Best ever World Cup Finals/Best Team?

[ramAnag]

Obviously you weren't around.
I was!! But alas knew nothing about it.
I agree with you. 1986 was special. So many teams were outstanding. They almost all had their golden generation.
Belgium, Mexico, USSR, England, France, Spain, Denmark, Germany and Brazil.
Anyone of those could have won the tournament.
In a tournament of stars, the 1 star, Diego Maradona outshone every one and stood at the top of the world.
That's why despite Pele being a star in 2 World Cup wins, Maradona with just the 1 is considered by many to be the greatest.
Who is greater, I always thought Pele, but am warming to the idea that it could be Maradona.

100% Pele...and an infinitely better role model too. Maradona was a fine footballer no doubt about that...but he was also a cheat and very flawed in other ways too. The term ‘great man’ is often overused but in Pele’s case it was/is actually true.

[Romanis]

100% Pele...and an infinitely better role model too. Maradona was a fine footballer no doubt about that...but he was also a cheat and very flawed in other ways too. The term ‘great man’ is often overused but in Pele’s case it was/is actually true.

Actually I hated Maradona at the time. I was especially happy he got sent off in 1982 as Brazil beat Argentina.
I actually think Tele Santana's teams were the best ever Brazilian teams. Bloody exciting to watch.
Back to Maradona, I hated him not so much the cheating. Yeah the 1986 goal was scandalous. But I hated him because he had the cheek then to say he's better than Pele.
As a young **** then, having more or less 'religiously studied' Pele, I thought it 'sacrilege' for Maradona to claim to be the GOAT.
Pele was the Ali of football and Ali was the Pele of boxing.
However with the passage of time, I think maybe Maradona has a point.
Unfortunately I saw little of Pele as a player except in his final years, only via books and videos which isn't really the same thing as watching a player in a live match.

So I cant honestly choose between the 2 and am comfortable to accept views of those who describe Pele as the GOAT. But definitely by a narrow margin I'd say Maradona is the best I've seen. Zidane would be 2nd and as I mentioned before I'm also considering Cristiano in this category.

[ramAnag]

Actually I hated Maradona at the time. I was especially happy he got sent off in 1982 as Brazil beat Argentina.
I actually think Tele Santana's teams were the best ever Brazilian teams. Bloody exciting to watch.
Back to Maradona, I hated him not so much the cheating. Yeah the 1986 goal was scandalous. But I hated him because he had the cheek then to say he's better than Pele.
As a young **** then, having more or less 'religiously studied' Pele, I thought it 'sacrilege' for Maradona to claim to be the GOAT.
Pele was the Ali of football and Ali was the Pele of boxing.
However with the passage of time, I think maybe Maradona has a point.
Unfortunately I saw little of Pele as a player except in his final years, only via books and videos which isn't really the same thing as watching a player in a live match.

So I cant honestly choose between the 2 and am comfortable to accept views of those who describe Pele as the GOAT. But definitely by a narrow margin I'd say Maradona is the best I've seen. Zidane would be 2nd and as I mentioned before I'm also considering Cristiano in this category.

Books...no. Videos? Except where promotional agents’ material is concerned...exactly the same.
We only remember the extremes...the best and the worst bits...so whether it’s Pele or Maradona, Moore or Beckenbauer, Cruyff or Best, Banks or Yashin etc, the ‘video’ is just as reliable as the memory...perhaps more so.
Ronaldo, I agree, has to be up there...as talented as any of them but again flawed...he’s a big guy who falls to the ground feigning injury far too often to warrant the respect his talent deserves. Similarly with Suarez...great talent but let down by his ‘character’.
That is what makes Pele stand out, his character seems to match his talent...that is why he and not Maradona has such world wide heroic status imo.

It wasn’t ‘cheek’ to lay claim to being ‘better than Pele’...it was arrogance. The best don’t need to make such self indulgent claims...others will do it for them.

[Acido]

The fat cheating crybaby Maradonna lost all the respect he deserved to have, because of his appalling cheating handball actions in '86. And yes it made it worse because it was against us/England in the Qtr final and the fact that he continued to lie about it for years and claim it was with his head.
Seeing him ball his eyes out now everytime his over rated Argie team flop just makes me laugh out loud.

[Romanis]

The fat cheating crybaby Maradonna lost all the respect he deserved to have, because of his appalling cheating handball actions in '86. And yes it made it worse because it was against us/England in the Qtr final and the fact that he continued to lie about it for years and claim it was with his head.
Seeing him ball his eyes out now everytime his over rated Argie team flop just makes me laugh out loud.

I was what's the word apoplectic with rage when he punched the ball in.
But then he scored a wonder goal and the 1 in the semi was similar.
I honestly thought that the 1986 team was England's best besides the obvious 1966. Even better than 1990 although the team went further.
Also in 1982 the team was good but I guess Greenwood was too defensive. Maybe if Clough and Taylor were in charge we might have given it a real go. I honestly believed if Clough and Taylor were in charge England would have won a major trophy. Most likely the 1980 Euros

[Acido]

Thats what I mean, he did deserve the respect for being a brilliant player in that tournament, he didn't need to resort to blatant cheating and lying like that. And seeing him crying when his garbage team lost in the '90 final was hilarious, even though we all knew deep down that we should have been there that night and in with a massive chance of winning the '90 Final.
We did have a very experienced squad in '82 but I seem to remember a lot of fuss was made over Keegan's fitness, and the format was unfair as we went out without losing any of the 5 group games, and our undoing was drawing two games 0-0!.
As for other World cup squads, I think we missed yet another chance when leading Brazil in the '02 Qtr final, and we all know what happened eventually.

[Romanis]

Thats what I mean, he did deserve the respect for being a brilliant player in that tournament, he didn't need to resort to blatant cheating and lying like that. And seeing him crying when his garbage team lost in the '90 final was hilarious, even though we all knew deep down that we should have been there that night and in with a massive chance of winning the '90 Final.
We did have a very experienced squad in '82 but I seem to remember a lot of fuss was made over Keegan's fitness, and the format was unfair as we went out without losing any of the 5 group games, and our undoing was drawing two games 0-0!.
As for other World cup squads, I think we missed yet another chance when leading Brazil in the '02 Qtr final, and we all know what happened eventually.

Got to blame Seaman for 2002. He forgot what Nayim did to him in 1995 (i think).

Looking at the other 3 semifinalists that year, if England somehow got past Brazil in 2002, I think we'd have won it. But that said Brazil were worthy champions that year.
If I'm not wrong, we actually didn't qualify for Euro 84. Didn't we? Such a good selection of players we had.
Why I mentioned 1980, was because we were winning the European Cup every year and yet the national team didn't match it. Shocking!

[Andy_Faber]

Got to blame Seaman for 2002. He forgot what Nayim did to him in 1995 (i think).

Looking at the other 3 semifinalists that year, if England somehow got past Brazil in 2002, I think we'd have won it. But that said Brazil were worthy champions that year.
If I'm not wrong, we actually didn't qualify for Euro 84. Didn't we? Such a good selection of players we had.
Why I mentioned 1980, was because we were winning the European Cup every year and yet the national team didn't match it. Shocking!

Most of those teams weren’t mostly English though

[Acido]

We failed to make it to Euro '84 because of a loss against Denmark, at Wembley.
And why we've continually failed at other Euro's as well like in '80, '88, '92 & '00, Ive no idea.
Speaking of the Danes, they were brilliant in the group stages in '86 and then they collapsed against Spain when it mattered in the knockout rounds. And Belgium reached the Semis despite only finishing 3rd in their group!.

[MadAmster]

That Maradonna wonder goal as a follow up to his "Hand of God" abomination. I said at the time, and still maintain today, he wouldn't have scored that against 99% of other teams as he would have been scythed down before he got anywhere near the penalty area.