The Definitive TWF World XI thread (1986-present) - CENTRE FORWARD VOTING OPEN

[MARKakaJIM]

Beckham as a wide forward is a bit of a stretch!

Yeah, if you're going 433 he'd definitely be in the midfield three rather than the front three.

 

[BillyDee]

Ronaldo (C.)
Messi
Beckham
Ronaldinho
Giggs
Figo

 

[Del Woppio]

Messi
Ronaldo
Ronaldinho
Henry
Robben
Neymar

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Beckham as a wide forward is a bit of a stretch!

And if he'd got through, having both Zidane and Maradona playing behind three forwards and ahead of one solitary defensive midfielder wouldn't be the most sturdy either...

If you rule orthodox wingers out of this category then they have nowhere to go, and it wasn't just English teams that predominantly played 4-4-2 in the late 80s, 90s and early 00s. So you're either ruling out vast swathes of world class players from that period who played wide...or we stretch the bounds a little bit

And yeah, Becks played central midfield too sometimes. But there's a reason why he got 0 votes in that category.

 

[Del Woppio]

He was very close to being in my central midfielders tbf. I love that guy.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Hey, I saw him first. Hands off.

I'm planning a sequel to this for next week anyway and he can get some proper votes in that one (he won't win here).

 

[Tony Towner]

Plays on the left a lot for Arsenal now so yeah, he's fine.

On Maradona; in terms of raw talent, yeah, it's a travesty he missed out.

However:

a) He had his final good season ever when he was 28, and that in turn is 27-28 years ago now
b) He was a bloated, coked up mess for years after that
c) He played in two World Cups after said final good season, wasn't very good in one and got booted out of another
d) His peak came at a time when access to foreign football was as good as non-existent; so while he was single-handedly dragging Napoli to titles and European triumphs, no bugger could possibly have seen it. When there was a bit more shown, he'd already left Serie A and then was $#@!e for Sevilla for a season

Which means you're basically down to people who properly remember Mexico 86, and it's a bloody long time ago now. I'm not young, there are plenty of people voting here who are younger than me, and I don't remember it. I was 5 and the games were played late at night.

And if we went purely off video clips etc and extended the timeframe backwards indefinitely, Cruyff was better

Which is why I said anyone over 40. He is the only player ever to have dragged a team to a World Cup. I fully understand the hand of god argument, but if you can't look beyond that quite frankly you are pathetic

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Which is why I said anyone over 40. He is the only player ever to have dragged a team to a World Cup. I fully understand the hand of god argument, but if you can't look beyond that quite frankly you are pathetic

To be fair, Neymar was making a decent fist of doing the same last time round until he got nobbled. I really had no time for him as a player at that time but I think he's come on leaps and bounds since moving to Barca.

 

[Alan]

Too little love for Nedved thus far.

Maradona is a weird one, he's obviously in the highest echelon of footballers all time but I think his personality and political significance in Italy make people remember him more fondly than they would otherwise.

 

[slink]

I've got to question anyone that doesn't have Messi as number 1 in this list. He's clear by some way for me, top class consistently for years.

Messi
Ronaldo
Ronaldinho
Bale
Neymar
Giggs

 

[Jinky]

Henry
Messi
Ronaldo
Beckham
Giggs
Ginola

 

[Alan]

I've got to question anyone that doesn't have Messi as number 1 in this list. He's clear by some way for me, top class consistently for years.

Messi
Ronaldo
Ronaldinho
Bale
Neymar
Giggs

*disparages people who don't put Messi #1*

*lists Bale, Neymar, and Giggs*

:stirthepot:

 

[Sam-Wolf]

Ronaldo
Nedved
Robben
Beckham
Ronaldinho
Messi

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

Giggs
Messi
Ronaldo
Figo
Ronaldinho
Beckham

Clearly a lot of bias in my #1 but Giggs is one of my favourite ever players. Messi will win anyway.

 

[Carrotdude]

Messi
Ronaldo
Beckham
Giggs
Robben
Henry

 

[Tredman]

Messi
Ronaldo 2
Henry
Overmars
Ronaldinho
Pires

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Which is why I said anyone over 40. He is the only player ever to have dragged a team to a World Cup. I fully understand the hand of god argument, but if you can't look beyond that quite frankly you are pathetic

Pathetic for not forgiving a cheat who prevented England going further? Best I forgive John McGinley too then!

Not happening.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Messi
Ronaldo
Maradona
Giggs
Beckham
Overmars

 

[Boozad]

Messi
Ronaldo
Giggs
Bale
Robben
Figo

 

[Johnny75]

Messi
Ronaldo
Neymar
Ronaldhino
Giggs
Figo