Greatest footballer ever?

[Chairman Wood]

I don't really think that's true. He is a great player but I don't think he has really achieved the level of greatness of a Pele/Maradona/Cruyff/Beckenbauer/ just yet (Not that I don't think that he will). The reason I say that is Pele just isn't all that beloved and respected in his home country.

[ToneLoc]

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Brown or Rice, it's close.


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You are mistaken Clark. We are talking about a real sport here, not some muppet show where they stop playing every 20 secs for commercials.

[Clarkmeister]

Right. A real sport where the game is won by the team with the best actors, they decide the game in overtime using rules entirely different than those the game is normally played under, the athletes can't use their hands, and the fans are all criminals. Wonderful "sport".

[ToneLoc]

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A real sport where the game is won by the team with the best actors,

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That is a reference to soccer as played by the Italians. That version of soccer isn't, indeed, a sport. Italians don't do sports.

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they decide the game in overtime using rules entirely different than those the game is normally played under,

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That creates money time situation, which helps making the difference between men team (France) and others (dunno, maybe Germany for instance)

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the athletes can't use their hands

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They do use their hands, remember that thread is about Diego M? Also in the good matches the players fight, using their hands.


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and the fans are all criminals

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That is a reference to soccer as watched by the Brits. That version of soccer isn't, indeed, a sport. Brits don't do sports (darts anyone?).

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Wonderful "sport".

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Indeed

[Bulldog]

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Brown or Rice, it's close.

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It's not. One was the best at his position for ten years, the other for nearly twenty.

[maldini]

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[ QUOTE ]
A real sport where the game is won by the team with the best actors,

[/ QUOTE ]
That is a reference to soccer as played by the Italians. That version of soccer isn't, indeed, a sport. Italians don't do sports.


That creates money time situation, which helps making the difference between men team (France) and others (dunno, maybe Germany for instance)



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ok. i was just fine browsing and expecting fun sh1t talking between americans and soccer fans. then i get personally attacked out of nowhere.

let me remind you of something here, sir. italians are notorious chokers. not divers. yes, there is more diving than english and german players but french? come on now. and if italians were to dive, they'd do it with such flair that you'd have to rise and applaud.

also, lets not even talk about spanish and western hemispheric latins. i mean, they even dive on my sunday league with refs that are getting paid $30/game. ive seen them dive in pickup games with no ref.

dont put them and italians in the same sentence. its offensive.

-the maldini of poker

[ToneLoc]

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dont put them and italians in the same sentence. its offensive.

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?? i mean italian football in itself is offensive... they have not beaten France since 1978 or so... they lost the euro 2000 in such an humiliating way...
Sorry but nothing can be offensive enough for italian football...

[mmbt0ne]

Yeah, Italians don't dive very often. Right.



This man could've given Greg Louganis a run for his money.

[Clarkmeister]

That's a big part of why its such a lame sport. Diving is SUCH a huge part of the game, it's simply ridiculous.

Then there's still the absurdity that OT eventually ends in PKs. That's like NFL games ending in a FG contest or NBA games ending in 1 on 1 contests. It just bastardizes everything that happened in the previous 110+ minutes.

[ToneLoc]

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That's a big part of why its such a lame sport. Diving is SUCH a huge part of the game, it's simply ridiculous.

Then there's still the absurdity that OT eventually ends in PKs. That's like NFL games ending in a FG contest or NBA games ending in 1 on 1 contests. It just bastardizes everything that happened in the previous 110+ minutes.

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You recognize real teams in Penalty shoot-outs. A great example being the WC final 1994, when the shameless italians ridiculed themselves in the shoot-outs vs Brazil. This was a GREAT match, evne though it endded up like this.
With regards to diving, just keep the italians (and M.Owen) out of the competition, and it should solve half the problem...