When I grew up, Pele was like The Beatles - the greatest at what he did. There was little dispute about it. My dad was insistent that Pele was the greatest even as Maradona started to get mentioned in the same breath.
I've no idea how good he really was to make any sort of judgement. The footage of him is impressive but limited. But given what people in the know say about him and the mark he left on the game and beyond, he has to be one of the all time greats.
The GOAT? I'm starting to find that conversation a bit hollow. You can make arguments for so many players and none of those arguments will ever be conclusive. I'm just grateful I've gotten to see the likes of Maradona, Zidane, Messi, Ronaldo. Those who also saw a lot of Pele should be grateful for that.
RIP
Brilliant, thanks for that.
That is brilliant.
Had this conversation the other day in the pub. I just said, just say who your favourite player was. Because asking who the goat is, is impossible. It's an objective question that can only ever be met with a subjective answer.
The answer is of course generational, for me despite them all being slightly past thier best pele, ali and nicklaus are the greatest sportsmen ever.
Pele and ali in particular transcend their sport in ways that can't be understood today, it's just such a different world.
Nicklaus dominated his sport yet still showed the world that losing sometimes wasn't so bad if you gave your best on the day.
When I grew up, Pele was like The Beatles - the greatest at what he did. There was little dispute about it. My dad was insistent that Pele was the greatest even as Maradona started to get mentioned in the same breath.
I've no idea how good he really was to make any sort of judgement. The footage of him is impressive but limited. But given what people in the know say about him and the mark he left on the game and beyond, he has to be one of the all time greats.
The GOAT? I'm starting to find that conversation a bit hollow. You can make arguments for so many players and none of those arguments will ever be conclusive. I'm just grateful I've gotten to see the likes of Maradona, Zidane, Messi, Ronaldo. Those who also saw a lot of Pele should be grateful for that.
RIP
Yes, the greatest of all time debates get tiresome when people take them too literally. They should be fun debates where we remember some remarkable players and what they could do to entertain us. Anointing one the GOAT is impossible. The fact that all the candidates are attacking players who scored a lot of goals should also be a sign that it's only a subjective matter.
That said, I find it amusing that a couple of weeks ago Messi was being acclaimed as the GOAT because he had finally won a world cup in "greatest ever" final. Pele won three world cups and was nobbled in the other he played in. And he played a starring role: two goals in the 1958 final, a hattrick in the semi-final, a goal and two assists in the 1970 final, including the assist for the Alberto Carlos goal. A case can be made for other players, and I'd add Cruyff and Beckenbauer to the usual suspects, but Pele should never be discounted.