Pele speaks messi & rooney.

[adedawson]

Brazilian legend Pele says both Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney need to perform on the highest international stages before they can be considered world class.

The 71-year-old claims that being exceptional for your club, and being exceptional for your country, are two completely different things, and only the best can perform at both levels.

Pele told The Sun: "I think a 'great' player is defined by their performances at the World Cup.

"For example, watch Lionel Messi play for Barcelona. He is very good. Exceptional. But for Argentina, he's completely different.

"Compare him to Zinedine Zidane. He won the World Cup and was at the top for 15 years. He was a more complete player than Messi.

"Before Zidane there was Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini and Bobby Moore.

"Great players who won World Cups or, in Cruyff and Platini's case, starred in them."

When asked about Wayne Rooney, although the three-time world cup winner said he was a fan of the 26-year-old, he was far from complimentary about him, saying he has little technical ability, and hasn’t scored enough goals.

He continued: "I am a very big fan of Rooney. He always fights for the team. He is not too technical, his strength is his heart.

"He's a good player. But you can't really compare him to me. I scored a lot of goals. I don't know if Rooney has."

"His aggression is a big part of his game — you cannot take that away from him. In my time we didn't have many yellow cards and red cards. Now, the players are very well protected.

"But a player does have a responsibility to behave himself. It's hard to change the personality of the player but maybe they can adjust."

It wasn’t just current players who incurred the wrath of the Brazilian, even past players such as Maradona were criticised for their flaws.

"Maradona only had one foot and was not good in the air,” he added.

"He was a great player but what happened in the World Cup finals in 1994 tarnished his image, when he got sent home for taking drugs.

"Cruyff was much more interesting. He was different to Maradona, more complete."

Pele and his words of wisdom lol, I think hes getting madder. Kinda has a point with Messi flopping on the international front though.

 

[Arnau]

Messi is the same at Barcelona than Argentina, but that's a collective interaction sport, not saying Argentina has bad players, coaches are the ones to blame.

 

[poet11]

Don't Argentina have a lot of quality players who are similar and play in the same position? If you want to put a balanced starting line up on the field don't you have to make a lot of quality sit on the bench? If thats the case then how much quality is on the field?

Is handing Messi the captains armband a stupid decision?

 

[Arnau]

Argentina has great players almost everywhere, fullbacks and management are the weak point.

 

[poet11]

Who plays CB for the Argies? Is Samuel still there?

 

[Waldo1639]

Is handing Messi the captains armband a stupid decision?

I think it is. Messi is fabulous player, but does he have charisma for leadership? No!

 

[poet11]

I think it is. Messi is fabulous player, but does he have charisma for leadership? No!

.......and its not just this. He is gonna get murdered whenever they play poorly. Its just putting unnecessary pressure on his shoulders. Mascherano was just fine for it.

 

[Arnau]

Who plays CB for the Argies? Is Samuel still there?

Mascherano and Otamendi wouldn't be a bad couple, but they are playing with Demichelis - Burdisso.

 

[poet11]

Mascherano and Otamendi wouldn't be a bad couple, but they are playing with Demichelis - Burdisso.

Burdisso and Demichelis= disaster! Haven't really seen Otamendi but I can agree with the idea of playing Mas CB. Is Garay playing well for Benfica? He should be considered I think and they should probably welcome back Samuel.

 

[Arnau]

I also thought Burdisso sucks but watching Roma games i realize he's not that bad.

 

[poet11]

Burdisso isn't that bad(great attitude too) but playing him with Demichelis(****!) is a bad idea.........specially as you mentioned fullbacks being a weak point. It might be a good idea for them to try a 3 man central defense.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Mascherano and Otamendi wouldn't be a bad couple, but they are playing with Demichelis - Burdisso.

Maradona gone but incompetence remains.

 

[miluoke]

they are both my loving football star

 

[Filipower]

 

[Arnau]

Line-up against Colombia

------------------Romero----------------
Zabaleta--Fernández--Burdisso--Clemente

Sosa-----Mascherano--Braña-----Guiñazú


------------Messi-----Higuaín-------------

 

[Zlatan]

Maradona won the World Cup in 1986 with a bunch of nobody's.

 

[Jaboldinho]

Trololololol.

 

[yoyo913]

He had Ephedrine on his team.

 

[Sir Calumn]

I love and respect Pele but he does talk a lot of bollocks sometimes. He put Hidetoshi Nakata in his top 100 players of all time.

To a degree I agree with him, I am disappointed in Rooney and Messi's international showings thus far, but at the same time the game has changed tremendously since Pele and Maradona were playing - individuals dont win world cups anymore, teams win them, and there is not the emphasis on international tournaments there once was, also the club game has got so much more competitive and the scheduling tougher. I also do happen to think that Messi will prove himself much more in the next world cup, not least for not having Maradona as manager, and that Rooney will have a good tournament too before he retires, I think he may be the star of Euro 2012. I absolutely genuinely believe England could win that competition by the way.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Messi is the same at Barcelona than Argentina, but that's a collective interaction sport, not saying Argentina has bad players, coaches are the ones to blame.

If Messi was to be compared with Pele, Maradonna, Cruyff or Zidane, he should be leading Argentina no matter how crappy his coaches or players are. He can't be compared to these players unless he achieves something for Argentina.

Giving Messi the captain's armband is a stupid decision. You totally want him to on focus on scoring rather than giving captain's responsibilities.