The Association Football Thread

[DarthVisor]

Blue was the colour today.

[HawaiiVol]

Ashley Young is determined to become known as a diver I guess.

[tvolsfan]

Originally Posted by volball625

Messi is a once in a 20 year span kind of player. Neymar will not even be close to Messi

I think that's probably going a little too far. He's the best in the world right now, and he may go down as the greatest ever some day, but I'm 21 and as of right now, I'd consider him the third best player of my lifetime.

[DarthVisor]

Originally Posted by HawaiiVol

Ashley Young is determined to become known as a diver I guess.

I didn't want to believe it at first, but today was an awful display. He is deservedly gaining that reputation.

[MSUDuo]

Originally Posted by tvolsfan

I think that's probably going a little too far. He's the best in the world right now, and he may go down as the greatest ever some day, but I'm 21 and as of right now, I'd consider him the third best player of my lifetime.

Who are you putting ahead of him? I'm 24 and the only guy I can think of would be Zinedine and I'd still take Messi

[volball625]

Originally Posted by tvolsfan

I think that's probably going a little too far. He's the best in the world right now, and he may go down as the greatest ever some day, but I'm 21 and as of right now, I'd consider him the third best player of my lifetime.

How much of Zinedine Zidane did you watch? He retired when you were 15 years old.

I just have never seen any other play have such an impact on a game like Messi. He sets other people up for goals almost as well as he finishes. And that's saying a lot for someone who banged in 60+ goals this season.

[tvolsfan]

Originally Posted by MSUDuo

Who are you putting ahead of him? I'm 24 and the only guy I can think of would be Zinedine and I'd still take Messi

I think Ronaldo is the greatest forward of all time and the best player of my lifetime.

[tvolsfan]

Originally Posted by volball625

How much of Zinedine Zidane did you watch? He retired when you were 15 years old.

I watched him as early as the 1998 World Cup and in Euro 2000 as well.

I just have never seen any other play have such an impact on a game like Messi. He sets other people up for goals almost as well as he finishes. And that's saying a lot for someone who banged in 60+ goals this season.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a player have an impact on his team like Zidane did for France. Look at France's performance in the major international competitions since the mid 90's when Zidane became a big part of the team. When he was healthy, they were among the best. When he was hurt, they were irrelevant trash.

When he retired, he was arguably the best player in the world, and he was 34.

[volball625]

Originally Posted by tvolsfan

I think Ronaldo is the greatest forward of all time and the best player of my lifetime.

Ronaldo has never scored the amount of goals in one season as Messi has in the last the three years. And Messi isn't even a striker!

[volball625]

Originally Posted by tvolsfan

I watched him as early as the 1998 World Cup and in Euro 2000 as well.



I'm not sure I've ever seen a player have an impact on his team like Zidane did for France. Look at France's performance in the major international competitions since the mid 90's when Zidane became a big part of the team. When he was healthy, they were among the best. When he was hurt, they were irrelevant trash.

When he retired, he was arguably the best player in the world, and he was 34.

Zidane's performance against Brazil in the 2006 World Cup was otherworldly. And Messi has performances like that all the time.

[tvolsfan]

Originally Posted by volball625

Ronaldo has never scored the amount of goals in one season as Messi has in the last the three years. And Messi isn't even a striker!

How often did you watch Ronaldo in his prime? Just curious.

[tvolsfan]

Originally Posted by volball625

Zidane's performance against Brazil in the 2006 World Cup was otherworldly. And Messi has performances like that all the time.

I've seen Messi do some unbelievable things, but I still have a hard time saying I would take him on my team over either Ronaldo or Zidane in their prime.

[volball625]

Originally Posted by tvolsfan

How often did you watch Ronaldo in his prime? Just curious.

I find myself wanting to ask you the same question. The opinion of a 8 year old isn't screaming credibility to me.

I haven't seen a player anywhere near Messi's caliber in the last six years, my time of watching soccer on a consistent basis. I can't say how good Zidane or Ronaldo really were, but I find it hard to believe they were as good as Messi is now. They certainly do not compare statistics wise, and statistics do not do Messi justice. His game is so beyond statistics.

[tvolsfan]

Look at his numbers from the earlier part of his career. They compare better than you may think.

[MSUDuo]

I concede. After reading up and thinking about it, Messi still has some work to do to catch ZZ and Ronaldo.

Club wise, I'd take Messi. But when you throw in the international, ZZ and Ronaldo are heads and shoulders above Mess. Granted, Messi is only 24 and should have at least 2 WC left...

I'd say 1) ZZ, 2) Ronaldo, 3) Messi

Messi will get there though if he can get Argentina to the promise land