Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
I like this view. Football is a team game. An attempt at goal thwarted (I shun the word "denied") is equal to a goal scored in the arithmetic of the final score.The other factor that needs to be taken into account is why it's always attacking players that get mentioned during discussions of the best ever players. Maybe the discussion should be best ever XI rather than best player. This has the added advantage of extending the argument to cover every position on the pitch.
Then we can argue if it's Buffon/Neuer/Zoff/Kahn/Schmeichel/Banks for the GK position.
Baresi/Maldini/Cafu/Beckenbauer/Carlos/Moore in defence.
Zidane/Matthaus/Xavi/Iniesta/Platini/Cruyff/Zico in midfield.
And Ronaldo x 2/Messi/Puskas/Pele/Di Stefano/Gerd Muller/Eusebio/Maradonna/Origi in attack.
Having named all of the players above I'm not sure that I could pick a best Xi and would probably need to pick two teams just to make sure that I got everyone in that deserves a mention.
But it is always those flair players that get the attention.
Two world XIs, what a great idea. I like your choices. Were you limiting your picks to those who had taken part in a world cup? Otherwise, where is George Best?
My personal view was that Pat Jennings was equal with Banks, though I don't expect many to agree with me.
Pele was so outstanding that his contemporaries in that great team of 1970 often go overlooked. Jairzinho would be ahead of Gerd Muller in my book.
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