Now it's the moment to cast your votes to defend your favourite players in the playoffs of the long, long, long competition...

The 24 of the greates players from the past and present, voted by you, and some of them selected by our OleOle team of football gurus were batched in groups of three for this quarterfinals. 

Each group contains players from different countries and only one in each group will qualify for the semifinals.

Here is the chart:(Click on it to ENLARGE)

You can vote once on each one of the quarterfinals by clicking on the player picture bellow to access the poll. 

So here it is. The task is tough. Invite your friends to vote too!!!  

GROUP 1:

  VS    VS  

George Best (N. Ireland)                                           Lothar Mathäus (Germany)                    Zinedine Zidane (France)

GROUP 2:

  VS    VS  

Paolo Maldini (Italy)                            Ronaldo (Brazil)                                      Lionel Messi (Argentina)

GROUP 3:

  VS   VS  

Maradona (Argentina)                        Ryan Giggs (Wales)                                        Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

GROUP 4:

  VS   VS  

Johan Cruijff (Holland)                      Del Piero (Italy)                                   Garrincha (Brazil)

GROUP 5:

  VS   VS  

Beckenbauer (Germany)                     Franco Baresi (Italy)                               Eric Cantona (France)

GROUP 6:

  VS    VS  

Pelé (Brasil)                                                   Raul (Spain)                                      Marco VanBasten (Holland)

GROUP 7:

  VS   VS  

Eusébio (Portugal)                            Oliver Kahn (Germany)                                      Bergkamp (Holland)

GROUP 8:

  VS VS  

Michel Platini (France)                          Di Stefano (Argentina)                               Johnny Hayes (England)

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE TOO!!!

 

 

 

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A RETRO FOOTBALL REPLICA SHIRT

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

The big competition to elect the best footballer of all times is getting close to is final phase. Two more posts before we go to the final rounds.

The qualified players so far are: 

Brazil: Pelé, Garrincha

Argentina: DiStefano, Maradona

France: Platini, Zidane

Germany: Beckenbauer, Kahn

Holland: Cruijff, Van Basten

Italy: Maldini, Del Piero

England: George Best

The first category of these two final posts of the "group stage" includes footballers from Spain, Portugal and Latin America (except Brazil and Argentina obviously).

REMEMBER THAT YOU'RE VOTING FOR THE BEST OF ALL TIMES. NOT THE BEST OF THE MOMENT.

 

So here is the list of nominees:

(you can access the poll by clicking on the player's name or picture)

 

Carlos Valderrama (Colombia)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico)

David Villa (Spain)

Emilio Butragueño (Spain)

Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay)

Eusebio (Portugal)

Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)

Raul (Spain)

Rui Costa (Portugal)

 

 

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A RETRO FOOTBALL REPLICA SHIRT

 

 

 

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

Finally. This is the moment I've been personally been waiting for. The election of the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER OF ALL TIMES. And your vote will decide it.

In a quick recap, last time I posted I gave you 8 names to choose the Best Dutch Footballer.  Marco Van Vasten took an early lead but Arsenal fans soon started sending some votes for Denis Bergkamp but in the end, when more Dutch fans started voting, Johann Cruijff came from third place to sweep the title leaving Van Basten in second place. So here are all the results so far:

ARGENTINA: Alfredo DiStefano + Diego Maradona

FRANCE: Michel Platini + Zinedine Zidane

UNITED KINGDOM: George Best

GERMANY: Franz Beckenbauer + Oliver Kahn

ITALY: Paolo Maldini + Alessandro Del Piero

HOLLAND: Johan Cruijff + Marco Van Basten

Now for the BEST BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER I expect more than 100 votes. To help you guys decide I added some information and in some cases a video showing a little bit of that player.

Ademir da Guia - O Divino [The Divine] . The son of great Brazilian defender Domingos da Guia, Ademir is the biggest idol of SE Palmeiras history. A player of extreme class. He was part of the starting line-up for 16 straight years. Didn't get capped for the National team as much as he deserved.

Carlos Alberto Torres - O Capitão do Tri [The Captain]. If nowadays we have right and left backs that move up to the attack - the so-called wings - Carlos Alberto was the pioneer. And he did the task with extreme efficiency when playing for Botafogo FR and the amazing 1970 Brazilian National Team.

Didi - O Príncipe Etíope [The Ethiopian Prince]. Two-time World Champion with the Brazilian National Team in 58 and 62 and the creator of the Folha Seca [the Dry Leaf kick] , a free kick in which he would hit the ball with the outside of the foot and in a way that the ball would take an effect and suddenly drop as if it was a dry leaf falling from a tree. Talented midfielder that played with Di Stefano and Puskas at Real Madrid but achieved glory wearing the Botafogo strip.

Falcão - O Rei de Roma [The King of Rome] . Falcão never looked like a defensive midfielder. Tall, too skiny, extremely talented, calm and didn not make many fouls. Every time I watched Falcão playing he reminded me of Franz Beckenbauer. He was definetily the Brazilian version of the Kaiser.

                                              Garrincha - The Bow-Legged Angel [Anjo das Pernas Tortas in Portuguese] does not need any introductions. Ronaldinho, Robinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and all the other tricksters of football owe Garrincha for creating entertaining football. To close my case I'll just say that to some Garrincha was even better than Pelé.

Leonidas - O Diamante Negro [The Black Diamond]. He invented (or improved) the bicycle kick. He was a star playing for Botafogo, Flamengo, São Paulo and for the National Team. He was the top scorer of the 1938 FIFA World Cup with 7 gols.

Pelé - O Rei do Futebol [The King] . Unquestionably one of the greatest athletes of the history of any sport. Pelé participated in four world Cups, I mean, three and a half, because in 66 he was hunted on the pitch by the Portuguese defenders and ended up out of the competition with an injury. But Pelé is unique and I'm still to see another one like him being born. Just like Garrincha, Pelé's talent is still a huge influence in the football stars we see all over the world.

Reinaldo - O Rei do Galo [The King of Galo]. He could have been the best striker of Brazilian football of all times if it weren't for the violence of the unpunished defenders in the 1980's. Reinaldo scored 28 goals in 18 matches in the 1977 Brazilian Championship, a record that lasted in numbers until 1997 but his goal average of 1.55 is still unbeaten.

 
Romario - O Baixinho [Shorty]. Romário played until the age of 41 in pursuit of his goal number 1,000. To reach that number he played for small clubs such as Miami FC (in the second tier of football in the USA) and Adelaide United (from the Australian League). But what is in the history of football is that Romario scored 71 goals for the National Team and led the team to the fourth World Cup title in 1994. He also shone and humiliated defenders in Europe playing in Holland for PSV and in Spain for Barcelona.

Ronaldinho - In 1997 Ronaldinho as still called Ronaldinho Gaucho when he scored an incredible goal for the Brazilian National Team against Venezuela. Not to mention that he also humilliated the now Brazilian coach Dunga during a Gre-Nal derby (Gremio v. Internacional is the biggest club rivalry in ronaldinho home state Rio Grande do Sul). just by seeing that weird looking buck-toothed kid playing one could alreay tell that he would become one of the best footballers of the planet.

Ronaldo - O Fenômeno [The Phenomenon]. He's the player I had the chance to watch from the begining of his carreer when he arrived to play for Cruzeiro of Belo Horizonte and since then he scored (many) incredible goals for all teams he played for: PSV, Barcelona, Inter milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan and National Team. Ronaldo had and has many problems on his knees but when healthy and in shape I don't believe there is a striker at the same level as Ronaldo.

Zico -  Fantastic. A showman. Zico is the greatest idol of the history of Flamengo. Directly reponsible for making the team from Rio de Janeiro one of the most famous in the world. In 1981 Zico proved the superiority of Brazilian football when he led Flamengo to beat Liverpool in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo. He is also the player that most influenced my short carreer in football. A refined touch, perfect free kicks and extreme intelligence. Zico is with no doubts one of the best players in the world to wear a number 10 shirt.

--------------

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A RETRO FOOTBALL REPLICA SHIRT

 

 

 

CONTEST RULES:

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 weeks to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

Hello my friends, Last year, in October, I started a quite interesting series of blogs to choose the Best Football Player in your opinion. But after two weeks of success I was warned by a former employee of OleOle not to do it anymore because of the external links... Well, a lot has changed in the company. Including the fact that I now work for OleOle.

The first two polls were to select THE BEST ARGENTINE PLAYER EVER and THE BEST FRENCH PLAYER EVER. The results can be seen bellow:

So here are the rules for these POLLS: (extracted from the October 3, 2007 post)

"I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories. Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a group category. You will have 2 week to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round. In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times. And if you also decide to leave a comment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a raffle for a chance to win a Retro Football Strip Replica... It will be a prize from me for your participation."

TODAY THE CATEGORY IS THE GREAT BRITAIN:

I normally add only 5 footballers per category but for the British it became an impossible task so the list brings 10 options and you can also add your own by voting on OTHER.

So...

WHO IS THE BEST BRITISH FOOTBALLER EVER? (vote on the poll on the right bar at the HOME OF THE BLOG or by CLICKING AT THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE)

Alan Shearer

Bobby Charlton

Bobby Moore

David Beckham

Gary Lineker

Geoff Hurst

George Best

Gordon Banks

Paul Gascoine

Stanley Matthews

NOW IT'S UP TO YOU!!!

VOTE & COMMENT

WHO'S THE BEST BRITISH FOOTBALLER EVER?
( polls)

Last night LDU - Liga Deportiva Universitaria - from Quito, Ecuador, defeated the Brazilian side of Fluminense in the penalty shootout to win the 2008 Copa Libertadores title and secure the South American spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.

An impressive achievement for sure but now the question is simple: Can this humble team cause one of the greatest upsets in the history of football and beat the super-powered Manchester United?

I honestly doubt it.

In the last 10 years the title of "Best Club of The Planet" only ended in the hands of a South American team 4 times and it was only with Boca Juniors, twice, and two other Brazilian clubs, São Paulo and Internacional.

LDU has some really talented players (Guerron, Bolaños, Vera, Manso and Bieler) but without the financial resources of the big teams from Europe or even from Brazil or Argentina it will be very hard to keep these players on the squad until December.

Guerron, the most talented on the list, is the first one to leave. He has already signed with Spanish side of Getafe. That transfer by itself is a huge loss for Liga.

La Liga de Quito and Pachuca are, in my opinion, at the same level and both teams might face each other in a possible semifinal to decide who will be the one to play a possible final against Manchester United.

This is football. Everything is possible even when it's 99% improbable.

Here is how the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup table looks like so far:

MATCH 1	MATCH 2	SEMIFINAL 1	FINAL
Asian Champions (TBD Nov. 12th) X Waitakere-NZL (Oceania Champions)	MATCH 1 Winners X Host Team (2008 J-League Champions)	MATCH 2 Winners X Manchester United-ENG	SEMIFINAL 1 Winner X SEMIFINAL 2 Winner
	MATCH 3	SEMIFINAL 2
	African Champions (TBD Nov. 16th) X Pachuca-MEX (CONCACAF Champions)	MATCH 3 Winners X Liga Dep. Universitaria-ECU

VS

El partido de Mexico contra Argentina en este Miercoles en San Diego, California tiene una importancia diferente para los dos equipos.

Para El Tri es una oportunidad que los jugadores tendran para mostrar su capacidad para el nuevo entrenador Sven-Goran Eriksson que estará en la tribuna mirando su nuevo equipo.

Ericksson talvez tendrá que empezar su trabaljo más temprano que imaginava una vez que el actual entrenador Jesus Ramirez ha dicho que no seguirá con Mexico después de eso partido.

Algunas personas han me preguntadolo que yo pienso de la llegada de Ericksson y sobre el futuro de la Seleccion y despues de escuchar muchas otras opiniones ahora ya tengo una:

Creo que uno de los problemas más grandes de la Selección Mexicna es la falta de paciencia y union de la prensa, los directivos, los jugadores y, por ultimo, de los aficcionados.

Sven-Goran Eriksson aun no empezó a trabajar y ya hey personas questionando su trabajo. Dicen que él no conozce el jugador mexicano y que no conozce el fútbol mexicano... Pero Hugo Sanchez es Mexicano cierto??? Entonces eso no es el problema. Si Eriksson eres un buen maestro, que sepa trabajar la mentalidad del atleta mexicano así como mejorar la tactica del equipo creo que tendrá succeso.

El unico problema es que ahora es que las calificatórias estan muy cercita y solo espero que la prensa y los directivos compreendan que no pueden esperar que Eriksson haga miraculos con un equipo que tiene calidad, talento, pero sufre con falta de maturidad y organizaccion tactica.

********

Para Argentina el partido de miercoles es como un entrenamiento de lujo. (y así tambien será el partido de domingo contra los EEUU)

Los porteños solo pensan en el partido del dia 18 contra Brasil. El quipo, la prensa, los inchas y el entrenador Coco Basile quieren tener su revancha después del 3-0 en la final de la Copa America en 2007.

Para el partido contra Mexico los Argentinos vienen con fuerza casí total. Tevez y Cambiasso no estaran presentes.

No hay mucho lo que questionar acerca del talento y de la calidad de los jugadores Argentinos, el equipo es el primero del ranking mundial pero falta algo que tranquilidad en los momentos decisivos. Así lo fué en la Copa America y así se pasó con Argentina en los ultimos años.

*********

POSSIBLES ALINEACIONES:

a continuaccion....

So once again Mr. Sepp Blatter wants to control the number of foreign players in the european teams.

Great idea but very much improbable that will be approved by the UEFA members. And that's about it.

But I decided to write (and read your opinions) about it.

Mr. Blatter's idea is not just bullocks. It does have a good intention behind it. He claims (and he's right) that the way the big clubs are right now make it impossible for a smaller team to fight for a league title. And that is very bad for football, very bad for the national teams but very good for global business for those big clubs.

When we see a team like Arsenal for example. 25 foreign players and only 12 Brittish on the 2007-2008 squad.  With Internazionale  Milan from Italy it's even worse. Out of the 29 players on the regular first team only 4 are Italian. It's not rare to see Inter playing with a starting XI that features only Marco Materazzi as an italian born player (well and then he gets a red card and Inter ends up with 10 foreign footballers on the pitch).

It is a pleasure for the fans to see their team win titles and sweep their rivals off the map for one season but when it happens like in France where Olympique Lyon (10 foreigners) is about to win the French League for the 7th time in a row, I start to understand (and partially agree) with the FIFA President.

The main difference between me and SOME other people that write here at OleOle is that I'm absolutely NEUTRAL.

I love good football and I know some of you will say "if you love good football you should love the foreign presence because they give quality to the Brittish teams". 

They do. The English sides of Manchester United and Chelsea fought for the league this season and going to play for the continental title thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Vidic, Anderson, Ballack, Drogba, Cech, Essien, etc... 

Of course there is also Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney BUT neither of the two teams could rely on an all-Brittish squad to get this far in the tournaments. WE KNOW THAT!

And as the powerful clubs become richer, more international and consequently more powerful we see the National Teams becoming weaker and weaker. England out of the Euro ... hmmm... that might say something... 

So, (try to) leave your passion aside just for little bit and think how much more exciting would be if we had other teams besides Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and ManU in England, Real Madrid and Barcelona (and sometimes Valencia) in Spain, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan in Italy, Olympique Lyon in France. 

What's your opinion on this? 

All right, so Kaká is the best player of the world right? Messi got second place. There's not a lot to contest specially after we saw how Kaká played in the FIFA Club World Cup final against Boca Juniors. He is definetly the best footballer of the year.

Then we have Marta. A 21-year old tiny and shy girl who simply demolishes defenses. She couldn't care less how tall, strong or rough a defender can be. All she wants is to take that ball all the way and score goals. Best female footballer of the year.

Brazil won the Copa America one more time against all odds. Playing with a young brave team without Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo or Adriano and with a coach who had no previous experience in the job. Argentina had all its stars a brilliant team, an extremely inspired Riquelme, a magical Messi but they could not defeat Brazil and were beaten 3 x 0.

Now I get to the point: How is it possible that Argentina is on top of FIFA's Ranking?

Oh well, that's why I always hated algebra!

But I promise I'll settle down if someone gives me a reasonable explanation.

I have been watching a few games of the English Premier Football League and one conclusion came to my mind: the British style of football is outdated.

 

 I know a lot of my fellow English friends are gonna be very upset with me but this is my very honest opinion and I’ll explain how I got to this sad conclusion.

 

When you analyze the dynamics of modern football you will end up talking about teams like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, São Paulo just to name a few. These teams represent a huge evolution in strategies, efficiency, and ability. An almost perfect balance of defense and offense without taking away the finesse that the sport requires. But when it comes to National Teams we don’t see that same balance.

 

Some National Teams were able to evolve and some others just got stuck in their own tradition. That’s the case of England.

 

I don’t like to analyze football using numbers but they will play an important role in this case so let’s check them out:

 

Even though being the inventors of football, England only started playing in the World Cup in 1950. Since then the event happened 15 times and England qualified for 12 of them. (England did not qualify for the 1974, 1978 and 1994 WCs)

 

In those 12 participations England only won 1, in 1966 when they were the hosts. The next best result was a 4^th place in 1990.

 

England never won the European Championship. The best results were a 3^rd place in 1968 and they also got to the semi-finals in 1996. That’s it.

 

I know that England gave the world of football some amazing players: Gordon Banks, Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker,  David Beckham, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney… but the question is: how many of them could actually lead the English team to a title? Well, Gordon Banks and Bobby Charlton did in 1966…

 

I’m not a fan of the British style of football. I grew up admiring Gary Lineker but I haven’t seen any transformation in the English team since then. I saw “the promise” Michael Owen become not more than a promise, I saw David Beckham rise in the eyes of the media but didn’t see him being really effective for the country, and I’m still waiting to see something amazing from Wayne Rooney.

 

England is out of the Euro 2008 so we will have to wait for the 2010 World Cup to see some changes. Well, that’s if they qualify (?)

 

What do you think should change in the English team to make them a winner team?

 

Is the massive presence of foreigner player in the Premier League a problem?

 

Is the fact that all players in the National Team only play in England a problem?

 

Do you think if England “exported” its players to countries like Spain, Portugal, Russia, Italy… the game style would be improved?

 

Let us know what you think…

 

 Hoping for some future Glory...

Hey friends,

I'm here in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for a ACL surgery (the price of an eternal soccer addiction) and also to have the chance to re-energize myself with the mystery of the great players of the world.

The Brazilian National Championship is almost decided with São Paulo with more than 95% of chances to take the tittle for the second year in a row.

Sometimes it's hard to understand how a country with a horrible difference between rich and poor, a very unfair economy can still create the best players in the world.

The structure of Brazilian Football is bad. A lot of corruption and personal interest leads teams like Flamengo, Corinthians, Atletico-MG, etc... to bankrupcy and abscure deals. But in the end the talent prevails.

And it seems that in 2014 the most sucessful country who ever played this game will have once again the chance to host a World Cup. If I dream of going to South Africa in 2010 I can't even consider missing a WC in Brazil. I can already imagine games at Maracanã, at Mineirão, at Morumbi...

This country breaths football, this country has 200 million coaches and a handful of Ronaldinhos and Robinhos are born EVERYDAY.

But the question is: Should a country with so many problems of violence, economy, politics, education, public health... spend so much money to host a World Cup? What are the pros and the cons if Brazil is really picked to host the 2014 World Cup?