maradona - Not one of the greats

Maradona, first and foremost is a cheat. Diving, hand of God Goal and sneaky fouls were his specialities. Talenmted yes, butI will never consider him one of the greats because he could not play by the rules. Remember his remark after Simeone contrived to get Beckham sent off? "Cheating is in our mothers milk in Argentina." The greats are people like Pele, Bobby Charlton, and Bobby Moore, players who respected the rules, respected the opposition and the officials. Players who served the game well after retirement. Maradona can't begin to considered in that category. To me his opinion on player of the year results is worthless.

Maradona cheated, but so do Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Luis Figo, Zenedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos and many more... because they all simulate fouls. The reason why Maradona is the best and not Pele is because Pele played in teams that would have won the world cup without him there. He played in a club that would have won without him there. In the first world cup that Pele played, he scored six goals in a Brazillian side that fed him endlessly. His goal against Sweden was great but that skill-level is expected if you are the second best of all time. The 1962 world cup is known as one of the two world cups to be won single-handedly by a player. This was termed as Garrincha's World cup and the "great" Pele was injured in the second game itself and didn't play again. The third world cup, in 1966, he rested after just one game due to "Fatigue"... WOW!!! that's greatness. And a little tough play against him, and he couldn't do Jack... In 1970, he was too old but was dragged into a team that was already considered the best in the world, without an old and dying pele. The team would have hammered everyone without him. So that's your best player in the world - Three world cup titles, one he didnt play in, the others, he had a team that was the best in the world, even without him. Maradona, on the other hand, won without any stars in the team. He led them and took them to the title. He did it single-handedly in 1986 - aka Maradona's World Cup. Somehow, every british @#!#$# seems to notice the hand of god but conveniently forget the leg-of-god that came a few minutes later... The whole English side was no match for one man and they are just bitter about it... Haha...

Maradona.. he is just awesome.. monster milk sportsbook

Always a legend. Be nice to see him playing in great weather like we are having now. Kelly Munro End Of The Trail Records

Being an English national team supporter my whole life, I hate maradona as much as anyone. But there's no denying his talent is worldclass and he is certainly one of the greats.

Being an English national team supporter my whole life, I hate maradona as much as anyone. But there's no denying his talent is worldclass and he is certainly one of the greats.

He is one of the greats, but I agree that he did in fact cheat.

He is one of the greats, but I agree that he did in fact cheat.

Yup ......... I agree with all......

[quote]michealjackson: Thanks so much for sharing the post.

Agreed...he definitely is a cheater, but there is no denying he has talent. It's a shame. You want to like someone who has that much talent, but he pretty much makes it impossible!

No doubt Maradona is one of the most talented players around the world. But you are right. Playing football is not just about winning the game. It's also about abiding by the rules.

I think that Maradona wasn;t cheating when he hit his infamous goal. It was just another one of the tricks that he used effectively. opinions differ, of course.