Who, in your opinion, was the best Latin American center-midfielder of the latter half of the 20th Century?
343824
Pibe Valderrama, from Colombia
267874
That would be Ronaldinho Gaucho de Assis Moreira. He is considered one of the top 10 ilusionist of modern soccer. Being a magician, he would be considered a Genie in a bottle; He grants wishes and fulfills them on the field, only to himself.
1003904
Maniche is great when in time of need! Ronaldo i really like coz for being so young and yet plays like he's been playing all his life! Deco is definately my most favourite. I also like Simao, Pauleta, Ricardo, Miguel! well to put it this way. i like all of them!!
637355
Artur Friedenreich\nborn July 18, 1892, São Paulo, Brazil\ndied September 6, 1969, São Paulo\n\n\nBrazilian football (soccer) player who is officially recognized by Fédération Internationale de Football as the all-time leading goal scorer with 1,329 goals. A skillful and imaginative forward, he is hailed as Brazil's first great footballer. \nNow in portuguese:\nFrienderich\n\nEm 1919, o Brasil venceu o Uruguai por 1 a 0 e se sagrou campeão sul-americano. O povo se lançou às ruas do Rio de Janeiro. Presidia os festejos, levantada como um estandarte, uma barrenta chuteira, com um cartazinho que proclamava: O glorioso pé de Friedenreich. No dia seguinte, aquela chuteira que tinha feito o gol da vitória foi parar na vitrina de uma joalheria, no centro da cidade.\nArtur Friedenreich, filho de um alemão e de uma lavadeira negra, jogou na primeira divisão durante vinte e seis anos, e nunca recebeu um centavo. Ninguém fez mais gols que ele na história do futebol. Fez mais gols que o outro grande artilheiro, Pelé, também brasileiro, que foi o maior goleador do futebol profissional. Friedenreich somou 1.329 gols. Pelé, 1.279.\n\nEste mulato de olhos verdes fundou o modo brasileiro de jogar. Romeu com os manuais ingleses: ele, ou o diabo que se metia pela planta de seu pé. Friedenreich levou ao solene estádio dos brancos a irreverência dos rapazes cor de café que se divertiam disputando uma bola de trapos nos subúrbios. Assim nasceu um estilo, aberto a fantasia, que prefere o prazer ao resultado. De Friedenreich em diante, o futebol brasileiro que é brasileiro de verdade não tem ângulos retos, do mesmo jeito que as montanhas do Rio de Janeiro e os edifícios de Oscar Niemeyer.
240044
Pepe Lapizero? \nor Leonard Bisbal
334165
The best player is Roberto Carlos
1164961
In reply to Arsenalfox2000 - I agree that we apply the word great to too many modern players today. I also agree that Pele was a great GOALSCORER - However, he participated in 2 world cup wins, the first in 58 which he was a young reserve who was brought in late on in the world cup and scored some good and VERY important goals, at 17 this made him a star the first real superstar footballer. in 62 he was injured and in 66 he was injured and retired. He came back in 1970 and had a very good world cup scoring great goals in a great team however the star of the show was Jarzinho. So in reality he was a great young player in 58 and then did very little on the world stage until 1970 - Of course in the meantime he was banging goals in for fun with Santos and obviously this was against some fantastic Brazilian defences????? (yeah right) - he was a great goalscorer with a some flair and vision; just like Van basten, Muller, Greaves etc. True he was an ambasador but does that make George best a bad player??? is Lineker better than Maradona because he is a nice guy????? I dont think so, Maradona came from the slums of Argentina and he was never going to be Mother Teresa, especially when he was surrounded by the wrong crowd all along just like Mike Tyson, Brazil won the world cup in 62 without Pele and they would have won it without him in 70 too. Maradona with Napoli and Argentina took these teams to another level, He scored great goals, created goals, led and inspired those around him to be winners and they would not have won their titles without him!!!!  He was not just a goalscorer but a GENIUS and Genius is not a word you hear associated with Pele. If he was, you would not have to point to the fact that he was great ambasador and all the other rubbish outside of the actual football on the pitch. As a goalscorer he was great, but so was Lineker, would you call Lineker a Genius - NO you would not. The other factor that you have to consider, is the standard of football when Pele played - It was very poor, teams would get beat by many goals regularly and the fitness and skill levels was poor. The lesser teams today are of a certain standard, all compenet footballers; back in the day except from a few....... the rest made the numbers up. \n\nGenius is:- Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Platini, Bergkamp, Cantona,  Ronahldinho, Henry, Zidane, Rooney, Beardsley.\n\nGreat goalscores - Pele, Shearer, Lineker, Greaves, Muller, Van Basten, Rush, Schevchenko, Raul, Fowler, Fontaine and many more. \n\nThere are few GENIUS but MANY Goalscores - Genius in football is not jus the ability to finish - but it is the ability to create the unexpected, vision, composure, flair, style, grace, fantasy, art and skill. \n\nYou can apply this to any sport or position in football. Tennis, Genius = Agassi Great = Sampras\n\nCentre Half - Genuis Legend = Baresi - Great Legend = Tony Adams\n\nFull Back - Genius Legend = Maldini - Great Legend = Cafu\n\nBoxing - Genius Legend = Ali, Great = Tyson \n\nGolf  - Genius Legend = Tiger Woods - Great = Nicholas\n\nFormula One - Genius Legend = Airton Senna - Great Legend = Schumaker\n\n\nTo be a Genius you need the X FACTOR you need GRACE and in front of the Camera Pele does have grace, on the pitch however he is a DEMON GOALSCORER, a Legendary goalscorer but not a GENIUS Footballer!!!!!!!!!\n\nSometimes the Legend beats the Genius eg, Sampras considered better than Agassi on the other hand Ali is considered better than Tyson -  In sport the professional legend gets more recognition than the rough around the edges Genius and this is the case with Pele and Maradona - althouthgh Maradona is also a Legend, the Legend of Pele beats Maradona becasue of other areas that people judge outside of the football pitch. But Pele is not a Genius and Maradona is - Maradona is the single most gifted footballer ever along with my personal favourite Roberto Baggio.
497536
I dont know why people like Oswaldo Sanchez. for me the best is memo ochoa
459806
Pele the KING!\n\nFrom my experience, most people who say Maradona is better tend to be Argentines.  Granted, Maradona is one of the greats of all time, but his claim to the throne of greatest player of all time tends to come from the two goals he scored against England in the 1986 World Cup.  His style also was more based on speed and strength thanks to his short and stocky frame, and strong legs.  Pele on the other hand is poetry in motion, strong yet graceful.  Maradona had many acrobatic plays as well, but his was more of the spectacular, of the spectacle, more flash and dash.  Pele made football an artform.  Plus the guy had 1300 career goals!\n\nThat's just my take on it.\n\nHey if you don't agree, just think about this: In 1970, the two factions involved in a civil war in Nigeria agreed for a 48-hour ceasefire just so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos.\n\nI don't think Maradona ever stopped any wars...\n:)
650316
the decade of feletio appreciation.
1087230
pele, maradone, u know... the greats\n\nas of the current generation, kahn, ronaldihno, and christiano ronaldo
732398
Really hard question this, i personally would have to say the Manchester United team of 1999.\n\nI know in the Final Bayern Munich were the better team, but there was just something so special about that team.\n\nThere were just playing magnificent football through out the whole competition, Schmichael was in the peak  of his life, the defence was was excellent of G.Neville, Stam and Irwin.\n\nThe midfield was just breath taking, probaly the best midfield in the world at that time, where all the players were on a different level, Beckham, Giggs and when you take into account the suspension of probaly the most leathel central midfield pairing in Kenane and Scholes in the final, that what makes it more amazing.\n\nAn up front, well, Solksjaer and Sheringham and to me to you brothers Yorke and Cole.\n\nFor me this was the finest Manchester United that i have ever seen play football.
303624
That would be Cuahtemoc Blanco. awesome player but also very controversial.
548423
1. Miguel Munoz(with Real Madrid) 2. Johann Cruff(with Ajax as player, Barcelona, manager) 3. Carlo Ancelotti(with Milan) 4. Frank Rijkaard(with Milan as a player) 5 Giovanni Trappatoni (with Milan as a player, Juventus in 1985)
530280
Taking everything in to consideration I would have to say Bobby Moore. Talent wise there have been better players but what made Moore special was his leadership. He had a way of getting the most out of his team-mates and without that England would not have won the '66 World Cup. You don't have to have the most talent to be the best player.
1046978
1) Lionel Messi\n2) Carlos Tevez\n3) Juan Roman Riquelme\n4) Hernan Crespo\n5) Saviola
1143638
yup..brazil is on top..\nlet me show you the latest top 10 list according to FIFA:\n1. Brazil\n2. Czech\n3. Netherlands \n4  Mexico \n5  USA \n5  Spain \n7  Portugal \n8  France\n9  Argentina \n10 England\n\nso u're right..england and france are in the top 10 list..\n\nas for beckham..in my opinion he's one of the best midfielder in the world..such talent is very rare..i'm not sure about the top 5 though..but all i can say is in terms of ball-feeding and free kick takers, he's the top of them all..also on the list of top 5 most handsome players he would be in there too..lol..