Number 20: Roberto Baggio
Why He's One Of The Greatest: Led Italy To The 1994 World Cup Final Match After Winning The European And World Footballer Of The Year, And FIFA's Player Of The Year Award In 1993. Roberto Baggio Has Been The Golden Boy Of Italian Football Since Breaking Into Serie A With Fiorentina In The Mid-1980s. His Record Transfer From Fiorentina To Juventus In The Wake Of The 1990 World Cup In Italy Incited Three Days Of Rioting In Florence. Baggio Claimed Two Italian League Titles, First With Juventus In 1994-1995, And Then With AC Milan The Following Season. While Playing With Brescia In 2004, The "Divine Ponytail" Broke The 200 Serie A Goal Mark, Scoring Five More Before Season's End. Baggio Then Graced The Fans With A Final International Appearance In A Friendly Match Against Spain Before Hanging Up His Cleats. His International Career Will Forever Be Scarred By The Fateful Penalty Shootout Miss Against Brazil In The 1994 World Cup. But Italy Would Never Have Met Brazil In The Final Were It Not For Baggio's Performances Against Nigeria In The Second Phase And Spain In The Quarterfinals. Four Years Earlier, Fans Were Stunned By His Single-Handed Assault On The Czech Team, Beating Defender After Defender Before Slotting The Ball Home. With 27 Goals Over 55 Caps, Baggio Is Widely Recognized As A True Football Artist.
Number 19: Cristiano RonaldoCristiano Ronaldo Is Not The Most Successful Player Of Our Day. But He Is Probably The Most Complete: A Dribbler, Goalscorer, And Strongman All In One.At Just 18 Years Old, In An Exhibition Game With Sporting Lisbon Against Manchester United, The Boy From The Island Of Madeira Impressed His Opponents So Thoroughly That On The Flight Home Several Of Them Persuaded Alex Ferguson To Sign Him. Cristiano Had Already Agreed To Join Arsenal, But United Offered More. That Summer Of 2003, The Portuguese Kid -- Skinny, Quick To Cry -- Looked An Inadequate Replacement For The Departing David Beckham. Pretty Soon, United’s New No. 7 Had Consigned Becks To History. Aged 19, Cristiano Very Nearly Won Euro 2004 With Portugal, But Lost The Final To Greece. In Manchester, First As A Winger And Later As A Striker, He Racked Up The Prizes: Three Straight League Titles From 2007 Through 2009, And The Champions League In 2008. That Night In Moscow He Scored United’s Only Goal With A Header, But Missed His Penalty In The Shootout. He Won The 2008 Ballon D’Or For European Footballer Of The Year. In 2009 Real Madrid Bought Him For A World Record Transfer Fee Of $132 Million. With Hindsight, Cristiano Might Have Done Better To Stay At United. The Team He Joined Was A Disjointed Outfit With Too Many Stars. Even After Jose Mourinho Became Manager, Madrid Could Rarely Match Barcelona. Since Moving To Spain Cristiano Has Won Just One Spanish Cup. Meanwhile Portugal Has Gone Into Decline. Often Apparently Despairing Of His Teammates (As His Perma-Frown Makes All Too Clear), He Has Become More Of An Individualist, Shooting From All Angles, But With Brilliant Results: It Took Him Just Over Two Years To Notch 100 Goals For Madrid. A Ballet Dancer Built Like A Truck, He Is The Ultimate Mix Of Power, Grace And Style. To Move Up The Rankings, He Needs Just A Couple More Big Trophies.
Number 18: Ruud Gullit
Born In Amsterdam In 1962, Gullit Would Grow Into The Physically Strongest Of The Great Players. Nobody Covered More Ground, Jumped Higher Or Ran Faster, And He Could Also Read The Game From Many Different Positions. Though Less Refined Than His Contemporary Marco Van Basten, He Was No Slouch On The Ball Either.
At Sixteen, Gullit Was Already A Regular Starter For Little Haarlem. Charismatic As A Film Star, Often Drawing Awed Stares From Opponents, He Became Holland’s Captain Early In His Career. In 1987 Milan Bought Him From PSV Eindhoven For A World Record Transfer Fee. That Year He Was Named European Player Of The Year, And After Some Prompting, Dedicated His Prize To The Imprisoned Nelson Mandela.
His First Season With Milan Produced An Italian Title, And At The European Championship Of 1988 Immediately Afterward, Though Worn Out And Below His Best, He Helped Holland To The Country’s First-Ever Prize. He Added The European Cups Of 1989 And 1990 With Milan.
But Like Most Good Dutch Players, Gullit Liked A Good Quarrel. In Every Team He Needed To Be The Main Man. Before The World Cup Of 1990, He Forced Out Holland's Manager. During The Tournament, He Quarreled With The Team's New Manager And With A Former Manager, Unleashed A Newspaper War Between Two Dutch Dailies, And, Though Unfit, Demanded The Lead Role In The Team. In 1994 He Walked Out Of Holland’s Squad Before The World Cup Even Started. Squabbles Also Eventually Forced Him Out Of Milan.
He Finished His Playing Career In England, One Of The First Foreigners To Cross The Channel In The Mid-1990s. His Presence And Sophistication Lit Up Chelsea. In 1997 He Coached The Club To Victory In The FA Cup, The First Foreign Manager To Win A Major English Prize. After Retirement He Enjoyed Playing With Friends In The Fifth-String Team Of An Amsterdam Amateur Club.
Number 17: Xavi
Xavi Hernández Creus Spent Years Almost Unnoticed Sliding Perfect Passes In The Midfield Of Barcelona, The Club He Had Joined Aged Eleven. Only Late In His Career Did Pundits Realize That It Was No Coincidence That This Little Man Drives On Both The Best Teams Of Our Era, Barça And Spain.
Xavi Was Raised Practically From Birth In 1980 To Be Soccer’s Version Of A Quarterback – Or, As They Call It In Barcelona, A “Number Four”. Josep Guardiola Filled The Role In The Nou Camp Stadium Before Xavi, And Andres Iniesta And Cesc Fabregas Followed Soon Afterwards. Iniesta Outdoes Xavi For Pace, And Fabregas In His Nose For Goal, But Xavi Is The Ultimate Master Of The Pass. This Must Be Why Fabregas Once Said, With Xavian Modesty, “Xavi Is Several Classes Better Than Me.” Xavi Hits Passes, Left To Right, Up And Down, Usually Short, Like Someone Filling In A Crossword Puzzle At Top Speed. It’s Hard To Recall Him Misplacing One. Just As The Infamous Chelsea Defender Ron “Chopper” Harris Incarnated The Foul, Xavi Incarnates The Pass.
A Passer Cannot Do It By Himself, The Way A Messi Or A Maradona Can. Xavi Needs An Organized Team To Win. When Barcelona And Spain Finally Got Themselves Organized Around Him, Trophies Followed In A Variety Unprecedented In Soccer’s History. Since 2005, Xavi Has Won Five Spanish Titles And Two Champions Leagues With Barcelona; And A European Championship And World Cup With Spain. He Was Voted Best Player Of Euro 2008, But Soccer’s Bias Against The Provider Is Such That He Has Never Won The Ballon D’Or For World Footballer Of The Year. It Doesn’t Matter. Without Xavi There Is No Messi, As Messi’s Flounderings With Argentina Demonstrate. Xavi Incarnates The Greatest Teams Of Our Day.
Number 16: Lothar Matthaus
There Is No Trophy Lothar Matthus Has Not Lifted At One Time Over His 20-Year Career. He First Reached Prominence With His Second Club, Then-Powerhouse Borussia Monchengladbach. His Talents Didn't Go Unnoticed, As He Was Included In The West German National Squad That Took The 1980 European Championship. A Much-Unused Substitute In The 1982 World Cup, Matthaus Was Given The Daunting Task Of Man-Marking Diego Maradona In The 1986 World Cup Final Against Argentina. In 1990, West Germany Reached Its Third Consecutive World Cup Final Avenging Its Loss To Argentina Four Years Prior. Lothar Matthaus Wore The Captain's Armband, Scored Four Goals, And Was Voted Player Of The Tournament.
International Success Continued For Both Player And Country As Germany Reached The 1992 And 1996 European Championship Final Match, Claiming The Latter With A Golden Goal 2-1 Victory Over The Czech Republic. The World Cup Stage Would Not Be So Kind With Germany Performing Poorly In Both 1994 And 1998. Among All Of His Extensive International Success, Matthaus Claimed Six Bundesliga Titles With Bayern Munich, An Italian Title With Inter Milan, And A UEFA Cup With Each Of The Clubs.
Number 15: Marco Van Basten
The Dutchman Scored Goals Nonstop, But That Was Only Half Of It. Children Of The 1980s Like Thierry Henry And Ruud Van Nistelrooy Worshipped Him For His Style. Van Basten Was The Most Elegant Of Strikers: Tall, Straight-Backed, All Sinew And Little Muscle, With Long Unprotected Legs That Would Be His Downfall
Born In 1964, The Son Of A Semi-Professional Player, Van Basten Made The Perfect Debut For Ajax. Aged 17, He Came On As Substitute For Johan Cruijff And Scored. A Year Later He Was Playing For Holland. He Was A Nearly Complete Center-Forward, Who Scored All Sorts Of Different Goals With Both Feet: Dribbles, Drives, And A Variety Of Lobs.
His Peak Was Brief But Beautiful. In 1988, He Wasn’t Meant To Play In That Summer’s European Championship. Out Injured Almost All Season, He Had Slipped To Third In Holland’s Hierarchy Of Strikers. Cruijff, His Mentor, Counselled The Dutch Solution: Walk Out Of The Tournament.
Van Basten Stayed, Secretly Smoking Cigarettes In The Dutch Camp, Got Into The Team For The Second Game Against England, And Scored A Hat-Trick. In The Semi-Final, Holland Beat The Hosts West Germany Thanks To Van Basten’s Impossible, Sliding 87th-Minute Goal. In Holland, Millions Took To The Streets For The Largest Public Gathering Since The Liberation In 1945. He Capped It All In The Final In Munich: His Hooked Volley Over The Soviet Keeper, Rinat Dasaev, Is Often Described As The Best Goal Ever Scored In An International Final.
In 1989 And 1990 His Club AC Milan Won Two European Cups With A Team Built Around The Great Dutch Trio Of Van Basten, Ruud Gullit And Frank Rijkaard. Van Basten Was Voted European Player Of The Year In 1988, 1989 And 1992.
But Center-Backs And Surgeons Combined To Destroy His Ankle. Van Basten Limped Off The Stage Aged Only 28. At His Farewell In Milan’s San Siro Two Years Later, His Coach Fabio Capello Wept On The Bench.
Number 14: Michel Platini
Michel Platini Is Arguably One Of The Best Midfielders Ever Produced By The European Continent. Having Scored 98 Goals Over Seven Years For Nancy, Platini Moved On To Turin Giants Juventus In 1982, From French Side St. Etienne. He Quickly Endeared Himself To The Italian Fans Twice, Leading Juventus To The Italian Championship And Claiming Three Top-Scoring Titles. It Was No Surprise When He Was Named European Footballer Of The Year For Three Consecutive Seasons, From 1983 To 1985.
France's Golden Boy Went On To Represent His Country A Total Of 72 Times, With A Record 41 Goals For His Country. Platini Played A Major Role In The Golden Age Of French Football, Claiming A Fourth-Place Finish In The 1982 World Cup And The Bronze Medal Four Years Later. It's Rumored That Michel Platini's Passion For The Game Took A Turn Following The 1985 Heysel Disaster In Brussels, Where Juventus Claimed The European Cup On Platini's Penalty Kick. Following An Unsuccessful Stint As National Coach In 1990, Platini Has Continued To Be A Strong Proponent Of Quality Football, Playing A Large Part In France's Successful Hosting Of The 1998 World Cup Finals.
Number 13: Ronaldo
(Ronaldo Luiz Nazario Da Lima)
Ronaldo's Meteoric Rise To Fame Began At Brazilian Club Cruzeiro In 1993, Where He Scored 58 Goals In 60 Matches. Following Two Outstanding Seasons At Dutch Side PSV Eindhoven, He Joined Spanish Giants Barcelona In 1996. In His First Season With The Catalan Club, He Scored An Amazing 34 Goals In 37 Games To Finish As The Top Scorer In The Spanish League. His 1997 Move To Italian Side Inter Saw Him Make A Mockery Of The Famed Italian Defenses, Scoring 25 Goals In The League And Helping Inter Win The UEFA Cup, All During His First Season. When Real Madrid Came Knocking In 2002, Ronaldo Answered The Call. He Went On To Score 23 Goals In His Debut Season For Madrid And 24 The Following Season, Which Resulted In Another Spanish Scoring Title.
A Much Unused Substitute In The 1994 World Cup, Ronaldo Shone In The 1998 Edition Of The Competition, Netting Four Goals Before Mysteriously Falling Ill The Day Of The Final As His Side Lost 3-0 To France. Four Years Later, Ronaldo Returned To Prove His Point: Eight Goals Throughout The Competition, Including Both Goals In The Final Match Against Germany, And Brazil Was Crowned The 2002 World Cup Champion.
Number 12: Alfredo Di Stefano
(Alfredo Di Stefano Laulhe)
Alfredo Di Stefano's Leadership On The Field And Commanding Skills Translated Into Real Madrid's Dominance Of Europe In The Late '50s. Unfortunately, The World Stage Was Unkind To Di Stefano. As An Argentine International, He Missed Out On The 1950 World Cup And By 1954, Having Played For Both Argentina And Colombia, FIFA Refused To Let Him Represent Spain. In 1958, Spain Did Not Qualify, While In 1962 He Didn't Partake In The World Cup Due To Injury.
He More Than Made Up For His Lack Of Presence In International Competitions With His Outstanding Club Play. Spotted By Real Madrid While Playing For Colombian Side Millonarios Of Bogota, The Spanish Side Snatched Him Out From Under Barcelona's Grasp. In One Of The Most Famous European Cup Finals Of All Time, "The Blond Arrow" Completed A Spectacular Hat Trick As Real Madrid Thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 7-4 To Lift The Trophy For The Fifth Consecutive Season. From "The Machine" Line At River Plate, To The "Blue Ballet" At Millonarios, And Finally As A Member Of One Of The Most Lethal Strike Partnerships Alongside Hungarian Legend Ferenc Puskas At Madrid, The Five-Time Spanish League Top Scorer Was The World's First Total Footballer. Number 11: Ferenc Puskas
With An Amazing Record Of 83 Goals In 84 Internationals For Hungary, And Four More While Playing For Spain, Puskas Remains One Of The Most Dominant Strikers Of All Time.
The Legacy Of Hungary's "Magic Magyars" Of The 1950s Revolved In No Small Part Around Striker Ferenc Puskas. The Short, Barrel-Chested "Galloping Major" Terrorized The Opposition With His Thunderous Left Foot. After Winning The 1952 Olympic Title And Ending England's Dominance Of Europe, The Hungarians Were Heavy Favorites To Win The 1954 World Cup. Hungary Hit 17 Goals And Allowed Only Three In The Group Stages Before Taking Out Brazil And Uruguay In The Following Rounds. Despite Serious Injury, Puskas Played And Scored In Their Heart-Breaking Final Loss To West Germany.
Due To Civil Unrest Back Home, Puskas And Several Of His Honved Teammates Decided To Remain In The West While Their Team Was Abroad. After Being Turned Down By Several Italian Clubs Due To His Age, He Made A Home At Real Madrid, Consequently Winning Five Spanish Titles. His Four Goals In The Famed 1960 Final Against Eintracht Frankfurt Marked The Second Of His Three European Champions' Cups At Madrid. Despite A Hat Trick In The Following Year's Final, It Would Not Be Enough To Defeat Eusebio's Benfica. Throughout His Strike Partnership With Alfredo Di Stefano At Real Madrid, Puskas Truly Was Spain's "Little Cannon."
Number 10: Stanley Matthews
The Longest-Standing Player Of All Time, Stanley Matthews' Career Spanned 33 Years By The Time He Decided To Retire.
Playing In The Traditional Outside-Right Position, Matthews Was Without Rival, Tearing Up Defenses With His Surging Runs. Nicknamed The "Wizard Of Dribble," He Turned Professional With Stoke City In 1932 At Age 17. He Inspired The Team's Promotion From The Second Division, A Feat He Repeated At Age 46 In 1961. Two Years After Joining Stoke City, He Made His Debut For England Against Wales. Matthews Was A Key Figure In His Country's Four-Goal Rout Of Italy In 1948, Considered By Many To Be One Of England's Greatest Ever Victories. In 1957, Matthews Played The Last Of His 84 International Matches For England, A Career That Had Spanned The War.
Matthews Inspired Blackpool To A 3-1 Comeback Against Bolton, To Win The 1953 FA Cup Medal. The Glory Was Long Overdue, As Blackpool Had Twice Reached The Finals In 1948 And 1951, Only To Lose To Manchester United And Newcastle Respectively. At The Age Of 50, He Ended His Footballing Career With A Testimonial Match Including The Likes Of Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, And Lev Yashin. Matthews Maintained That He Could Have Kept Playing Well Into His 50s.
Number 9: Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton Remains One Of The Most Famous English Footballers Of All Time. He Commands Much-Deserved Respect To This Day As A Consummate Sportsman Of The Highest Integrity. Throughout His Playing Career, He Won Every Title Football Had To Offer, Both As Captain Of England And Long-Standing Servant Of Manchester United. The Ultimate Ambassador Of Football, Bobby Charlton Is Admired Worldwide For All He Has Done For The Game.
Part Of The "Busby Babes," Charlton Was One Of The Survivors Of The Disastrous 1958 Munich Plane Crash That Claimed The Lives Of Eight Of His Manchester United Teammates. Three Months Later, Manchester United Was In The FA Cup Final, Losing 2-1 To Bolton. In His Second World Cup, Charlton Played A Crucial Role In England, Reaching The 1962 Quarterfinals Where The Team Was Defeated By Powerhouse Brazil. Four Years Later On Home Soil, Charlton Was Part Of The Squad That Hoisted England's Only World Cup Trophy, On A Geoff Hurst Hat Trick Against West Germany. It Was Charlton's Upstaging Of Eusebio In The Semifinals Match Against Portugal That Lives On As Charlton's Greatest Ever Match For England.
Number 8: Eusebio
(Eusebio Da Silva Ferreira)Eusebio Easily Occupies The Top 10 Category Of Greatest Soccer Players Of All Time. He Began His Career In His Native Country Of Mozambique, Playing For The Sporting Clube De Lourenco Marques. This Is Where He Was Discovered By A Juventus Scout At The Age Of 15, But His Mother Prevented Him From Moving To Italy To Train.
At The Age Of 18 He Left Mozambique And Signed On With Benfica, But Because His Former Team Was A Feeder For Benfica Arch-Rival Sporting Clube De Portugal, His Move Caused Serious Controversy, Even Fears Of A Plot To Kidnap Him. The Excitement Surrounding His Benfica Debut Was Well Founded; His First Time On The Pitch For The Tricolor Was Against Atletico Clube De Portugal In 1961, And He Tidily Scored A Hat-Trick.Eusebio Had A Brilliant Career At Benfica. Only A Year After Starting With The Team, He Was Second In The Ballon D'Or, And Led The Team To European Cup Runner-Up Status In 1963, '65, And '68. He Won The Ballon D'Or In 1965, And Won The First-Ever Golden Boot Award In 1968. He Capped Off His Benfica Career In 1975. He Retired In 1979 After A Few Years Of On-And-Off Playing In The United States, And He Now Sits On The Technical Committee Of The Portuguese National Soccer Team.
Number 7: Lev Yashin
Ask Your Average Soccer Fan Who The Best Goalkeeper In The History Of The Sport Is, And The Majority Will Name, Without A Pause, Lev Yashin. The Soviet-Russian "Black Octopus" Will Forever Be A Mammoth Presence In Soccer Lore.
For 20 Years, Lev Yashin Manned The Goal At Dynamo Moscow, The Only Club He Ever Played For. With His Help, The Team Won The USSR Football Championship Five Times And The USSR Cup Three Times.
In 1954, After Playing On Dynamo For Four Years, He Was Summoned To Play For The National Team. In 1956 The USSR Took Home The Gold At The Summer Olympics. Although They Never Won, Yashin Took The Team To Three World Cups. He Won The Ballon D'Or In 1965. He's Also The Only Goalkeeper In History To Win The Award For European Footballer Of The Year, Which He Did In 1963.
Lev Yashin Died In 1990 After Having Surgery On One Of His Legs. His Influence As A Fine Sportsman And Epic Goalkeeper Continues To Be Felt In Russian Soccer And Among Big, Powerful Goalkeepers Around The World.
Number 6: Zinedine Zidane
Like Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane Had A Sense Of Occasion. His Balding Head Marked Two World Cup Finals, With Two Rare Headed Goals In 1998, And With A Headbutt In 2006 That Got Him Sent Off In His Last Match Ever. Yet What You Mostly Noticed Was Zidane’s Feet. Perhaps No Player In History Had Better Ball Control.
“Yazid,” As His Algerian Immigrant Family Called Him, Was Born In A Porr Neighborhood Of Marseilles In 1972. Every Day On The Local Place Tartane, He’d Practice His Tricks -- Notably His Trademark Roulette, Which Involved Rolling The Ball Beneath His Right Sole While He Pirouetted. The Cannes Scout Who Spotted Him Reported, “I’ve Found A Boy, He Has Hands In The Place Of Feet.” Zidane’s Skill Would Make Up For His Physical Shortcomings. He Was A Soccer Player, Not An Athlete.
Aged 22, He Marked His Debut For France With Two Goals. Two Years Later He Joined Juventus, Where He Won The Italian League But Lost Two Straight Champions League Finals. By The Time France Reached The World Cup Final Against Brazil In 1998, “Zizou” Was Known As A Great But Unfulfilled Talent. But On Match Day, France’s Manager, Aimé Jacquet, Noting That The Brazilians Did Not Mark Tightly On Corners, Advised Him To “Take A Stroll Towards The Front Post.” Zidane Headed Home Two Corners, And France Won 3-0. Afterward His Face Was Projected Onto The Arc De Triomphe, Above The Words, “Merci Zizou.” Inevitably He Won The 1998 Ballon D’Or For European Footballer Of The Year. When He Then Led France To Victory At Euro 2000, He Secured His Spot As French National Icon Of His Era. He Regularly Topped The Newspaper Journal Du Dimanche’s Periodic Vote For Most Popular Frenchman.
In 2001 Real Madrid Paid Juventus A Then World-Record Transfer Fee Of $90 Million For Him. A Year Later He Finally Won The Champions League, Sealing Victory Over Bayer Leverkusen With A Legendary Volleyed Goal. But It Was His Last Game That Lives In Memory. Zidane Almost Inspired A Flawed French Team To A Second World Cup, But Late In The Final, After Marco Materazzi Allegedly Questioned The Virtue Of His Female Relatives, Zidane Headbutted The Italian And Was Sent Off.He Ended His Career With 31 Goals In 108 Internationals, But Statistics Cannot Begin To Capture Zidane.
Number 5: Johan Cruijff
Not Merely A Great Player, Cruijff Was Also A Great Thinker On Soccer, As If He Were Edison And The Light Bulb In One.
Cruijff (His Real Name, Though Foreigners Generally Call Him “Cruyff”) Was Born In Amsterdam In 1947 A Few Hundred Meters From The Ajax Stadium. He Began Hanging Around The Club As A Toddler. His Father, Manus, A Grocer, Supplied Ajax With Fruit, And After Manus Died When Cruijff Was Twelve, Cruijff’s Mother Cleaned Ajax’s Locker Rooms.
The Skinny Waif Debuted For The First Team At 17. Ajax Was Then A Semi-Professional Club, Barely Known Outside The Netherlands, But Within A Few Years Cruijff And Ajax’s Manager Rinus Michels Turned It Into The World’s Best Team. The Duo Invented A New Kind Of Soccer, Which Foreigners Called “Total Football.” Players Swapped Positions At Great Speed, Creating An Unprecedented Fluidity Of Play. In The Midst Of It Was Cruijff, Constantly Changing Position, Pointing And Shouting Directions At Others Even While He Dribbled Past Opponents.
Ajax Won Three Straight European Cups From 1971 Through 1973, And Each Time Cruijff Was Voted European Player Of The Year. But He Was An Opinionated And Difficult Man, And Quarrels Punctuated His Career. In 1973, After His Teammates Voted Him Out Of Ajax’s Captaincy, He Fled To Barcelona. The Club Swiftly Won Its First Spanish Title In Fourteen Years.
Cruijff Is Best Remembered As The Guide Of Holland’s Great Team At The World Cup Of 1974, Though Sadly The Lost Final Against West Germany Was His Worst Match Of The Tournament. In 1978, Aged Only 31, He Decided For Family Reasons To Skip The World Cup In Argentina. He Retired From Soccer That Year, But Then Discovered That He Had Lost His Money In Terrible Investments, And Had To Return. He Played Five More Brilliant Years For The Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Ajax, And Finally Ajax’s Great Rival Feyenoord Rotterdam, Before Retiring At Age 37 To Become An Equally Brilliant -- And Quarrelsome -- Coach.
No. 4: Lionel Messi
This Young Man May Already Be The Best Soccer Player Who Ever Lived. Messi Is At Least As Supreme In His Era As Pele And Maradona Were In Theirs. His Haul Of Club Prizes Is Already More Glittering. But To Be Remembered Alongside Them, He Needs To Win A World Cup, And So Far, He Has Disappointed For His Country.
Perhaps The Secret To Messi’s Greatness Is That He Is Both An Argentine And A European Player. Born In Rosario In 1987, He Grew Into The Perfect Example Of The Tiny Argentine Ballplayer. In Fact, He Was Too Tiny: Aged 13, He Stood Just 1.40 Meters Tall. To Reach A Normal Height, He Would Need Hormone Treatments, Costing About $900 A Month. His Steelworker Father Could Not Afford It. Luckily Barcelona Was Persuaded To Invite Him For A Trial Game, In Which Messi Scored Five Goals. The Whole Family Moved To Catalonia, Where Every Night The Boy Injected Hormones Into His Feet. He Grew To 1.70 Metres, Just Big Enough For Professional Soccer.
Barcelona Turned The Genius Into A Disciplined Player, Who Could Pass Like A Playmaker And Even Became A Prodigious Tackler. He Also Became Venomously Efficient: Already, He Has Scored 200 Goals For Barcelona. But The Area In Which Messi Is Unmatched Is The Dribble. He Runs At Top Speed Yet With Three-Quarter Steps, Allowing Him To Change Direction Quicker Than Any Opponent. Because He Is Always The First To Recover His Balance After A Tackle, He Wins Endless Rebounds.
He Also Has The Good Fortune Of Playing In Arguably The Best Club Side Ever. In His Short Career With Barcelona, Messi Has Won Two Champions Leagues, Five Spanish Titles, Three Ballon D’Ors For World Player Of The Year, And An Olympic Gold With Argentina In 2008.
Yet His Country Has Never Found A Tactical System That Suits Him. As Of November 2011 He Has Only 19 Goals In 66 Internationals -- Disappointing, By His Standards. At The Last World Cup He Was Thwarted Largely By Argentina’s Incompetent Coach, Maradona Himself. If Messi Ever Excels For His Country As He Does For Barcelona, He Could Surpass Both His Little Compatriot And Pele Too.
No. 3: Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Beckenbauer Revolutionized The Role Of Attacking Sweeper During His Days At Bayern Munich And Led Them To The 1967 Cup Winners' Cup, As Well As Three Consecutive European Cups From 1974 To 1976. In His Time At Bayern, The Club Dominated The Bundesliga, Winning The League Title Four Times. His Incredible Form For Club And Country Earned Him The European Footballer Of The Year Award In 1972 And 1976.The First Player In West German History To Reach 100 International Caps, Beckenbauer Burst Onto The Scene In The 1966 World Cup, Scoring Four Goals For His Side Before Losing The Final In Extra-Time To England. Part Of The Squad That Reached The 1970 World Cup Final Match, He Continued To Dominate In The Early '70s, As He Captained West Germany To The 1972 European Championship And 1974 World Cup Titles. Beckenbauer, Who Is Currently President Of Bayern Munich, Would Go On To Succeed At The Managerial Level, Taking West Germany To The 1986 World Cup Final Match And Lifting The Trophy With The Squad Four Years Later In Italy. In Terms Of Innovation And Success On The Pitch, "The Kaiser" Is Clearly In A Class All His Own.
No. 2: Diego Maradona
Born In 1960 In A Shack So Rickety That When It Rained It Was Wetter Inside Than Out, Raised In One Room With Seven Siblings, Maradona Became The Only Man To Win A World Cup Virtually By Himself. More Than That: His Skill And Personality Dominated A Generation Of World Cups.
Everyone Saw The Tiny Left-Footer Coming. Maradona Was Ten When An Argentine Newspaper Ran A Story About A Prodigy Named “Caradona.” He Made His Professional Debut At Fifteen, Travelling To The Game In His Only Pair Of Trousers: Turquoise Corduroys. He Used The Match Fee To Buy Another Pair. At Only 17, In 1978, He Was Very Nearly Picked For The World Cup In His Own Country.
His First World Cup Came In 1982, But Ended In Disgrace When He Was Sent Off For Kicking The Brazilian Batista In The Testicles. Mexico In 1986 Was To Be His Zenith. Pele’s Great Brazilian Generation Won The World Cup Of 1962 Without Him, Johan Cruijff’s Fellow Dutchmen Reached The Final Of 1978 Without Him, But Maradona’s Mostly Mediocre Argentine Teammates Rode On His Shoulders. His Unforgettable Dribbled Goal Through The Entire English Defence In The Quarter-Final In Mexico Was The Perfect Expression Of His Solitude. Yet He Himself Said He Preferred His “Hand Of God” Goal In The Same Match: “It Was Like Stealing The Wallet Of The English.” Those Two Goals Were The Two Faces Of Maradona: The One Beautiful, The Other Dirty.
In 1990 He Took An Even Poorer Argentine Side To Another Final, And In 1994 Completed His Cycle Of World Cups With Another Early Ejection, This Time After Testing Positive For Ephedrine. Drugs Had Plagued Him Since He Became Addicted To Cocaine While Playing For Napoli. Maradona, A Man Of Wild Poetry, Always Seemed More Rock Star Than Athlete.
Nobody Imagined There Could Be Another Dribbler Like Him, Until He Was More Or Less Reincarnated In His Compatriot, Leo Messi.
No. 1: Pele
(Edson Arantes Do Nascimento)
Throughout His Illustrious Career Both On And Off The Pitch, Pele Has Remained A True Ambassador Of The Game. Making His Club Debut For Santos At The Age Of 15 In 1956, He Remained With The Club Until 1974. Although Facts And Figures Could Never Do Justice To The Majesty That Was Pele, His 1,281 Goals In All Competitions Certainly Serve To Prove The Point. He Helped Lead Santos To Nine State Championships, And Claimed Two Consecutive World Club Championships In 1962 And 1963.
There Is No Player Who Can Claim Greater Success On The World Stage. Pele Made His International Debut At The Tender Age Of 16. A Year Later And His Teammates Pressured The National Coaching Staff To Include The 17-Year-Old In The 1958 World Cup Squad. Kept Out Of The Majority Of The Tournament Due To Injury, Pele Came On In Brazil's Pool Match Against The Soviet Union. In The Quarterfinals, Pele Scored The Winner Against Wales, A Hat Trick In The Semifinals Against France, And Two In The Final Against Sweden, Brazil Won The 1958 World Cup... And A Star Was Born. Out With Injury For The 1962 World Cup, Pele Returned To The National Squad And Claimed One More World Cup Title In 1970. Voted The Century's Greatest Footballer Along With Diego Maradona, Pele Has Continued To Be An Inspiration To The "The Beautiful Game.
The Ivory Coast international has proved a fine addition at Eastlands and his two goals against Newcastle last weekend put the club on the verge of winning their first title since 1968.
