| WorldCupBlog Poll: Pelé vs Diego Maradona Posted: 26 Aug 2009 02:26 PM PDT  The question of Pelé vs Diego Maradona and who is the greatest footballer of all time, is largely pointless. Both were brilliant, but in different positions and slightly different eras. Plus the debate is somewhat disrespectful to the likes of George Best, Johan Cruyff, Ferenc Puskás, Eusébio and others. So I’d decided never to raise the question here on WorldCupBlog.
But then Digeo Maradona intervened. Here’s what El Diego said in an interview with FIFA.com to hype the upcoming Argentina vs Brazil World Cup qualifier (September 5th people, mark your diaries)…
Q: There’s a constant debate between Brazilians and Argentinians over whether Pele or you is the world’s best ever player. Is it possible to make a comparison given you played in completely different eras? DM: Do you know what? I played in European football for ten years while Pele played in South America. Yes he won World Cups and everything, but playing in Europe is something else entirely. Not that that makes me much better than him or anything like that. When I played, the man-markers in Spanish and Italian football were like hunting dogs. They never left me alone. Pele had Coutinho and Rivelino, who for me is one of the best ever, alongside him. And then there was Jairzinho, Clodoaldo, Gerson and Tostao. Those guys were brilliant. Oh well, what matters is that when the people voted, he came second behind me. Nobody can take that away from me. And there was another vote in Brazil in which he came second behind Ayrton Senna. He needs to stop coming second! Tell us what you really think Diego! El Pibe De Oro is right that he topped a poll on FIFA.com. But he neglects to remember that Pelé came top in a separate poll, leading FIFA to recognize them jointly. From a January 2001 FIFA article: Pelé and Diego Maradona are the players of the century. The Brazilian was voted number one by the readers of FIFA Magazine and the FIFA Football Committee, whereas the Argentinan topped the poll on the fifa.com website. Both were honoured by FIFA in Rome on 11 December.
So, somewhat predictably, we’ll put it to a poll here on WorldCupBlog. Who was the better footballer: Pelé? Maradona? Or someone else altogether? If you choose “Other”, please let us know who in the comments. |
| How Many Rings On That Nigerian Tree Again? Posted: 26 Aug 2009 08:10 AM PDT  If someone were to announce that a significant number of African footballers have slightly fictitious birth certificates, nary a gasp would be heard in the room. When matters like birth certificates are handled all loosey goosey (technical term) and date of births more a guesstimate than exact science, it’s easy to see how some would want to take advantage of this to make some money, win a few more trophies. But just how many might be worth a slight gasp: 15 of 38 players have been booted from the Nigerian U-17 football team for age cheating before the FIFA U17 World Cup.
It gets particularly bad in that Nigeria is hosting the tournament as defending champions, meaning expectations were sky-high. Worse yet, their group includes such giants as Germany and Argentina. Bad juju all around.
This all came about through MRI age determination testing conducted recently, and the total of 15 is actually a bit less than speculated. It was originally thought Nigeria would be showing up at the tourney with precisely 7 players in town, but at least now they can field a full team. The “guilty”: Kabiru Borgo, Abiodun Akanda, Ariyo Olubukola, Habeeb Bello, Deji Joel, Yakubu Azeez, Ogungbe Ganiyu, Orji Kalu, Justice Chinedu, Chinedu Udegha, Amadi Moses, Solomon Enudi, Dubem Awaziem, Esse Joseph Junior and Olaitan Gambari
The only next course of action is to release the actual determined ages of these players so we can chuckle when it’s revealed a bunch of 30 year olds were trying to pass off as 16. It’ll be like 90210 all over again. There’s another worry about this finding which will probably be looked at once the furor of the upcoming tournament dissipates: the Nigerian kiddie teams have been good in recent history. Really damn good. In fact they’ve won this particular tournament three times since 1985, a feat only equaled by those Brazilian cats, who tend to be half-decent at the football thing. Chances are some of their recent successes will be up for review (though what can be done about it is a mystery). But the good news is the FIFA U-17 World Cup isn’t until late October, so Nigerian authorities will have ample time to find players in their mid-20’s who will be able to pass the tests with flying colors. |
The World Cup is a global event. Every nation on earth watches, and talks about. Even if your nation isn’t one of the lucky 32 that gets to compete, you’re still oddly involved (speaking 
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