Proved then he was gods gift to football
Greatest individual performances ever
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Park Jisung vs Pirlo
https://www.sportbible.com/football...-prime-andrea-pirlo-and-pocketed-him-20211018
https://www.sportbible.com/football...-prime-andrea-pirlo-and-pocketed-him-20211018
Best I've seen was Suarez vs Norwich.
Kaka Vs ManUtd 2007
I don't think Ronaldinho's performance against Real Madrid in 05 has been mentioned yet.
Earned a standing ovation from the Madrid fans who had just seen their team beaten 3-0.
Earned a standing ovation from the Madrid fans who had just seen their team beaten 3-0.
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100% was a different planet to them that day.
It was just a pure recognition of special talent.
Mbappe v Argentina in WC2022.
Two alternative Roy Keane ones:
Against Arsenal in 99/00 in the league, man possessed.
Against Leverkusen in the 01/02 Champions League semi-final. Every bit as good as Juventus but nobody remembers because we lost and other players weren’t as good as him that day.
Against Arsenal in 99/00 in the league, man possessed.
Against Leverkusen in the 01/02 Champions League semi-final. Every bit as good as Juventus but nobody remembers because we lost and other players weren’t as good as him that day.
and in WC2018
Hazard - World Cup 2018
Savicevic vs Barcelona in the 94 champions league final
Ronaldo for Inter Milan bs Lazio 98 Uefa cup final
Romario vs United 94 champions league
Del Piero 96 champions league season
Pagliuca World Cup 94
Rooney vs Middlesbrough 2004/5 just for the lob
Keane vs Juventus 99 champions league
Ronaldo for Inter Milan bs Lazio 98 Uefa cup final
Romario vs United 94 champions league
Del Piero 96 champions league season
Pagliuca World Cup 94
Rooney vs Middlesbrough 2004/5 just for the lob
Keane vs Juventus 99 champions league
Actually, the 2018 match from him was better.
I get it that scoring all those goals and that last minute slalom in a world cup final are the kind of stuff that lives forever. No doubt about it.
But overall he was having a shocking match till the penalty, that he didn't provoque and that was almost saved and that was the minute 80, he was really in the verge of being absolutely trashed if that penalty was saved and that is football in its pure essence, many times a question of cm., or a simple mistake and everything changes.
Life is TIMING and timing is so far Mbappe's game. BTW before somebody starts thinking that I'm not giving the importance and impact of him that day, read again because it's not that what I'm saying, but certainly that perfomance was not exactly in the realm of those games where a player grabs a game from the neck since minute one or the majority of it. This leads to his 2018 perfomance vs Argentina, where even if he is mostly a player of moments, he had more of those during the entire match and he couldn't be handle, he was absolutely vital to grab that victory that in many senses launch them for the whole thing.
Of course the final is the one that will live forever and it was fantastic no matter how it happened, no one would rememeber how exactly happened.
Zidane against Brazil 2006. Touched by the grace of God.
George Best v Benfica away in March 1966.
This is the one
This is why I say Beckham's 98/99 season is second only to Ronaldo's 07/08 season from what I've lived through. In the majority of our games that season, Beckham was our best player. You mention the Juventus game, but there's also the Semi against Arsenal where Giggsy gets all the attention for his incredible goal, but Beckham was great that game and had a brilliant goal himself, or the Champions League final itself where you don't hear much about any of the individual performances (just the two goals) but Beckham was the one driving us forwards again and again. I could name so many more. I just love Beckham
And we scored from two corner kicks. There's one reason "we always scored".This is why I say Beckham's 98/99 season is second only to Ronaldo's 07/08 season from what I've lived through. In the majority of our games that season, Beckham was our best player. You mention the Juventus game, but there's also the Semi against Arsenal where Giggsy gets all the attention for his incredible goal, but Beckham was great that game and had a brilliant goal himself, or the Champions League final itself where you don't hear much about any of the individual performances (just the two goals) but Beckham was the one driving us forwards again and again. I could name so many more. I just love Beckham
This, you have a whole bunch of games that could make this list but what stood out was how he would go one better in the immediate next game.
People (quite rightly) remember his goal against England, but rarely mention how he was even better only days later against Belgium. Argentina could have easily scored 4 or 5 that day.
What a wonderful player, what a recital. A real ode to football.
There won't ever be any consensus on this, of course.
But I will happily give my vote to Maradona '86 (precisely which match is up for debate, there are several candidates based on this and that).
And no (it has no doubt been mentioned 100 times already), it's not that he carried a shit team to glory - that has never been the argument. It was a good team.
The context is (rather):
a) it wasn't the objectively best/strongest team in terms of individual quality
b) it wasn't a manager/coach job (it wasn't about the team, brilliantly coached/set up, it was clearly about one player - who made the difference)
c) It took place in an era when national teams were (much) stronger on the whole (when it was still plausible that the best national team might beat the best club team)
But I will happily give my vote to Maradona '86 (precisely which match is up for debate, there are several candidates based on this and that).
And no (it has no doubt been mentioned 100 times already), it's not that he carried a shit team to glory - that has never been the argument. It was a good team.
The context is (rather):
a) it wasn't the objectively best/strongest team in terms of individual quality
b) it wasn't a manager/coach job (it wasn't about the team, brilliantly coached/set up, it was clearly about one player - who made the difference)
c) It took place in an era when national teams were (much) stronger on the whole (when it was still plausible that the best national team might beat the best club team)
That vid
He was off the charts the whole Cup, the combination of his virtuosism, reading, his ludic self and his laser focus committ and generosity (Diego made quite a lot of tackles and ball recoveries the whole Cup) was sthg else in his carreer, but specially in that WC.
Every backheel, sombrero, etc had a purpose. To sum up he had one of the most aesthetically pleasing and effective range of passes ever. That WC is poetry and to end being mentioned mostly because of that game against England, it's kind of sad (even if he fuelled on purpose that narrative).
PD: among the forwards/off mids what a great WC Burruchaga and Valdano had too, no one wins anything alone.
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Agree, they had a great understanding and that's how the winner in the final comes about. They skied a few in that clip though
Way too often the narrative has been that Maradona carried a team of water carriers. He sort of did, it was a very functional team, but I prefer a different take: he lifted all around him and had them firing on all cylinders.
That distinctive ability (on top of all he could do with a football, which few could match) is why I will always have him down as the GOAT, however unique and exceptional I know Messi has been.
A lot of great posts in here. An interesting spin on this thread could be greatest individual performances ever...on a losing side!
I say that because, with the few Best vs Benfica mentions, I have to say that both Eusébio and Mário Coluna were both incredible in that game, too. All those greats (+ Sir Bobby Charlton) and John Aston Jr was MOTM, and deservedly so! It's just a shame Law missed the game
I say that because, with the few Best vs Benfica mentions, I have to say that both Eusébio and Mário Coluna were both incredible in that game, too. All those greats (+ Sir Bobby Charlton) and John Aston Jr was MOTM, and deservedly so! It's just a shame Law missed the game
David Healy's hat-trick against Spain when Northern Ireland won 3-2. This was actually Jonny Evan's debut
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5321964.stmaly's
He also scored the winner vs England a year before.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5321964.stmaly's
He also scored the winner vs England a year before.
Yeap, some clear misses by many there, but what a match.Agree, they had a great understanding and that's how the winner in the final comes about. They skied a few in that clip though
Way too often the narrative has been that Maradona carried a team of water carriers. He sort of did, it was a very functional team, but I prefer a different take: he lifted all around him and had them firing on all cylinders.
That distinctive ability (on top of all he could do with a football, which few could match) is why I will always have him down as the GOAT, however unique and exceptional I know Messi has been.
Bilardo made a TEAM and it was period were SA teams still had many of their players in their own country, plus Bilardo went kind of pragmatic, more when we think that a player of the level of Bochini (that the "world (meaning Europe)" doesn't even know) only played a couple of minutes in a WC, some of the biggest injustices the NT made historically among many.
SIde Note: Regarding the GOAT, I do not like such term at all. I do think that some very special players were among the best on every period and I might prefffer one better than other, or see them with another perspective than other people, but it's just that.
Diego might be my favorite among those very special players to wtach and enjoy, yet that doesn't exactly translate to someone being clearly the best ever, nor needs to.
At the end of the day it's just our taste. What I would always find very annoying and silly is stuff like "Pele was 10 times Diego" or viceversa and every version in such style, regarding comparisons among some of the usual suspects normally being named. Rankings also hasa a tendency to end in very silly debates when some poeple treat some of these legends like trash.
No chance. 80 minutes of absolutely nothing, one brilliant goal and two penalties. The hattrick in a final looks special, the performance definitely wasn’t.
Rivaldo hat trick to secure Champions league spot for Barca? Had they been out that year, Barca's trajectory would have been very different.
His individual brilliance in that tournament was unique. We will never witnessed another individual performance like this in a World Cup. The most recent Messi inspired World Cup win for Argentina can't compared to what Maradona did. It was magical and out of this world.
I'm sure it's been mentioned but I've never seen a player I feared more than Ronaldo at Old Trafford the day he scored a hat-trick.
I'm sure there are better but as a teen that made me feel like I was watching a horror movie and I still believe the standing ovation he got was partly inspired by respect but mostly relief.
I'm sure there are better but as a teen that made me feel like I was watching a horror movie and I still believe the standing ovation he got was partly inspired by respect but mostly relief.
Jim Montgomery for Sunderland against Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final.
I think Cruyff '74 was comparable. If Netherlands had won that final, imo Cruyff would be seen more on par with Diego.
In terms of influence regarding his team absolutely and it would have been held as equal or better given the Aura of that Dutch Gen.
Yet in terms of perfomances, I don't think Johan was in an individual level as spectacular as Diego was in 86.
Garrincha in 62 is the closest in those terms, but in a more forward oriented role.
PD: also but this is even more subjective in an aesthetic point of view, the way Diego played that Cup was like Gato said above, poetry, an Ode to football.
I'd rather watch Diego as well (and rate his tournament slightly higher overall too), Cruyff was an extremely smooth player, but didn't quite have the same imaginative, improvisatory flair or ability to dribble/pass in the tightest of spaces. However it's close enough performance to rightfully avoid falling victim to the "nobody ever came close" or "he was levels below" sort of schtick that happens too often in these discussions.
Dusan Tadic in Bernabeu when Ajax won there 1-4 in 2019..
https://x.com/rich_allen85/status/1103211632350687232
https://x.com/rich_allen85/status/1103211632350687232
Mbappe against the Argies was'nt too shabby.
Yes he was possessed that day. Not just the goals, he was dropping deep and basically carrying their attack for long stretches.