is to me the greatest because of his longevity in the game by taking care of himself, by scoring a record number of goals and the most complete player as he could use either foot and a great header of the ball and he won the most World Cup. 

Maradona

Maradona does not score as many as Pele or Messi does. He was one of the best dribblers though (think v England) but he was a one-legged wonder who used his hand to score when it suited him and he took drugs unfortunately. Gifted and very skillful, yes. In terms of soccer skills, one of the best. He will be remembered as one of the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE-I4kKnTIg

Cristiano Ronaldo

The scrawny kid that Sir Alex Ferguson bought for Man Utd has become possibly the most athletically built soccer player today with the height, muscle, power and skills to beat anyone. While Messi has scored 50 goals, Ronaldo has scored 40 for Real Madrid and actually led Messi 32 to 30 in La Liga at one stage but now Messi is on 34. Last season they both scored a massive 53 goals. Since he joined Real Madrid in 2009, he has scored an incredible 126 goals in 127 games averaging 0.992 while Messi an equally incredible 150 goals in 151 games averaging 0.993 goals per game over the same period. Ronaldo will need to maintain the same scoring rate in his next 24 games to equal Messi.
With such phenomena rate, who wouldn't want these two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euMu1SKi-ak

However, I would pick Messi anytime over Ronaldo for Messi is everything Ronaldo is not. Whenever Messi was hacked down, he will get up and there are times he could have fallen due to a hard nudge but he would regain his balance and played on. Messi plays soccer with a child-like zest and joy and always with a smile. While Ronaldo is talented, his skills and movement are manufactured. Messi plays with pure instincts, he doesn't do the same tricks and even if he did the same things again, you still can't stop him. He just cannot be fathomed and he has never shown petulance or arrogance. He ghosts past defenders as if their do not exist. He is to me the closet thing to George Best.

Many others came and went - Johan Cruyff, Zico, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane. All were great during their time. Cruyff was a great conductor, Zico was mercurial, Ronaldo was a phenomenon, Ronaldinho was a bag full of amazing tricks and Zidane was a ballerino, poetry in motion.

George Best

Gerogie was the first pop star of soccer. He never appeared in a World Cup. He retired at 26 even before reaching his peak and he was already so out of this world with his abilities. He will always be a legend. I have written two articles previously on the world's best players and Georgie Best.

http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2008/12/worlds-best-soccer-players.html

http://gforce-guru.blogspot.com/2009/10/mirror-mirror-on-wall-whos-best-player.html

Watch this, Best already way past his best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLU3sUoplis 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6WTt7atic (Best Tribute)

Messi

Messi has just become the first player to score five goals in one Champions League game. What I am certain of is that we are very fortunate to be able to watch Messi. Messi has scored 12 goals in 7 Champions League game. He also scored 17 goals in his last 6 games for club and country. He is in the "zone". He is in an invincible Barcelona side that scores for fun and has age on his side.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZnUr8lcqjo&feature=fvst 

Why couldn't he do the same for Argentina since Argentina has many good players too? Because they do not have Xavi and Iniesta and they do not play like Barca. At the time of writing, Messi has just scored another hattrick in the 5-3 win over Granada. Amazingly it was his 8th hattrick of the season. He also set a new record of 54 goals in all competition in a single season and he has two more months of the campaign left to go.


The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year has just bested Barcelona's all-time goal-scoring record of 232 goals and now on 234 and he is only the same age as me - 24. Not only that, he has many assists too. Nobody should be surprised when he lift the World Best Player trophy a record fourth time which has never been heard of. Rooney referred to Messi with great reverence calling him a joke sort of like an impossible thingy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S7hlL4sJek 

To get to Pele's goal records, one has to start very young and last the pace till very old and have the fortune to avoid injuries. This may not be easy. Messi should just get on with his game and not look at all the records or he may end up like Tiger Woods. He should just continue to play with the same passion and joy and not even worry about the World Cup. Pele or other naysayers can say all they want that you have to win the World Cup to be considered as the best player in the world. Soccer is a game unlike Badminton, Tennis or golf where you can play as an individual and where you can win but your team loses or vice versa.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenupVFSzjs 

Just enjoy him now and acknowledge that we are indeed fortunate to have witness such a prodigy in our time. To me, he is already the best player today, no contest. Period. History will definitely judge him favourably to be one of the best players of all time, perhaps may be even the best player of all time. Special thanks to Pep Guardiola for building the team around him.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ3xhCLTB6Y (Watch this at 1:02 minute -Messi, Messi, Messi......)

At least he is the Messiah to save the boring soccer of our time. For local punters, I think they will also agree with me if you ask them.
Messi ah? Solid lah! Messi is the only player better in real life than on Playstation or Xbox. We should pray that God protect him from injuries and continue to let us enjoy this gift from Heaven. The frightening thing is it was reported that Brazilian prodigy from Santos - Neymar would be joining Barcelona. 


Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta, David Villa and soon Neymar. You do not want to be a defender. 


To all these great players, I say- thanks for the memories!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzL0EM1pKY (Fall Out Boys)

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