The Guardian's top 20 players in the world cup

[Magrat Garlick]

He's already in there.

Oops. Well unless they pick José Nasazzi (Uruguay) which I doubt, then there shouldn't be more pre-WWII players.

 

[marc71178]

I don't recall seeing Fontaine in there yet? Surely he'd make it.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Guardian may be too anti-English to pick Bobby Moore, but deserves a spot on the top 100 at least.

Nah.

Working class hero and the early death angle plays well.

He'll be there.

Wasn't there a chap who won the first two world cups? For Uruguay in 30 & Italy in 34? Must be a chance.

 

[wpdavid]

Zoff, Maldini and Rossi.

Charlton and Moore.

Pele, Ronaldo, Garrincha and Jairzinho

Eusebio.

Beckenbauer, Matthaus and Muller.

Zidane, Fontaine and Desailly.

Maradona.

Cruyff and Bergkamp

Some random bloke from an early world cup who is obvious and I missed them off.

Only said Bergkamp as he isn't on the list and his goal in 98 is one of the greatest ever in the finals.

Seems too many up to date ones really. Be interesting to see who they are though.

Desailly's number 60

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Desailly's number 60

Missed him.

Be some obvious one I missed then.

 

[wpdavid]

Here is the final list

The World Cup's top 100 footballers of all time ? interactive | Football | theguardian.com

Not convinced about Romario at all.

And none of us predicted Xavi either.



Gutted that Kenny Sansom and Terry Fenwick missed the cut. Team of the 80's and all that.

 

[sledger]

Hard to dispute the top 5.

 

[sledger]

The breakdown in votes reveals why the results look rather questionable in places imo.

I'm not sure what one has to be to qualify as an "Expert" or a "Legend" for the purposes of being eligible to vote in this, but it sounds significant to me that Messi, who imo should not be in this list whatsoever, received only 5 votes from "Experts" and over 250 votes from "Legends".

On the other hand, Lev Yashin, who imo ought to be ranked far higher received over 350 votes from "Experts", but not receive a single vote from anyone who was a "Legend".

Bit questionable for mine, but I suppose lists like this invariably are.

Edit: Link to breakdown of votes - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...nPqSvDzxrIs-lAbFl09iz6jSKM/edit#gid=630229852

 

[Cabinet96]

I really wish the Guardian would stop trying to create more appeal with these famous legends and experts. Only one of the Guardian's journalists voted for Messi but a couple of legends had him 3rd and 4th respectively. I thought they learnt from when Nesta managed to get Frank Lampard above Javi Martinez and Eden Hazzard in their 100 best players in the world last christmas.

Imagine thinking only two people have bettered Messi's WC exploits. Imagine.

 

[sledger]

Also, how is Berti Vogts not in this list at all? My prediction for him to be in the top 20 might have been a bit ambitious, but are there really that many fullbacks who have done better than him at the World Cup? His performance in the 1974 where he kept Cruyff quiet for the whole match is renowned as being something pretty special isn't it?

 

[Cabinet96]

Miroslav Klose, second highest goal scorer of all time, pretty stiff as well.

The whole list is a shambles tbh, and it comes from the terrible methodology.

 

[sledger]

Tbf, most of the players you would expect to see in such a list have been included. It's just annoying that the ordering is iffy in places, that there are notable omissions, and some bizarre inclusions (I mean, how anyone could vote for Thomas Brolin in this is just totally beyond me).