The real GOAT
AFTER Lionel Messi inspired Argentina to their recent World Cup win footie fans the world over rejoiced that he had made his case at being the greatest player of all time, relegating Christian Ronaldo to second place.
At the same time grizzled old football watchers like yours truly laughed and thought what about Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pelé?
At roughly 7.30 in the evening on Sunday, June 21, 1970, I was watching the last knockings of the World Cup final between Brazil and Italy when the impossibly laconic Brazilian midfielder Clodoaldo took a short square pass outside his own area from Brito, looked up, and in a blur of motion and in a mazy run took out four Italian players before feeding the quite superb Rivelino, who then sent a wonderful curling pass down the wing to the brilliant Jairzinho, who passed the ball to Pelé dead centre of the goal and just outside the box.
The great man took his time and, prompted by the peerless Tostao, showed nonchalance personified and laid the ball off to the rampaging Carlos Alberto who, without even needing to break stride, slammed the ball into the net for the final goal in Brazil’s 4-1 win.
Notice how small his role in this most wonderful of goals was?
And yet for all his great moments in this his third World Cup win – the “dummy”, the “chip”, the Gordon Banks save, just to name a few – this single simple pass summed up for me at least how great this player was.
Lesser mortals would have tried to take on the last defender, lesser mortals would have had a shot, lesser mortals may even have tried to time waste. Pelé? He just made a no look killer pass. The best, bar none.
SOME PERSPECTIVE
Some would have it that CR7 and Messi should be rated above Pelé due to the demands of the modern game and they may have a point but, how would they have managed in an era where defenders were given carte blanche to hack down their tormenters, as was seen in the group stage of the 1966 World Cup where Bulgaria and then Portugal kicked the great man out of the competition, with zero sanctions applied.
TOTAL IMPACT
I’m not saying that the Marvellous 1970 Brazil team made much of an impression on English school kids, but in my school the first sports lesson after the summer break saw an awful lot of Brazil shirts on display plus in my case a pair of Puma Pelé Rio boots and Puma Allround trainers. (Both black with the yellow stripe.)
JUST SHUT IT ALREADY!
I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m starting to miss Sepp Blatter. He may well have been totally corrupt, but at least he wasn’t a complete idiot, unlike his replacement Gianni Infantino.
According to Infantino the Qatar World Cup was the best ever and proof that a winter World Cup is the way to go in the future.
Well methinks that the important parts of Fifa, in other words Uefa and Conmebol, may well think otherwise but there’s little doubt that the other federations will agree with him, especially with his assertion that the financial rewards will be immense compared to a summer tourney.
Add in his declared preference for a Saudi World Cup in 2030, then it’s clear that the two most powerful federations will have to think long and hard about boycotting any such move. As for his declared 32-team club World Cup in 2025, I can’t see any way in which Uefa can agree to that as the clubs concerned will kick up merry hell should it be countenanced by their governing body.
ENTHUSIASM PERSONIFIED
Argentina vs Netherlands World Cup referee Mateu Lahoz dished out 17 cards and was sent home. First game back in La Liga Espanol vs Barca he hands out 12 yellows and three reds. This man obviously loves his job.
TEAM OF THE FESTIVE SEASON
David Raya Brentford, Kieran Trippier Newcastle, Dan Burn Newcastle, Luke Shaw
Manchester United, Casemiro Manchester United, Granit Xhaka Arsenal, Martin Odegaard Arsenal, Bryan Mbueno Brentford, Erling Haaland Citeh, Miguel Almiron Newcastle, Bukayo Saka Arsenal.
Manager: Thomas Frank Brentford. It was hard to choose between Frank and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta but I went for the former because he doesn’t behave like a spoiled brat.
Player of the festive season: Bukayo Saka. It was between him and his club captain Odegaard, but the lad has been absolutely superb all season so he’s the man.
THIS WEEK’S GAMES
FA Cup third round today 2:30; Palace vs Southampton, Forest Green vs Birmingham, Gillingham vs Leicester, Preston vs Huddersfield, Reading vs Watford, Spurs vs Portsmouth. 5pm; Blackpool vs Forest, Boreham Wood vs Accrington Stanley,
Bournemouth vs Burnley, Chesterfield vs West Brom, Fleetwood vs QPR, Hull vs Fulham, Ipswich vs Rotherham, Middlesbrough vs Brighton, Millwall vs Sheffield United, Shrewsbury vs Sunderland. 7:30; Brentford vs West Ham, Coventry vs Wrexham, Grimsby vs Burton, Luton vs Wigan. 8pm; Sheffield Wednesday vs Newcastle. 10pm; Liverpool vs Wolves. Tomorrow 2:30; Bristol City vs Swansea, Derby vs Swansea. 4pm; Cardiff vs Leeds, Hartlepool vs Stoke, Norwich vs Blackburn, Stockport vs Walsall. 6:30; Villa vs Stevenage, Manchester City vs Chelsea. Monday 10pm; Oxford vs Arsenal.
Premier League Thursday 10pm; Fulham vs Chelsea. Friday 10pm; Villa vs Leeds.
Selected Scotland today 5pm; Celtic vs Kilmarnock. Tomorrow 6pm; Dundee United vs Rangers.
YOU WANT SHOCKS?
With my definition of a shock being at least a two division gap between teams these are the games to watch: Spurs vs Portsmouth, Coventry vs Wrexham, Sheffield Wednesday vs Newcastle, Oxford vs Arsenal, Villa vs Stevenage.
AND FINALLY
Last edition’s question, international scorers by club affiliation. The following clubs make up the top six but in which order from least to most should they be listed? Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs, Arsenal, and Manchester City. Bringing up the rear is Manchester City with 100 goals. They are just beaten by the mob from Woolwich who have contributed a distinctly unimpressive 101 goals to England’s cause. Next up we have Chelsea with 139 and then Liverpool with 158.
Which leaves the top two at this moment in time miles ahead of the rest, with Manchester United on 256 strikes only beaten by the 257 goals contributed to the national cause courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur.
This week: in a qualifying game for the 1998 World Cup played in 1997 all 22 players who started were born in the same country. How was this possible and which countries were involved?
WHAT I WANT TO SEE IN 23
England win the Six Nations, Rory McIlroy win the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, England win the Ashes playing the brand of cricket that’s seen them win 10 of the last eleven tests, Spurs win something (stop laughing at the back), England women winning their World Cup (still better than watching Middlesbrough), and a fully merited Knighthood for Kevin Sinfield. What a change it would be to see someone who does so much for such a deserving cause (motor neurone disease) to be recognised rather than the political nobodies and party donors who do sweet FA for the country.
All of these are possible this year with perhaps the most contentious being number four but hey, a man can dream, can’t he?