Battle of the Footballers

[Cloete]

Totti's a quality player, but he's mostly not in there because a) he's never consistently produced on the international stage, and b) I hate him. You can't go spitting on players whenever you like and expect no-one to care. It was touch and go whether I included Keane, too.

And no, Totti's not better than Ronaldinho. Not by a long shot.

Also, I can't read that article as it's in Italian, so for all I know you could be lying.

Of course he is!!

Pele said he was the best player going around, and who the hell are we to argue?

 

[Barney Rubble]

Of course he is!!

Pele said he was the best player going around, and who the hell are we to argue?

Pele's never played against Totti, has he? Think about it. Pele would know how good Moore is because Moore was his direct opponent (i.e. Moore played centre back when Pele played up front) on many occasions - Pele's never played with Totti, and even if he had, he'd not have come into much direct contact with him. When it comes to players from the modern era, Pele's judgement is fairly clueless - look at the FIFA 100.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Moore triumphs, 7-5.

Round 1 Matchup 9

Peter Schmeichel (Denmark)

Gheorge Hagi (Romania)

Already through:
George Weah
Ruud Krol
Marco van Basten
Pele
Franz Beckenbauer
Garrincha
Alan Shearer
Bobby Moore

 

[Cloete]

Hagi, easily.

 

[Agent TBY]

Schmeichel, for me.

 

[marc71178]

What an absolute joke!

He means Bobby, not Craig

 

[marc71178]

Zidane was put in ahead of Cantona by a World Cup winning coach (which incidentally makes him one of the best coach's ever according to Barney's logic) .

Or are you going to tell me that Cantona was a far better player than Zidane?

When Cantona was at his peak, Zidane wasn't even around.

 

[marc71178]

Schmeichel

 

[Langeveldt]

Schmeichel

 

[Magrat Garlick]

When Cantona was at his peak, Zidane wasn't even around.

And France were so utterly useless they lost to Bulgaria in qualifiers...

Edit: And it's probably Schmeichel, too, made more of an impact than Hagi.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Zidane was put in ahead of Cantona by a World Cup winning coach (which incidentally makes him one of the best coach's ever according to Barney's logic) .

Hang on a minute - what? When did I say that?

 

[BoyBrumby]

And France were so utterly useless they lost to Bulgaria in qualifiers...

That the same Bulgaria who made the semis? France's big foul-up was losing at home to Israel just prior to that.

For the current battle I'll go with big Peter Schmeichel. Both players were the dominant player in their teams for a decade or more, but I think overall Schmeichel made a bigger impact on games. ManUre's failure to successfully replace the big fella has been well documented. I think Hagi was part of the Steaua team who beat Barca on pens in '86 in the European Cup (as was) & was certainly part of the Galatasary team who beat us on pens in the Wafer Cup in 2000, but never seemed to achieve as much as his gifts suggested he should. Schmeichel, of course, was the custodian for an era of unprecedented success for ManUre & had the great peak of Denmark's victory in 1992 as well. He was a magnificent keeper, agile for a big bloke & had a command of his defence superior to any keeper his side of Shilts.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Schmeichel... got tired of Hagi 'coming out of retirement'.

 

[roseboy64]

Schmeichel. No reason needed.

 

[Angra]

Go Trinidad!!!!

 

[Cloete]

And France were so utterly useless they lost to Bulgaria in qualifiers...

Edit: And it's probably Schmeichel, too, made more of an impact than Hagi.

Yeah I'd agree with that. Brumby said it as well, Hagi could have been one of the best player's ever. As it is, he was a brilliant player. But he was so horribly inconsistent, when he was firing he was amazing and when he wasn't you barely noticed he was ever there. I kind of liked that about him though, also it's funny how he always managed to fire for Romania. I still don't think he gets the credit he deserves though, he's never talked about up there with the likes of great players from the 90's, but some of the thing's he did for Barca and Romania at the WC were simply incredible. I'm a big fan of the Romanian, but I honestly think he had the talent to be up there with the likes of Zidane.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Schmeichel takes it, 6-1.

Round 1 Matchup 10

Romario (Brazil)

Mario Kempes (Argentina)

Already through:
George Weah
Ruud Krol
Marco van Basten
Pele
Franz Beckenbauer
Garrincha
Alan Shearer
Bobby Moore
Peter Schmeichel

 

[Jamee999]

Romario.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Tricky. Kempes because of Romario's massive ego.

 

[marc71178]

Romario - still top scorer in the Brazilian Championship this year at 40!