Pelé Vs Maradona, The Two Great Idols In The World Of World Football

The age-old argument regarding who the greatest strikers of all time is will never end. Pele & Maradona are undoubtedly two of the best football players of all time, a fact that is accepted by even the most contentious sports fans.

Both Pele and Maradona were born in October; Pele on the 23rd and Maradona on the 30th. Both players were instrumental in their teams' World Cup successes and remain the standard by which future South American superstars are measured. There are uncountable numbers of young athletes who have looked up to these icons.

"According to me, Pelé continues to be pretty close in football if compared to Maradona," remarked the Argentine. What did Pele think of his competitor, by the way? "(Maradona) couldn't kick properly with his right ankle and he didn't score headed goals, thus he can't be regarded as the finest ever player. Maradona's lone noteworthy headed goal was one he scored with his hand. Pele was a two-footed player who was also a technical player, as seen by his perfect goal-scoring record. His detractors, though, point out that he played in a slower period and that he was surrounded by superior players.

Fans of the Argentine legend say his performance in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico is proof that Maradona is the best of all time because of the way he directed play from the middle and brought his teammates into it. However, his successes will always be overshadowed by the 'Hand of God' goal he scored against England on the way to that victory and the drug controversy that plagued the rest of his career. It may be true that you can't fairly compare players from different decades, but the animosity between these two soccer legends is too tremendous to ignore.

Career Opportunities Abroad

When compared to Messi and Ronaldo, Pele and Maradona are far more beloved by their countrymen since they earned their greatest success with their national teams. Maradona single-handedly pushed Argentina toward the 1986 World Cup victory, while Pele was the sole player to have participated in three World Cup winners, having won in 1958, 1962, and 1970.

Pele won the 1970 World Cup

Having already won the tournament in 1958 and 1962 with Brazil, Pele finally added the 1970 edition to his collection. Pele, only 17 years old at the time, made his international debut there at the 1958 World Cup when he scored six goals across four games and won the tournament's Young Player for the Tournament title after scoring the game-winning goal in the championship match. Nevertheless, injuries plagued his next 2 World Cup appearances, as he played in just one game in 1962 and was essentially booted out of the tournament by relentless fouling by Bulgaria but then Portugal in 1966.

While he had previously stated he wouldn't ever play in another World Cup, the Brazilian came back with a fury in Mexico in 1970. He scored a tonne of goals, as usual, but at age 29, Pele demonstrated his development by setting up goals for others as well, most notably Carlos Alberto in the championship game against Italy. That goal is generally regarded as the finest team goal ever scored at the World Cup.