This debate had been going on among football pundits for years, on who really is the best ever football player in the world? The picks were narrowed down to only 2 players, both of whom had caught the fancy of the entire soccer planet during their halcyon days, Brazlilian Edson Arantes do Nascimento or simply Pele, as he was globally known, and Argentine Diego Maradona.
Both players belong to different eras of "the beautiful game". Pele starred for three World cup victories for Brazil spanning three decades (late 50s, the 60s and early 70s), while Maradona led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup diadem. Pele has lived a clean life during and after his playing days. Maradona's life is as colorful as his playing career. Both wore the sacred No. 10 jersey and both their styles are flamboyant, always leaving the crowd in a state of frenzy after each game.
Unlike many current South American booters, Pele never played in the lucrative European circuit and instead, displayed his wares for the Santos club before his ever adorable countrymen in Brazil. He still holds the all-time leading goal scoring record for Santos with 1,265 markers in 1,345 games. He turned pro at the young age of 15. He closed out his career with the New York Cosmos squad in the now-defunct North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1975. Pele first donned the National uniform at the tender age of 16 and scored 77 goals in 92 appearances for the Brazilian nationals.
Maradona played for three clubs during his checkered career. He started out with Boca Juniors in the Argentine pro league and later joined FC Barcelona in Spain and Napoli in Italy. He started out with the Argentina squad which won the World Cup youth championships in Japan in the early 80s and no one can ever forget his dazzling solo run in scoring the controversial "hand of God" goal against England in the 1986 World Cup, which Argentina later won. He also won the tourney's Golden Ball award as best player. Over-all, he represented Argentina in four World Cup stints. It was not all rosy for Maradona as in 1991, he was banned from the game for 15 months due to failed drug test. He was banned for the second time during the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles for testing positive for ephedrine.
Pele, aside from his natural goal-scoring skills is the ultimate team man. He always made his teammates look better with is accurate passing. Maradona loves the spotlight, always the master showman for his team with his razzle-dazzle type of a game.
The whole world is very fortunate to witness the soccer expertise of these two great men and picking one over the other as to who is better will always be entailed with argument. So let's just put it this way, Pele and Maradona are the two greatest soccer players who had ever played.
No comments:
Post a Comment