h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... If his career hadn't been so cruelly foreshortened by injuries sustained in a shocking tackle from behind, would Marco Van Basten have been the greatest of them all?

And will anyone ever beat however many goals it was that Juste Fontaine scored at the World Cup finals in the fifties?

Van Basten - the best ever - no. Can't justify it because I hardly saw him play (except that amazing tight angle goal in 88 Euro Champs final vs USSR).

Fontaine's record of 13 goals in 6? matches. Yes it will be beaten I think. Remember Platini scored 9 goals in 5/6 games for France in the Euro Champs final '84. Eventually a player will come along with incredible talent - Gerd Muller is an example 50g in 66m (although 'only' managed 10 goals in WC '70).

But probably the record will be beaten more so because of circumstances and changes to the games. That I can think of:
- firstly the size of the World Cup has increased from 16 to 24 to 32 teams, hence more matches are now played. It may continue to get bigger or become more of a League like the Euro Champs League.
- admittedly it can be harder to score more goals, but pressure is being put on football to find ways to make the game more attractive (e.g. higher scores) and as per point 1 they like to televise lots of matches.

BTW I think one of the Australian players scored 13 in a game last Wednesday and that was a World Cup Qualifier - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/funny_old_game/newsid_1270000/1270646.stm

Forgot to say finish why I don't think MVB is best ever. Ask your average non-footy fan and they'd name Pele, Maradonna or Lineker (if they're British). MVB just doesn't have the immediacy. Maybe though that's a media thing.

That's my point; he'll never be one of the real greats (Lineker?? ) due to the fact that his injury cut short his career. Back in the day, he was just amazing. As you say, the '88 goal was as good as it gets, and his complete centre-forward game was one of the main reasons that Milan dominated European football in the early 90s.

Scoring more than a half-dozen goals in a world cup is a fantastic achievement, but 13 in 6 is ridiculous! The only way I could envisage that sort of thing happening is through the route you describe - ie allowing teams of lower quality into the finals who proceed to ship goals to their more illustrious competitors. It just makes you wonder if there are Aussie players who have scored ridiculous amounts of goals due to the paucity of decent competition in Oceania...

Didn't Dmitri Radchenko score 5 in a mtch at USA 94?

The point is that you can't compare footballers across the geneations as the game is continually evolving. You can clearly name some greats: Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Best. These four stand head and shoulders above any others I have seen in my lifetime but then others rate Puskas who I never saw play.

However none of those players would be able to make the international stage unless they could produce the same sublime skills at a much higher pace. Some of the new young players are capable of producing the sort of skills Cruyff and the others invented almost at will because they have been taught them.

In the last few years there has not been a truly great individual player in that same mould when one comes they will be truly and utterly awesome because they will have all the skills and more of those mentioned plus the ability to carry them out at a bewildering pace. Paul Gasgoine had the potential but not the pysche for it. Joe Cole has potential but thats all.

So there will never be another Best, Pele, Cruyff or Maradona precisely because they were exceptionally talented individuals, but there will undoubtedly be another awesome talent who stands head and shoulders above their generation. ...and no it will not be Ronaldo.

My twopenny worth

MVB, great player certainly . He did play for a good while though so I suspect his legendary status would have happened had that been true. Remember Maradonna already had the reputation as one of the best ever by the age of about 20.

As to Cruff et al. Mentioned in the article. Their genius lay in the fact that they invented much of the trickery and skill used by many skillful players now. Its much easier to copy something once someones invented it. Einstein thought up relativity - many people can now do the maths involved but they could not have thought it up in the first place.

MVB was a great striker, same for Lineker, same for Muller same as quite a few others - thats precisely the point. One of the elite of their generation but not all-time greats. If you want a defintion then when all the hype surrounding Ronaldo was at its peak I came up with this: its the ability to take on and beat three or more players on a regular basis and to frequently finish the move with a goal, or with a goal resulting from that piece of skill. MVB was a great finisher but not much of a creator. Personally I really rated the guy who provided the cross for that goal - Arnold Muhren but I would never claim he was an all-time great.

What about Andy Cole? Does he qualify as one of the greats

BBS

PS Don't answer that, start a new discussion, let's not taint the name of the greats!

Alright then; how about the best haircut in football ever? Waddle? Valderrama? Jason Lee?

Surely Kevin Keegan or Glen Hoddle

Or Does Bobby Charlton's count?

Tony Daley had several Jason Lee like episodes throughout his varied career moves so he gets my vote for most varied intersting haircut, but for me its no contest Jason Lee wins hands down, and remember I watched football throughout the seventies when everyone's haricut was dodgy and in that I include all the players, officials, directors and the crowd.

How about Taribo West's hair - always delicately styled to match the kit he is wearing?