“The World Cup is a very important way to measure the good players, and the great ones.” a comment once remarked by Pele.
It’s no surprise why many rank Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) far better than Diego Maradona after staring in three Brazil World Cup triumphs. Who is the greatest of the two is bound to carry on being debated for decades. Although, winning a World Cup is most certainly fantastic evidence of how great an individual player is. Greatness lies within the charisma and persona of the player. But of the player who still has the ability to make a positive difference when times are tough. Where greatness was Pele and Maradona back in the day it’s now Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neither Ronaldo or Messi has managed to win the silverware for their natives so they are bound to unleash full force in Russia to try and tick the last box in their careers. Pele and Maradona did not obtain their legendary status from club football, after all. It is only their World Cup performances that sealed the statuses hence the pressure for Ronaldo and Messi this year. This World Cup will show if they both have the privilege of going down in history as national club legends!
THE TRAGIC LOSSES OF STARS
There are numerous footballers in history who have suffered really deep losses. Known for his position with Bayern Munich, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, for example, led West Germany to the World Cup finals. He led them twice and horrifically lost both in 1982 and 1986. The widely regarded best player in history, Ferenc Puskas and Johan Cruyff similarly both failed to help their sides finish respectfully in 1954 and 1974.
Zinedine Zidane is another who suffered following his poor choice to headbutt Marco Materazzi and was instantly red-carded. Zidane would most definitely prefer to look back on his more positive memories from 1998.
Will this possibly be the last World Cup for stars Ronaldo and Messi?
