OT: The 2026 World Cup Thread

[bormio]

I legit told a couple people he passed Pele with his hat trick the other night.

Hard to argue otherwise - Pele was a no-show at a couple of WCs after all. I guess you can still argue Maradonna for his WC performances, but, like you said, it's really starting to get that insurmountable Brady evidence.

Pele’s teams won 3 WC - much more dominant than Messi’s to date. Messi’s club career was his defining feature until the last WC. Even then Barca did not dominate Real Madrid - a team who had more Champions League success. It will take another WC win to elevate Messi to the undisputed GOAT. He might get it.

 

[Guts]

fooookin sick

 

[OldEngland]

I legit told a couple people he passed Pele with his hat trick the other night.

Hard to argue otherwise - Pele was a no-show at a couple of WCs after all. I guess you can still argue Maradonna for his WC performances, but, like you said, it's really starting to get that insurmountable Brady evidence.

Pele is the GOAT. It's not close and probably never will be.

Pele played 4 world cups, 58, 62, 66 and 70. He won 3 out of 4, and was legendary in 2 of them. In 1962 he got injured, and in 1966 Pele was brutally targeted and violently fouled repeatedly in a way that is completely outlawed today. There were no yellow or red cards in those days, and you had to repeatedly do pretty bad stuff to be ejected. Messi gets so much more protection than Pele ever did, its not really compariable.

Pele was truly elite in so many ways, pace, leaping, control, speed, dribbling, shooting. He had a 48' vertical!!! and huge hang time, elite in the air. 11.0sec 100m time in an age where the WR was still 10.0sec. 30% more visual perception that the average athlete. He was truly ambidexterous, he was elite with both feet combined with a low centre of gravity and control and shooting power made him a nightmare for defenders. He scored 1284 first class goals.

Nearly 70 years later, you could put Pele in the modern era and he'd still be the best player in the world.