I did a search at LYN football, strange no poll on football's perennial question, who's better Maradona or Pele. People who say Pele is better, after some 'interrogation' admit one big influence in their decision is Maradona's drug problem. Personally I just judge on how he plays on the pitch, and Maradona was amazing. Pele was before I was old enough to appreciate football, I did look a youtube clips of his but can't see what's so special, but then again Maradona's youtube clip doesn't exactly do justice to the amazing stuff I saw him do on tv.

This post has been edited by cic.lemur: Jul 30 2009, 12:30 PM

player who scores with their hand is always a winner
what more in the world cup

Can I vote Cruyff?

Maradona single handedly won the WC for Argentina in 86 while Pele had other great teammates around him.

Fabian Assmann

both oso lose to ALFREDO DI STEFANO...go look him up

better footballer in skills, maradona but overall as a player, i say pele....so i vote neither

Pele scored more than 1000th goal in his career, but some might argue that he is not played in top league, but who can denied that he won 3 world cup with Brazil?

both player are born in different decade, and not much footy video about him, is hard for us to judge who is the best

if we vote the best footballer in and off pitch, i'll vote Pele

Maradona Good, Pele Great, George Best...

definitely maradona.....brazil still can win world cup without pele but argentina can't win world cup without maradona...

I don't know why this comparison existed. You comparing Pele with a god A god that use his hand to score goal for god sake. Again, when Maradona scored that goal, he said: I didn't do it, it is an action by god

Ok serious, Pele have slight edge compared to Maradona, the numbers of world cup that he won is hardly matched by anyone in modern football.

you can buy DVD of pele goals & his playing days (showed on TV before). oen can also do with DVD of maradona (i have one)

both are equally gifted.

the thing that separates gifted & immortal, pele had very much good skillful team mates in club & esp in the great "Brazilian national team". In some WC, brazil probably could win without Pele. thats how gifted the brazilian team was. So discount the total amount of of WC wins as a yardstick.

for maradona, sure there were talented teammates with the argentine national team but he almost single handily brought mediocre "napoli fc" success.

dont need to even he carried the weight of argentina's world cup win singlehandily.

close call in skill but for all the deficiency maradona had to face, it makes him in my books

maradona (as the greatest footballer) > pele

This post has been edited by koolspyda: Jun 1 2009, 03:42 PM

Yes. Agreed. While Pele have the support of the whole great Brazillian squad, Maradona work hard to take his team to the summit.

And yeah, anyone why can score using hand in the World Cup without getting any sort of problem surely is the best.

If he does not have any problem with drug, his position in world football surely higher then Pele...

George Best RIP

for me
the best is Pele

Pele's definitely the best.

don't know coz i never watch them play

maradona la...sebab masa tue dia main kat Napoli...
Pele....xpernah tgk dier main

Maradona score the greatest solo goal as well as a hand of god in WC......the biggest football competition in the world......so no need to compare.......definitely MARADONA..........

He also won the Scudetto with Napoli, with a weaker squad compared to giants like AC and Inter Milan, etc.

Massimo Taibi

Pele was the best during his time.. Maradona also the best during his time.. So, actually, there's no comparison la. If U take Pele & put him in the current Brazilian team, I bet he'd struggle as well. Same with Maradona, put him alongside Messi in the current Argentina team, he'd struggle too.

Haha...This guy last time at man utd...
goalkeeper that got butter in hand sometimes when in man utd...
but he go Italy play very good..maybe he no luck in England..

i vote for ronaldinho...
hehehe

Debatable. If Maradona was playing today he wouldn't be kicked as much as he was in the 70s & 80s.

We all remember his great goals & dribbling skills (ala Messi) but the man had fantastic vision & passing too. If Maradona was playing in a free support forward role today he's still be good.

Pele's at a disadvantage because during his peak, football coverage on television wasn't as wide. He's great goal scorer, but when I look at the videos, I feel Maradona is more skillfull,

Some of Maradona plays makes you feel as if he is one with the ball, only one who comes close is Zidane, imo. (but still a bit far behind)

Pele is the sweetheart of the establishment, one of the reason I feel is because he always 'bodek'. Even say England could win the World Cup when they were playing like crap under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

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Added on June 3, 2009, 11:54 amMaradona told the same daily last May that Zidane was probably the most skillful player in the history of the game. "Perhaps no one in the world of soccer has been able to control the ball like Zidane," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/sports/s...cnd-zidane.html

Wow, high praise from Maradona. Zidane says his favourite player was Enzo Francescoli, no wonder he called his son Enzo

This post has been edited by cic.lemur: Jun 3 2009, 11:54 AM

both are gifted enough to excel. there were clips & full matches shown of both players. Dont underestimate the 1970s, 80s,90s football as technically naive.

In maradonas playing days the only way to stop him was to hack him down. being smaller (oppose to clumsy tall) but his upper built helped him with a perfect agility. He wasnt a slouch in sprint also. he neednt stepovers all the time to get away from his markers. he has much trickery (as does now both CR7 & ronaldino)

the biggest X factor, between pele / maradona is the ability to live up in BIG matches, not fade into obscurity in these games; not because of being marked out/or out of position.

it a joy to watch old world cup games & big big matches.

hahaha i like this... quoted by the fans in northern ireland!!

post some video la

didnt bother with video links (as sometimes it doesnt show as much)

what i have is ori DVDs. bought them from video shop some time back.

I'd go for Maradona .. argentina was nothing without him ..Pele had the rest of his team in the World Cup

Pele = Great Goal Scorer

Maradona = Great Playmaker

An African country (forgot which 1) stop it vicious civil war just because Pele land in Africa continent in an act to show their respect to him when he's on his prime.

Maradona got his own church, he's recognize as god and his autobiography is the bible for the follower.

Both are great but my personal pick will be Maradona.

He led Napoli to scudetto, a side equivalent to Portsmouth today, almost by himself.

It's just like Gerrard vs Lampard... A lot of debates without any results... One of them might slightly superior than the other one but the difference is just too small to be obvious...

Gerrard is better...

I vote for Maradona...Pele has the support of a great Brazillian squad..but Maradona almost playing by himself..

OF COZ CRISTIANO RONALDO LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHO ELSE???? pele who?

If ronaldo better, y Portugal look like couldnt make into world cup next year?
He cant even lift his country by himself like maradona

tak peduli. CR7 juga paling besh

You are entitled to your opinion dude but I think the thread title is pretty clear.

Once again I'd go for Maradona given he won the World Cup back in 86 with 10 other blokes on the field. No disrespect to Burruchaga of course At Italia 90, near the twilight of his career, he once again brought an over-achieving side to the finals, faltering at the last hurdle, losing out only to an Andreas Brehme penalty that Goicochea got his finger tips to.

like this one.

Haha, very true. C. Ronaldo's only been around a a few years, before him it was Ronaldinho, but now
no news. C. Ronaldo need to maintain his level of preformance, and achieve glory with his country
before his name can be uttered in the same breath with the legends, he could still end up being just
a fad.

I came across a quote some time back and it's stuck in my head since. Can't remember who it was from but it went along the lines of, "a good player plays well every game while a great player ensures his team plays well every game".

because football never a 1 man game ...

Although just 1 man, they make a difference and win matches, that's why they are called legends.

great thought of a quote. its true no one (1) person makekh a team; but he sure as hell makes the differences in big, huge games when it counts. surely given the weight maradona carries with napoli & with argentina; he nudges over pele (again no disrespect to pele, he is a super talent probably the greatest brazilian footballer to this day the world has ever seen).

Who says Maradona was on his own ? Mario Kempes was one hell of a striker back then too !

This is like comparing Potato chips and mashed potatos,lol

some prefer the chips,but some prefer the mashed..but in the end it's the same thing,but added with different ingredient.

Which is exactly what makes this an interesting topic to discuss isn't it? If it were so clear cut, this thread wouldn't have lasted more than a page.

When people talk about Maradona, they often refer to the 1986 World Cup and Kempes had retired by then. Few would dispute that he single handedly brought the Jules Rimet back to Argentina that year. It was also that year he scored an amazing goal against England which was overshadowed only by the "Hand of God". I mentioned earlier also that he along with Careca was the reason Napoli won the Scudetto.

That all being said I must admit the only times I've seen Pele play is on youtube.

neither...crouch is better

Read on The Star today, current Man U player were asked to name their footballing idols, Ferdinand, Giggs, Tevez and Rooney named Maradona. Curiously no one said Pele. I read on another article some time back when Beckham said his idol was also Maradona.

Listed what the others said,

Ferguson - Dennis Law
Evans - Roy Keane
Neville - Bryan Robson
O'Shea - Paul McGrath
Foster - Schmeichel
Anderson - Rivaldo
Berbatov - his father, van Basten, Alan Shearer
Carrick - Peter Beardsley, Gascoigne & Ian Wright

ps Tevez said: "Maradona is the greatest player of all time. Diego, for all Argentinians, is God. And he will always be."

This post has been edited by cic.lemur: Jul 13 2009, 11:18 AM

Well Pele played up until the 70's and most of the players mentioned were not even born yet and this would no doubt have influenced their decision to name Maradona who retired over a decade later.

True, but I think Rooney is a bit young to have watched Maradona

True but you can find more footage of Maradona even on youtube as world football got better and better coverage over the years.

I have to ask how many of the older folks actually watched Pele play, they may have watched the 1970 world cup but prior to that it's hard to imagine Malaysia broadcasting Santos games on a regular basis. I got a feeling the guys who voted for Pele here had watched him play far fewer times than they be willing to admit, and had voted for Pele more out of what other people said about the legendary Pele, rather that what they saw with their own eyes.

I totally agree. I mean I myself have tried searching for footage of Pele but find them impossible to come by. I doubt many posters here are older than I and I've never seen him play in the flesh as he retired a year after I was born. Actually it's the same for pretty much every other poll. It's the reason you get posters naming names with no justification because it's based on heresay. E.g. "Who is the best defender in the world?" answer. "Maldini!". Erm why? How many watch the Serie A consistently? If you do, you'd be able to justify the claim.

if not mistaken, sometimes ago both Pele and Maradona were voted "Fifa Player of the Century".

however, just my opinion lah... maradona got voted because the way he played really bring miracle into the game. Pele perhaps got voted not because of his extraordinary playing skill but more like some sort of his role as ambassador to football and holding some post in fifa.

i myself voted maradona, of course. i dont even know how good is pele. i only got watch some of his clips in youtube and not amazed by those clips.

Where is Johann Cruijff?
He's the reason the formation 4-3-3 existed.

Pele is not that good a dribbler, but he is lightning fast and impulsive reactions / decisions are spot on. And when he shoots, more often than not it'll end up behind the net, keepers do not even stand a chance. Such clinical finishes are comparable to Van Nistlerooy. (RVN just finishes, he has no pace/skills)

Are you sure about that? Did you really see all his game? He`s getting better and better at Real, he keep on improving all the time

Some of the black and white clips of Pele on youtube are very impressive, shows him expertly and swiftly dribbling past several players, but then again I have to say, in some of the clips, I laugh at the defenders just standing there like dungus. For his clips with better quality, eg colour, I share your opinion, not impressed. But can't really judge a player by looking at youtube clips, can make anyone look like a football God by clipping together the best moments in his career, or make him look like a turd by clipping together his worst moments.

I watch my DVD of life & times of "Maradona"

He said in an post match interview
(in the height of the triumphant Napoli clinching the italian championship title)
"Maradona is maradona, Pele is the greatest; I'm just a Normal player"

for a great player to exhibit such humility (some say arrogance/some say he's beyond such trivial) of "who is the greatest"

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Added on July 15, 2009, 10:26 amthose earlier days TV1 or was it TV2 (maybe one of the malaysian local channel) use to run BBC documentaries of "world cup" games leading to the next FIFA world cup tournaments

I also watched docu of life & times "pele" (in his younger days /short BW clips to his NY cosmos & his 1,000 goal (penalty); you know the latin type of of celebration when a goal is scored " GGGOOOOOOOOOOOAOAAAAAAAAALLL, GGOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALXXXXXXXXXX!" (cough cough)

yeah i admit, i'm not that young like some younglings here, i seen those bits on pele.



pele CAN dribble, juggle, head & score from freekicks (maybe not as stylishly as his brazilian compariots)
if my memory serves me right on pele clips. if i'm not mistaken there was one (local brazilian league game) where he (pele) took the ball from his teams goalkeeper/defence dribbled all the way & passed the opposition keeper but missed the goal as it went narrowly past the post. that how brilliant dribber he is.

if the version of not so good dribbler as in "ronaldo step overs" then yeah, he's more purposeful on that But still a typical brazilian showboat at times. which is why many still adores brazilian flair

BBC has a tonsfull of such anology /docu views of many players, watching them & listening to those great BBC commentaries is something to treasure. wish someone can get hold of such

This post has been edited by koolspyda: Jul 15 2009, 11:04 AM