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The Final: Argentina v France

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www.economist.com

Argentina clinch the World Cup after beating France on penalties

The national team could teach its politicians a lesson
www.economist.com www.economist.com

“World Cup fever has helped the government end a year that could otherwise have been explosive in a fairly peaceful way,” says Andrés Malamud, an Argentine political scientist at the University of Lisbon. But as the country’s politicians gear up for a general election in 2023, they cannot expect happy memories of the World Cup to save them. “All the research about the effects of sporting victories on elections shows that they are ephemeral—they don’t last more than two weeks.”
 

gonetomorrow said:
No player is the GOAT. All great players - Cruyff, Maradona, Messi, Eusebio etc - are different from each other and outstanding in their own eras.
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Good point. Think that’s the best way to do it—measure each by the players of their era.
I think players in this era (across all sports) benefit from advancements in sport science, nutrition, medicine, etc to has led to longer careers
 
gonetomorrow said:
No player is the GOAT. All great players - Cruyff, Maradona, Messi, Eusebio etc - are different from each other and outstanding in their own eras.
Click to expand...

Yeah pretty much this is how I feel. The physicality and sports science has only gotten better with time and similarly the protection from defenders afforded to players has increased so it really is hard to say.

Pele was the best of his era, Maradona the best of his and now undoubtedly Messi is the best player of his era.
 
EFC78 said:
I'd say these highlights show what a player he was. I never saw him myself, way before my time so I can't claim to know the ins and out of his game like I can with Messi but I think it's unfair to dismiss players just cause of the era they played in.



It's obviously hard to compare across eras because there is no way Messi and the modern players would look as they do now back then with the worse pitches etc. The game was clearly slower back then but you can still see the quality of the best players compared to their opponents. Pele won 3 World Cups, shining in 2 of them, and he scored an unbelievable amount of goals. When he was up against the best in Europe in those Intercontinental Cup matches he also stood out, outshining the likes of Eusebio when up against Benfica and in the following year against Europes best team - AC Milan. When he needed to prove he was the best, he did it, no matter what the occasion or opposition. And if you put him in today's era I believe he'd have rivalled Messi.

Messi is my favourite player of all time though and I would now have him as the greatest after what he did this tournament but I think Pele was one of the all time greats too, along with Maradona.
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Pele did also score a bicycle kick against German POW officers as well. A feat unequaled by anyone.
 

gonetomorrow said:
No player is the GOAT. All great players - Cruyff, Maradona, Messi, Eusebio etc - are different from each other and outstanding in their own eras.
Click to expand...
Guess you forgot someone mate

huh-pel%C3%A9.gif
 

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