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Few people in Brazil dare to suggest there has ever been an athlete greater than Pelé. I don't think we'll ever see anyone else win 3 World Cups.
by quirino 4y ago
Few people in Brazil dare to suggest there has ever been an athlete greater than Pelé. I don't think we'll ever see anyone else win 3 World Cups.
- sokoloff 4y agoDo you have any estimation into the relative reverence/awe between Pelé and Ayrton Senna? Both seemed to be dominant in their sport and be fanatically loved by fans and the general public.
- randiantech 4y agoI dont think that Senna can compare to Pele.
- pantulis 4y agoThis gives and idea of how great was Pele.
- squokko 4y agoSoccer just has way more fans than auto racing, and astronomically more players from recreational to amateur to professional.
- quirino 4y agoSenna is one of the very few people as universally beloved as Pelé here. Since his activity was much more recent he's closer to the heart of a lot of people.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- rmbyrro 4y agoI think Pele and Senna are incomparable. But Senna captured more of the hearts of Brazilians, in my opinion. Look at what happened when Senna died [1] and compare to the national reaction now that Pele has died. Millions have lined up on the streets to say Senna a goodbye. Of course the circumstance (Senna's crash) has an influence, but still... To this day, Brazilians still have a hard time holding tears when they remember the day Senna's died. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j79qnfHODPk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j79qnfHODPk
- sokoloff 4y agoThat Senna died with an Austrian flag in his car is one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship left uncompleted. (He traditionally drove his victory lap with a Brazilian flag; Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian, was killed in a crash earlier that same race weekend and Senna expected to win and honor him by displaying the Austrian flag on his victory lap.)
- leoff 4y agoSenna's death was sudden and a tragedy. Pelé's death is also sad, but it was foreseeable given his health condition.
- 11235813213455 4y agoYou can't compare different times, not trying to downplay what Pelé did, but there is surely more density now, so statistically harder to do the same
- rafaelero 4y agoSure you can. Absolute quality of soccer players may have changed, but relative performance probably have not. That's what makes Pelé impressive: how good he was relative to his peers. No soccer player nowadays reach that same level.
- dinkumthinkum 4y agoAs Kasparov said about comparing players like Kobe to Jordan or Carlson to himself, it is difficult because they later players had the benefit of being able to study them earlier ones.
- pastor_bob 4y ago>I don't think we'll ever see anyone else win 3 World Cups. Mbappe a contender. Just needs to win 2 out of the next 3
- foogazi 4y agoWow he was so close this WC
- peruvian 4y agoGetting to the final and winning the WC is very difficult, and will be even more so with 48 teams. France could've gone home earlier at many points, same as Argentina. Even getting to PKs was partly luck. That handball penalty could've easily not happened or not been called. While it's likely France will be a contender for the next decade or so, there's no guarantee of them making into to the final and winning. Plenty of stacked teams have gone home early before (even in this WC).
- sarasasa28 4y ago[flagged]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- quirino 4y agoWhich farmers are you referring to? The European nations he defeated in the World Cups? Besides, Europe didn't always have the strongest clubs in the world. South American clubs were just as good all the way through the 80's. Many people discredit Pelé's goals in state championships and friendlies, but fail to consider how at the time those state championships were considered more valued than national and continental ones.
- ufo 4y agoNot to mention that individual Brazilian states are about as large as European countries.
- m4tthumphrey 4y agoMbappe will get at least 2 more. If Messi wasn't in the Argentina team this year he'd have got his second. He's 23.
- soneca 4y agoVery bold prediction to use the word “will” without any qualification
- eldaisfish 4y agoPredictions like this have been made about numerous players and most have been wrong. What wins a world cup is a team, not individuals.
- jpcrs 4y agoThis is exactly one of to reasons to guess that Mbappe will achieve this. Even if he, as individual, get injuried or worse at playing, France still has an incredibly strong young generation.
- sofixa 4y agoAnd France have easily one of the best teams, with lots of very talented youngsters waiting for a chance to prove themselves. Even with multiple injured highly important players that would have otherwise started (Pogba, Kanté, L. Hernandez, Benzema, Nkunku to an extent) they got to the final. For every player retiring (Benzema, probably Giroud and Lloris) there are younger players ready to step in, all the way down to the youth teams. And this is at every position, unlike most other teams like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain that have obvious gaps in at least one position. The only other ones that come close in terms of all roundness of talent are England. France will be a menace for at least the next decade.
- quetzthecoatl 4y agowhile france does have a great squad, this sort of prediction goes against world cup history. Hardly ever the favorites win the world cup. In fact, imo the last time the favorites won the world cup was in 2002.
- brudgers 4y agoMbappé came within PK’s of having two.