I find it hard to believe why Yahoo has not included Pele as one of the best and classic players in their site.  Did someone miss the ball or something?
216919
I'm not exactly sure, but it might be that he hasn't necessarily had a lot of impact on CANADIAN soccer, per se, but rather just socer in general, and particularly American (NY Cosmos) and Brazilian (Santos) soccer. Therefore, the Canadian website might have folks more along the lines of Dwayne DiRosario or ... (I'm a yank, and don't know much about the soccer culture in Canada, particularly the history).
435299
He wasn't that great in the UEFA Champions League and World Cup, in fact, he was utterly rubbish. (Well perhaps, not much at the start of the Champions League). In my opinion, the award was given to the best dribbler in the world and NOT to the best player for the season. However, not many players have stood out last year, and so Ronaldinho won the award.\nDespite not being a supporter of Arsenal, I'd reluctantly have to agree that the award should have gone either to Thierry Henry or Jens Lehmann. Henry is a player that is constantly overlooked for the awards, dunno why. Neways, he played well last year and inspired Arsenal to the Champions League final. Much more memorable was his goal which eliminated Brazil from the World Cup.\nHowever, for me the player who well and truly deserves the award is Lehmann. He was astounding for the whole season. In fact, I can't even count the number of spectacular saves he made to keep Arsenal in a match. I remember the match when Liverpool beat Arsenal 1-0, where Liverpool should have won by some 5-0, but Lehmann kept them in the match. But, this form was not for only one match, it continued for the whole season till the World Cup (that penalty shootout against Argentine). Lehmann is also the bravest keeper actually (he does not hesitate to advance). In fact, the only blot on his season was the sending-off in the Champions League final.\nAlternatively, I would consider Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Canavarro, but they were part of 2 cheating teams: Juventus and AC Milan, and did not do great in the Champions League.
325626
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele\n\nEdson Arantes do Nascimento, Honorary KBE, (born October 23, 1940), nicknamed Pelé (pron. IPA Brazil: /pɛ.'læ/ USA: /pɛ.'lɛ/), is a former Brazilian football (soccer) player who won three World Cup medals and broke many records, also known as O Rei (The King) and Pérola Negra (The Black Pearl). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time.\n\nOften considered the complete midfield and attacking player, he was completely two-footed, a prolific clinical finisher, exceptional at dribbling and passing, and was a remarkably good tackler for a forward. He was famed for his speed and kicking strength and scored 1,281 goals over the course of his career. Since his full retirement in 1977 he has served as an ambassador for the sport.
289115
He is the best of the current players. For mine, Pele is probably the best ever. Pele is often considered the complete midfield and attacking player, he was completely two-footed, a clinical finisher, exceptionally skilled at dribbling and passing, and a remarkably good tackler for a forward. He was famed for his speed and kicking strength and scored 1,281 goals over the course of his career. Along with Maradona, he was FIFA player of the century but Pele was the better sportsman for mine.
558835
Without a shadow of a doubt he is the best player in the world at the moment.Every aspect of his game is so solid and his leadership qualities are the stuff of legend.There are more skillful players.But none better.
447380
It's a crime and pity that a player of Henry's calibre has never won the European player or the Fifa world player of the year, I see a few of the players out there to have the award who deserved it less than Henry, it would be a total crime if he isnt named World Player of the year this time.
520727
WHOAA! that was crazy. i want him to play for Spain!! And what? he already scored 800 goals?? for a 16 year old that is the rarest shhit i have ever heard! lol. omg that was a crazy video...him passing through 6 defenders (makes those other guys look stupid).....i'm gonna watch out for this guy. have you heard about Nikon Jevtic? He's this other Serbian kid....he's suppose to be crazy good too....man so much talent comming up i can't wait.......
240842
I never cease to be amazed how little some of the people answering questions know about football.\n\nTo wit, several included Ronaldinho in their answers to this question. Don't they know he is NOT a striker, and therefore less likely to have opportunities to score?
168187
I have the greatest respect for Zidane. I have closely monitored his game and in my opinion he is not only a good football player, but also a gentleman. I applaude his idea to retire when the ovation is loudest. Not every football player does that. If not for him France probably would not have qualified for the world cup. He is also the type of player that gives his best whether during club or national engagement. He takes his profession seriously and the world sure has a lot to learn from such an icon.
615380
It is almost a true story.  I first heard it from Adriano De Brito, Waldemar's younger brother (Waldemar "discovered" Pele).   It was in his second season with  Santos of Sao Paulo, against neighboring Cardoso, and he did indeed hit the crossbar and claim it was too high.  It was against his polite and quiet nature to argue like that.  Unfortunately, no one stopped the game to measure, but they did check afterwords and found him to be correct.  You have to remember, this was 1957 and facilities and equipment weren't what they are today   In fact, Pele never even played in cleats until joining Santos.
505757
I greatly sympathise with Graham Poll, but he surely is quick with those cards sometimes. I wish he could, once in a while, consult his linesman, but as Jose Mourinho said, Graham Poll wants to be part of the action, and it is usually for the wrong reasons. I think he should try by all means improve his referring skills through involving his linesmen otherwise his reputation will continue to slide down disgracefully.
557202
Mr. Simon is from Brazil.\nOn one website he only got a 4 on a scale of 1 to 6(worst).\nBesides the discussions about the penalty in the 79th minute, he overlooked that in the 75th minute, he should have sent off a player from Ghana (Kuffour) for a overly hard attack against Iaquinta although the game was already stopped.\nSo one reason could be that this was a concession as he had a bad conscience.\nAnother very likely explanation is that neither he nor his linesmen had a clear view about this scene or simply judged it in a different way than others. Interestingly, the website I had been looking at, does not count this a one of his grave mistakes, meaning, there at least are doubts about this being a penalty..\nDon't forget that the guys on the field have to decide within seconds without having the benefit of looking at the replay again and again...
381902
i think the underlying Q is, does he deserve it?  the guy's got skills certainly but i could name several defenders who did a better job than him. he was hyped up by the media bec. italy needed a hero and sorry to say this, but there wasn't one who really stood out in the team, not even buffon bec. lehmann was light years better than him. jens had a LOT of defending to do and he shone at his job. maybe i'm blind, ignorant, biased, etc. but i saw all of italy's games xcept for that match with australia and i wasn't impressed with cannavaro at all. it was zambrotta and pirlo (to a lesser degree) who got my attention. cannavaro prob. got it bec. some ppl perversely felt something had to be rectified with the "premature" voting in the world cup which resulted in the "erroneous" giving of the golden ball to zidane and cannavaro having placed # 2 in that voting, was the logical beneficiary of the token act. that's ok if we confine it to performances in the wc but i get the sense that the ballon d'or had a wider criteria and as in the past, league performances had to be taken into account as well, not just the wc. which is where, in my limited understanding, this award goes terribly wrong bec. if that was  done then the prize should have gone to someone else. anyway, that's just my opi and i'm no certainly no expert.
372352
I cannot believe it myself.\n\nZidane is not even close to be the World Player of the Year..
41407
PELE top scorer 1281 goals, top WORLD CUP WINNER 3 times.\nMany. many, many championships with santos, Copa Libertadores (several) and Intercontinental Cups (several).\n\n2 \nMaradona WORLD CUP WINNER, UEFA Champions WINNER. \nExtremly famous for his jumping, dribbling and 1 on 1 ability against the keepers. He was so talented for using la rabona, (not the cocaine, la rabona is a way to hit the ball while you cross the hitting leg behind the support leg and then hit the ball at the same time). Too bad he was a DRUG ADDICT and that is the reason why I do not believe he was the greatest!!!. Drugs like cocaine that DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA used, gave him the ability to see everybody else in slow motion, that is the reason why he was so fast and almost never was tackled down because he could resist constant kicks from the defenders, his balance was unbelieveable, totally out of this world for a man his height, only 5 feet 5 inches 1 meter 65 centimeters. \n\n3 \nRoberto Baggio UEFA Champions WINNER HypermegaUltra dribbling ability, fainting, middle and long distance shooting, free kicks and penalty kicks, middle height volleys, too. I never saw him lost on a 1 on 1 against the keeper during this career in the Calcio Italiano. This guy had it all. He was a mini version PELE. \nToo bad he never won a WORLD CUP because he played with an injured leg the final match of the WORLD CUP of USA in 1994.\n\n4 \nJohann Cruyff 2 WORLD CUP SUBCHAMPION \nI have nothing much to say about this demigod of soccer. No WORLD CUPs but the best in his position during the 70s. Not even the brazilian Zico was as good as this guy.\nWith Ajax he was at this top game, and then the injuries never left him alone. Too bad Johann, you were a diabolo.\n\n5 \nMichelle Platini what to say about this master of the ball.\nIntercontinental Cups, Squdettos with La Juve (Squdetto means Local League Championship Winner)\n\n6 \nRonaldo WORLD CUP WINNER (1 time) excessively ball controller, so good so effective, he is almost unstoppable. Too bad he got injured in the top of this game. Now he is fat, kind of slow and can not take on defenders as well as he used to. \n7 \nRonaldinho WORLD CUP WINNER (1 time) haha, splinter the rat from TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is the brother of this BOY. The fastest dribbler nowadays. He can create a scoring play from nowhere. He will win another WORLD CUP, you all will see.\n\n7 Rivaldo WORLD CUP WINNER (1 time) excellent striking ability as well as bicycle kick ability. Dribbling talent, no doubt about it. Curling the ball was his special trick, he would put excessive power as well as curl in his shots, which made them extremelly difficult for the goalkeepers to retain, as a prove of that just watch his shot against OLIVER KAHN (germany's goal keeper in the final match of KOREA JAPAN 2002) it created the first goal for the Brazilians.\n\n8 \nRomario over 900 goals scored WORLD CUP WINNER (1 time)\nextreme accuracy and usage of the outside part of his right boot, he could score goals crossing the ball in the keepers area from side to side at ground level.\n\n9 \nHugo Sanchez over 400 goals scored Ultra aerial game !! This guy was a F1 airplane (the soccer ball were his missiles)scissors kicks, bicycle kicks, dive heading, over heading, besides of his great accuracy for free kick shoots, dribbling.\n\n10 \nFranz Beckenbauer, DAS KAISER, WORLD CUP WINNER (1 time) the best German player ever, over Matthaus, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Sammer and many other German mann (not bad spelled this is the way Germans use plurar for man in Germany).\n\n11 and on ? I'll let this one at your choice, Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano, David Beckham, Luis Figo, Ryan Giggs, Manuel Rui Costa, Gabiel Omar Batistuta, Ortega, Luis Hernandez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco. They did not nor will ever win a WORLD CUP. Too bad for them, what a shame.
612508
far much better than the first of their games...\nRonaldinho was Ok, didnt give his all....\nOverall.. a good team effort...\nBut as before... Ronaldo is Finished... he must go back to the Amazon.. buy a big boat and start fishing... may be then he can lose some weight in the hot and humid rain forest...
648895
This is so funny!  I feel the ame way.  which player has mastered the art?  Hmmm............... I really have to think about that, there are alot of players....... all of them?