Cannavaro wasn't the outstanding performer for Italy, so much as he was the captain. The standout performer was Pirlo
Worst ever best player in the world?
- Thread starter Chief123
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I get what lexiisonfire is saying in terms of football has changed and become more demanding physically with all the tactics and sports science.
But I think his point of Rooney not being a good presser is wrong. Rooney was naturally talented, he was such excitement playing with no fear running through defences. He just peaked too quick, possibly because of overplaying or not taking training seriously etc diet. Is that the point your making?
But I think his point of Rooney not being a good presser is wrong. Rooney was naturally talented, he was such excitement playing with no fear running through defences. He just peaked too quick, possibly because of overplaying or not taking training seriously etc diet. Is that the point your making?
Pirlo was excellent granted. But does that come down to how you rate defensive against midfield or attacking performances? To put it another way, I’ve seen a handful of central midfielders deliver a tournament comparable or better than Pirlo in 2006 in the last 30 years. But I’d place Cannavaro’s World Cup at the top of the defensive pile. Imperious in each game and shifted up a gear at the business end of the tournament.
Literally 80% of the thread is talking about Owen winning it at Liverpool, and Matthews won the first ever one at Blackpool.
I’m sure I remember a period where The FiFa World Player Of The Year was more prestigious than Ballon D’or for a while.
Forgot about Matthews Tbf, but I thought Owen was at Madrid when he won it. Must’ve mistaken that.
Henry flopped in either final, and finished a belated fourth with Arsenal in 2006. As you state he had better seasons with Arsenal.
The 'va va voom' taking effect...
Cannavaro maybe ought not to have won it, he was excellent when it mattered most, though.
Owen was excellent in 2001, for bothe club and country. Won the FA Cup single handedly for Liverpool and revolutionised England. A hat-trick against Germany in the 1:5 classic.
However, it is us who won the league and had a player pulling up trees for Ireland in WC qualifying. Reckon Roy would have been in with a shout had he not wrecked Haaland Snr.
Effenberg another strong contender in 2001, but, of course, a monumental bellend
mmmm In 78, just the WC Final had players like Passarella, Kroll, Resenbrick, Kempes (one of the most underrated players ever in my view, extremely underrated) or even a Fillol...in SA Zico, Maradona, Bochini, Socrates, were already shining, Keegan, Rummennigge, Platini and so many more were already great and I preffer all of them above a Nedved, Belanov, Cannavaro...the thing that makes people think of a lesser moment it's because the majority of them or played in SA or the Euro ones, bar Keegan, weren't in their bigger Clubs of their carreers, but they were all pretty young in the peak of their powers bar injuries.
PD: people forget how much of a maverick Owen looked when he arrived very young, time wasn't kind with him, but he certainly looked like an extraordinary player with an all timer pace
I think all of Platini, Maradona & Rummenigge truly arrived at the very end of the 70’s… weirdly enough, Maradona may have done it earlier than the other two despite being the youngest even though his pre-European stint is largely forgotten now. And 1978 was meant as a cutting off point after which those players (and Zico) already were on the way to become GOAT contenders (only Maradona truly remained in that status but both Platini and Zico were sometimes touted as potential Pelé’s successors). That’s why I didn’t pick the early 80’s.
As for Passarella, Kempes, Rensenbrink (my personal favorite) and the likes… yeah, the average level of world-class players was very high. But even then Rensenbrink wasn’t Cruyff (an obvious comparison), Passarella wasn’t Beckenbauer, so it felt like a slight downgrade from early-to-mid 1970’s. I do understand that I have the European bias though and I’ve tried to address it. I think you can’t ignore the fact that SA had more great players in that period but their peak is often judged by their later performances in Serie A (and while Falcão was close to his best, the likes of Socrates, Zico & Passarella were already a bit past it, I’d say). Well, that and the World Cups, of course, but that’s where Brazil was unlucky. While Bochini was only known to Europeans by the Liverpool trashing, I imagine?
P.S. I don’t even mention Belanov and 1986 by the way as not even him would be dumb enough to state that he was the best player in the world at the time. He wasn’t even (officially) the best player in USSR that year, that was Zavarov. Imagine trying to suggest that he was a competitor to the ascended version of Maradona!
As for Owen… yeah and no. He had a fantastic year and he was generally devastating in big profile games especially. But overall I didn’t get the feeling that I’ve got from watching young Ronaldo (okay, that’s not fair to anyone) or even someone like Rooney. He had decent technique, he was clinical and his pace was insane but I didn’t get the feeling that I was watching a once in a generation talent. I’d still pick a relatively young Henry after his worst season at Arsenal over him for example — because Henry had it (even though Owen scored a brace against Arsenal in the FA Cup final that year if I’m not mistaken). Marcus Stewart scored 3 more goals than Owen in the league this season… and it’s not the case of Owen winning it because of how good his general play was, he was, in the end of the day, a very quick poacher.
If we’re picking the worst Ballon d’Or winners, it clearly between Belanov & Owen for me. Extremely similar stories by the way — insanely fast players with a purple patch of big game goals and a secondary European trophy.
This!
Just checking the thread since I created it and quite a few have gone off track.
It wasn’t necessarily supposed to be the worst Balon Dor winner. It was more focused on any given year there is a player who’s regarded as the best in the world. Which player is the worst out of them all.
Like you said, even though Rodri is the current balon dor winner, no one really regards him as the best player in the world. It’s more likely to be Mbappe or Vinicios Junior or similar.
In some way, some sort of Euro snobism (in fact even display by not few South Americans against their own) specially in these late years, yet since always, it's sthg very real. Even with you that are such a knowleadgeable and fair lad, it's just in the air, not much can be done about it sadly.
Sthg similar happens among Europeans within their respective leagues and their considerations.
Regarding Passarella, he was unique as they come as a defender, even if I do not rate that much defenders in that whole historical view with that quite silly GOAT stuff, so there isn't a huge gap in footbal ability between him or any great defender ever, yet it would be in terms of what the majority of people will rate a great carreer and how this affects the perception of the majority of players.
Regarding the carrer of many of those SA oldies, times where diff, the majority went to Europe, if they went, more like an experience in their mature years, than a necessity. And more importantly, the possibility to arrive to a huge club was quite low given the limited places for foreigners. This created bizarre scenarios where Zico was the 10 of Udinese, where Socrates and Passarella played for Fiore and such.
I do not think Bochini was rate at any point by any European ever, bar some lads that actually become interesting ina global history of the game (Pool trashing or not).
In fact in that game it was Bertoni too, quite a top tier talent that does not have that much recognition either, even playing in Eruope and having such a great WC and final in 78.
Back on Kempes, he was Gullit before Gullit, he was quite a unique fella as a player. Extremely underrated player.
I dunno Harms, describing Owen as a very quick poacher just feels wrong. Let's remember that he bursted into the scene
very very young, with a great control with a devastating pace, he wasn't the Piojo Lopez, he was quite a great player and THE PROMISE, even if he never looked like Best, or didn't looked as complete as Rooney or Gazza, was there. He certaily wasn't Inzaghi with pace neither.
Time and maybe his head wasn't kind with him,. yet his appereance, even boasted by his game agaisnt Argentina, was quite special. No just merely decent technique had the control he had of the ball at such pace, another thing it's to think of him in Maradona terms, but it was clear why he was such an exiting prospect, stats and numers in general aside.
ABSOLUTELY
Pirlo was clearly the best performer from the entire team and way more vital than Fabio, even if Fabio had a great WC of course.
A lot of people regard Rodri as the best in the world.
Jorginho.
1999-2001. Beckham deserved it in 1999. How could United win the treble and we ended up with Ginola winning Premier League player of the season and Rivaldo with the Ballon d’or.
Figo in 2000. Owen in 2001 winning 3 trophies but neither the league or Champions League.
Figo in 2000. Owen in 2001 winning 3 trophies but neither the league or Champions League.
Didn’t mean to downplay him, to be honest, no one ever has matched Beckenbauer in my eyes and Passarella would be in that group just behind him with Moore, Figueroa, Scirea, Baresi, Nesta. With probably the most unique skill set out of the above mentioned.
Actual BPITW by year:
Neymar's body breaking down and Mbappé going backwards from 2022 instead of kicking on to ever greater heights have left a vacuum the last 2 years, otherwise things wouldn't be any different than in the non-Ronaldo pre-Messi/Cris times...
the best players after the very best(top 5/10) aren't any worse than they used to be honestly
1994 - Romario
1995 - Baggio
1996 - Ronaldo
1997 - Ronaldo
1998 - Ronaldo
1999 - Rivaldo
2000 - Zidane
2001 - Zidane
2002 - Zidane/Ronaldo
2003 - Ronaldo
2004 - Ronaldinho
2005 - Ronaldinho
2006 - Ronaldinho/Kaka
2007 - Kaka/Cristiano
2008 - Cristiano/Messi
2009 to 2019 - Messi(or at times Cristiano)
2020 - Neymar
2021 - (Neymar) Benzema/Mbappé/Salah
2022 - Benzema/Mbappé
2023 - ??? Arguably Bellingham
2024 - Rodri (currently Salah)
1995 - Baggio
1996 - Ronaldo
1997 - Ronaldo
1998 - Ronaldo
1999 - Rivaldo
2000 - Zidane
2001 - Zidane
2002 - Zidane/Ronaldo
2003 - Ronaldo
2004 - Ronaldinho
2005 - Ronaldinho
2006 - Ronaldinho/Kaka
2007 - Kaka/Cristiano
2008 - Cristiano/Messi
2009 to 2019 - Messi(or at times Cristiano)
2020 - Neymar
2021 - (Neymar) Benzema/Mbappé/Salah
2022 - Benzema/Mbappé
2023 - ??? Arguably Bellingham
2024 - Rodri (currently Salah)
Neymar's body breaking down and Mbappé going backwards from 2022 instead of kicking on to ever greater heights have left a vacuum the last 2 years, otherwise things wouldn't be any different than in the non-Ronaldo pre-Messi/Cris times...
the best players after the very best(top 5/10) aren't any worse than they used to be honestly
I still can't get over people thinking he should have won it
His defensive sequence during Italy's 2nd goal vs Germany was just amazing. Colossal defending.
Also would personally pick him as Italy's best player during that WC.
If we take your list as being correct, then the worst players you have named are Salah, Bellingham (not sure he ever actually got to the summit), Rodri, Benzema and Kaka.
Except you have to go back to at least Romario to find a player as good as Benzema was in 21/22, excluding the 3 aliens. Rodri had been playing at close to Xavi's level and you only need to watch any Liverpool game to see Salah's level. Kaka likewise was a one man team that season
Bellingham too, the went from bundesliga player of the year to drawing comparisons to Di Stefano in his first 6 months in Madrid
Cannavaro was considered Italy's most important player in that World Cup at the time, at least in the UK media etc. Pirlo was named man of the match for the final though. Still, I think Zidane had a better game until that infamous incident. There wasn't much in the match, but Henry squandered good openings and opportunities which really cost France.
I thought Zidane, from the knockout onwards, was the star of that tournament. He was voted the best player of the tournament, and if he hadn't done the headbutt he might've won the Ballon d'Or for just a few World Cup games. I wouldn't have minded though, considering he only won it once in 1998, even though he became a better player after that.
Growing up Ronaldo, Zidane and Maldini were the best players in the world for some time imo. Three Ballon d'Ors between them just didn't seem enough.
I thought Zidane, from the knockout onwards, was the star of that tournament. He was voted the best player of the tournament, and if he hadn't done the headbutt he might've won the Ballon d'Or for just a few World Cup games. I wouldn't have minded though, considering he only won it once in 1998, even though he became a better player after that.
Growing up Ronaldo, Zidane and Maldini were the best players in the world for some time imo. Three Ballon d'Ors between them just didn't seem enough.
Because there was a FIFA Best player in the world award which I think at one point was just as prestigious as B’allon D’or, really it should be included because I think it merged together to become what we see now as the modern day Ballon D’or.
Nooope, not even close. Nobody gave a shit about that, 's why FIFA paid France Football huge money to merge the awards
Pirlo was the best for Italy because he consistently was at the middle of all things when comes to actually have the ball, play with order and be very incisive due to the usual hesitations from Italian teams to actually risk more (bar the match against Germany where they had all the magicians more or less in form and threw them all at once at last to do their thing against a wounded Kraut team, they smell the blood and went for them).
So in the WC he had to be Totti, Del Piero and the soul of Baggio all in one game after game...coming from deep, providing the tempo and dictate as much as he could what Italy was going to do within a match. Cannavaro was really great, but part of the usual defensive assemble any Italian NT should and must provide, no matter the legendary or not that legendadry names involved.
PD: Zizou is a player that if someone actually puts a microscope on him in terms of consistency, of providing an end product, people might not go to such hiperboles with him as much as they do (and I to did), I love the mofo, he was an artist, but his aura gets him higher than he should sometimes.