All major player that didn't won one will be forever remain marked by that, like Púskas. It's the greatest achievement. Pelé did it 3 times, Maradona once, Zidane once. You have to do it to be considered one of the greatest. It's unfair but that's what you need.
Ronaldo will be always remembered by returning from a severe injury and winning the 2002 cup. Nobody wins one alone, but the greatest players of all time were directly responsible for these wins.
So if you ask me, Messi isn't nowhere as good as Romário, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Pelé, Garrincha, Maradona, Zidane and others until he wins a World Cup. Same for Cristiano Ronaldo. With a World Cup, I would probably rank him above Zidane and maybe Romário. Hard to beat Ronaldinho, he was simply too good. Ronaldo is a level above, phenomenal player. Pelé, Garrincha and Maradona were way too ahead of their time to be beaten by Messi.
If Romário actually trained instead of just partying, drinking and stuff, maybe he would have been better than Pelé.
| BraLoD said: Pelé won 3 world cups, that's gonna be very hard to beat. I don't think any player will ever be as regarded as Pelé is, but Maradona is within Messi reach. |
Pelé was amazing, but we must be fair and remember how amazing the Brazilian teams were in those cups. For 58 and 62 he had Garrincha, Nilton Santos, Didi, etc. The 62 cup was more of an achievement to Garrincha, of course. For 1970, Jairzinho, Gérson, Tostão, Rivelino. These teams were out of this world, it was unfair.
Talking about Brazilian national teams, these were probably only behind the 1986 team. You could argue that Romário had a more difficult job when winning the 1994 World Cup.
