It is good to see all the comments here, and I recognize that any discussion about who is the GOAT at anything is inherently fraught and up for debate. Who is better? Babe Ruth or Willie Mays? Wilt Chamberlain or Michael Jordan? Vincent van Gogh or Leonardo da Vinci? To all those here celebrating the genius of Pelé, I hear you. I also recognize that over the years, as in other sports and other walks of life, many have been denied opportunity to show their skills due to their race, gender, and other forms of discrimination. I am new to soccer, and our hope here was to celebrate the beauty of the game through one man's uncanny ability and artistry.
Actually, statistically the GOAT (among both women AND men) in soccer is: Christine Sinclair of Canada. Currently playing with the Portland (Oregon) Thorns, Sinclair has made the most goals in International football with 189 goals (compared to Lionel Messi's 98 and Cristiano Ronaldo's 117). Retired USWNT player Abby Wambach is the second top International scorer with 184 goals and retired USWNT player Mia Hamm holds third place with 158. And... Note that the women play on the same size field with the exact same goals and the same sized ball as the men.
Speaking of women, the FIFA Women's World Cup takes place July-August, 2023 in New Zealand and Australia. The USWNT are the most successful team in International women's soccer, having won 4 Women's FIFA World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015 & 2019), 4 Olympic GOLD medals (1996, 2004, 2008 & 2012), 3 additional Olympic medals and 9 CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America & Caribbean Association Football) Gold Cups.
So, although Pelé, Ronaldo & Messi are among the GOATs in (men's) soccer, Christine Sinclair is "THE" GOAT!
SPORTSWASHING Oppressive countries host entertainment events to distract the world's attention away from the countries' denial of civil rights. Qatar's rich citizens comprise 13% of the population, who are served by poor migrant workers: "Qatar's World Cup is an unparalleled disgrace," Alex Shultz, SFGate, 11-19-22.
I have become a football fan watching the Premier League. My son played select soccer growing up and he is the one who introduced me to this beautiful game. Thank you for sharing this wonderful highlight reel. I am rooting for Messi to win the World Cup with Argentina. I admire his spirit and skill.
I wish that FIFA was living up to the beauty on the field. We are boycotting watching any of the games, knowing that we are probably only depriving ourselves. It is because of the corruption and cruelty of FIFA and the host nation Qatar.
Thank you for the link to that amazing video. I passed it on to my granddaughters, all young soccer players. What an inspiration! What incredible skill!
Wow. Dan Rather. Not dead yet? Fake news master. Propagandist in chief. Master mason, Luciferian and all. Please get more boosters so we can watch you die suddenly.
Such a great story! My nephew loved soccer (alias fotball) and played all the way through college. He still ref's for his sons' teams, and plays in a "senior" team.
Just saw my horses' vet last Monday. He is from Argentina. He is my only tie to soccer! So I am especially glad to see Argentina in the finals. Will hold my breath for them just like I would for the U.S.!
FIFA has become a strictly profiteering organization which celebrates and glorifies brute power [
privilege and wealth by showcasing the injustice and and contempt for human decency its created with: the shear blatant in your face tyranny of the Qatar power elite is the whole show in this year's World Cup like the Berlin Olympics, Sochi Olympics, Moscow World Cup.
I don't fault the players, but I do fault the media and the fandom which with few exceptions pay no never mind to the suffering and death that went into creating from scratch the entire infrastructure of the Qatar World Cup in a country with virtually no history or tradition of football. Glorifying race based slavery and brutal atrocity.
There is no conceivable moral justification to awarding this tyrannical Qatar World Cup crime against humanity with the veneer of sport. The Beautiful Game is has been transformed into the icon of ugly: i.e. the lecture of the FIFA president on putting aside your conscience during the World Cup is an abdication of humanity.
For those that might be confused about the "soccer" vs "football" debate, here is a quote from the Merriam Webster site discussing the derivations of the terms:
"The World Cup is currently taking place in Qatar, which means that the minds and hearts of sporting fans the world over are captured by the sport of soccer.
"The sport that we define as 'a game played on a field between two teams of 11 players each with the object to propel a round ball into the opponent's goal' is referred to as 'soccer' in the United States, and as 'football' in most of the rest of the world. This seeming Americanism was not coined in this country, however; 'soccer' came into use as British slang.
"The sport was originally called 'association football'—and still is when referring to the official game. The slang version of this came about in the 19th century from the students at Oxford University adding '-er' to the shortened form of a word (a popular method of coining slang words at the time). Students shortened 'association' to 'soc' and added the suffix. (Using the first three letters of 'association' apparently didn't appeal to the students.) Earlier versions of 'soccer' are the similarly slangy 'socca' and 'socker', as well as 'footer', cut from '(association) football'."
It is good to see all the comments here, and I recognize that any discussion about who is the GOAT at anything is inherently fraught and up for debate. Who is better? Babe Ruth or Willie Mays? Wilt Chamberlain or Michael Jordan? Vincent van Gogh or Leonardo da Vinci? To all those here celebrating the genius of Pelé, I hear you. I also recognize that over the years, as in other sports and other walks of life, many have been denied opportunity to show their skills due to their race, gender, and other forms of discrimination. I am new to soccer, and our hope here was to celebrate the beauty of the game through one man's uncanny ability and artistry.
Hi Dan and Elliot,
Actually, statistically the GOAT (among both women AND men) in soccer is: Christine Sinclair of Canada. Currently playing with the Portland (Oregon) Thorns, Sinclair has made the most goals in International football with 189 goals (compared to Lionel Messi's 98 and Cristiano Ronaldo's 117). Retired USWNT player Abby Wambach is the second top International scorer with 184 goals and retired USWNT player Mia Hamm holds third place with 158. And... Note that the women play on the same size field with the exact same goals and the same sized ball as the men.
Speaking of women, the FIFA Women's World Cup takes place July-August, 2023 in New Zealand and Australia. The USWNT are the most successful team in International women's soccer, having won 4 Women's FIFA World Cup titles (1991, 1999, 2015 & 2019), 4 Olympic GOLD medals (1996, 2004, 2008 & 2012), 3 additional Olympic medals and 9 CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America & Caribbean Association Football) Gold Cups.
So, although Pelé, Ronaldo & Messi are among the GOATs in (men's) soccer, Christine Sinclair is "THE" GOAT!
SPORTSWASHING Oppressive countries host entertainment events to distract the world's attention away from the countries' denial of civil rights. Qatar's rich citizens comprise 13% of the population, who are served by poor migrant workers: "Qatar's World Cup is an unparalleled disgrace," Alex Shultz, SFGate, 11-19-22.
I have become a football fan watching the Premier League. My son played select soccer growing up and he is the one who introduced me to this beautiful game. Thank you for sharing this wonderful highlight reel. I am rooting for Messi to win the World Cup with Argentina. I admire his spirit and skill.
I wish that FIFA was living up to the beauty on the field. We are boycotting watching any of the games, knowing that we are probably only depriving ourselves. It is because of the corruption and cruelty of FIFA and the host nation Qatar.
Kudos for writing a non divisive, non political article!
Truly the G O A T of soccer!!!
Thank you for the link to that amazing video. I passed it on to my granddaughters, all young soccer players. What an inspiration! What incredible skill!
Thank you Dan and Elliot for your reason to smile today.
I loved this!
Thankyou Dan and Elliot for your reason to smile today
What an amazing player Massi is!
Wow. Dan Rather. Not dead yet? Fake news master. Propagandist in chief. Master mason, Luciferian and all. Please get more boosters so we can watch you die suddenly.
Such a great story! My nephew loved soccer (alias fotball) and played all the way through college. He still ref's for his sons' teams, and plays in a "senior" team.
Just saw my horses' vet last Monday. He is from Argentina. He is my only tie to soccer! So I am especially glad to see Argentina in the finals. Will hold my breath for them just like I would for the U.S.!
FIFA has become a strictly profiteering organization which celebrates and glorifies brute power [
privilege and wealth by showcasing the injustice and and contempt for human decency its created with: the shear blatant in your face tyranny of the Qatar power elite is the whole show in this year's World Cup like the Berlin Olympics, Sochi Olympics, Moscow World Cup.
I don't fault the players, but I do fault the media and the fandom which with few exceptions pay no never mind to the suffering and death that went into creating from scratch the entire infrastructure of the Qatar World Cup in a country with virtually no history or tradition of football. Glorifying race based slavery and brutal atrocity.
There is no conceivable moral justification to awarding this tyrannical Qatar World Cup crime against humanity with the veneer of sport. The Beautiful Game is has been transformed into the icon of ugly: i.e. the lecture of the FIFA president on putting aside your conscience during the World Cup is an abdication of humanity.
For those that might be confused about the "soccer" vs "football" debate, here is a quote from the Merriam Webster site discussing the derivations of the terms:
"The World Cup is currently taking place in Qatar, which means that the minds and hearts of sporting fans the world over are captured by the sport of soccer.
"The sport that we define as 'a game played on a field between two teams of 11 players each with the object to propel a round ball into the opponent's goal' is referred to as 'soccer' in the United States, and as 'football' in most of the rest of the world. This seeming Americanism was not coined in this country, however; 'soccer' came into use as British slang.
"The sport was originally called 'association football'—and still is when referring to the official game. The slang version of this came about in the 19th century from the students at Oxford University adding '-er' to the shortened form of a word (a popular method of coining slang words at the time). Students shortened 'association' to 'soc' and added the suffix. (Using the first three letters of 'association' apparently didn't appeal to the students.) Earlier versions of 'soccer' are the similarly slangy 'socca' and 'socker', as well as 'footer', cut from '(association) football'."
An AMAZING natural talent. So good of you to show this to some of us not sports minded here.
(I think it looks more interesting than Football at least.)
bREATHLESS~