Who's The Goat: Soccer

 Simon B

    So this is the second mini-post for the "Who's the GOAT?" series that I started earlier this week. If you want to check out the first article of the series you can check it out here. 
    

    In the first article, I wrote about the greatest hockey player of all time. For this one, let's head across the Atlantic to Europe. The most popular sport in the world has created some of the hottest debates in sports history over the past two decades or so. Here's my opinion on who the greatest football (soccer) player of all time is and why. (I’m using the words “football” and “soccer” interchangeably in this post, because no matter which word I use, we’re talking about the sport with the round black-and-white ball, okay?)

What Defines Great?

    Contrary to most sports in North America, great soccer players need to be way more than just really good athletes. I'm not saying that athletes over here are not more, well, athletic or accomplished than athletes in Europe, but when you cross the pond, fans consider the number of  goals or points to be only one component of a more composite idea of what “greatness” means in this sport.. 
    

    The most important thing for any football player to do if they want to be considered great is to bring home the  silverware --not only cups for their clubs but most importantly for their national team. Leading your national team to a World Cup can easily get you into the running for GOAT. By comparison, Bill Russel has 11 NBA championships to his credit but he is rarely in the conversation for the GOAT of basketball because his points totals and stats aren’t as prolific as a Miache Jordan or LeBron James. 
   

    Another thing Europeans expect of their football GOATs is the player’s ability to be a leader and an example for your teammates on the pitch. Babe Ruth is arguably the best baseball player ever but he wasn't able to make his teammates’ lives easier the way Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo can.

Who's In the Conversation?

    Really only a handful of names come to mind for European football’s GOAT, and I'm going to separate them into a few different categories. 
    

    Players like Diego Maradona or Roberto Baggio, had unparalleled success wearing their respective country's jersey and carrying Argentina (Maradona) and Italy (Baggio) to the pinnacle of world football. Those players also did well in their respective clubs and won many league titles but they weren't the sole reason that their team won; their championships depended more on theirreally good surrounding cast.
    

    The other group of GOAT candidates is the opposite of Maradona or Baggio. In this conversation, there are more modern stars like Leo Messi, Ronaldo, or Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Those guys are the best of the best when it comes to club football. They've dominated the sport for almost two decades and they've revived some of the best rivalries in the sport, notably the "El Classico" between Messi's Barcelona FC and Ronaldo's Real Madrid (although Ronaldo now plays at Juventus). Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been one of the most flexible players ever to lace up cleats. He played all over Europe, in France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, and England. He also did something else that broke a mold. Sometimes when European stars are nearing the end of their careers, they make the move to the States and will dominate in the MLS for a few years before calling it a career. Zlatan left Europe for LA back in 2018 and everyone thought his career was ending. But just last year he made a move back to Europe to play in Milan and he's looking better than ever.
    

    The one thing the players in this group are missing is some International success. None of them are World Cup Champs and only one of them has an international trophy: Ronaldo, who won the 2016 Euro with Portugal. That's why I give him the edge in the Ronaldo/Messi debate. But there is one player who has it all...

The King

    Pele. The Brazilian is the only player to win the World Cup three times and he did so by being the best player on the team each time he won it for the Canarhinos. On top of the elite level of play he had internationally, he is also a six-time Brazillian cup champion, two-time intercontinental cup champ, two-time Copa Libertadores winner, and he led sixdifferent competitions in scoring. Pele brings the whole package: club success and National success as well. Until someone is able to dominate in both areas of the game, he will always be the GOAT.

The Wrap

    That's episode two of six in this mini-series. I should have the next one out over the course of next week so stay tuned for more as the week progresses.
    If you have any other sports topics you'd like to read about, let me know in the comments or send me a message in the "Contact me" section in the sidebar!
 
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#whosthegoat #Pele #Messi #Ronaldo #Zlatan #Maradona #Baggio #shootsleftandwrites #slaw

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