Argentina has the worst possible coach... Maradona, and the argentinian squad is currently an average one. If you have watched anything from them the last years, you would have seen how bad they play as a team because of Maradona poor skills as coach. Most of the time Messi and Tevez are left alone to do everything. That's why he's not performing in Argentina.
Maradona in 86 had an impressive squad around him with great players that had been 4 years preparing a team for the cup and were actually favorites to win, while in the 82 world cup (that I happened to watch live) Argentina AND Maradona were a complete flop.
Zidane was great but had around him the best generation ever of french players all together, same as Pele, a legend in a legendary team. It takes a lot of factors to win a world cup, even luck (as Italia or Greece in the euro).
Messi, as Maradona, wins matches on his own. I've yet to see Ronaldo showing that in important matches, he seems to score a lot against weak teams and fail against the big guns, not only in terms of goals, but quality of play, as last Champions final showed, he did a terrible match and ended up fighting alone, moaning and not helping his team at all. Instead, Messi can be tackled ten times, he just stans up and continue running.
About the stats thing, even though it's not the best way to choose who's better, you are only counting the positive stats you want, I mean, goals, that show a very limited perspective of the game.
You're totally ignoring assists, fouls for and against, turnovers, sending offs, long passes, passing %... and mostly when they score and how they score, not to mention playmaking. In fact, I've never seen Ronaldo playmaking at all, he's good at running with the ball and good dribbling and shooting and diving (and that's a fact), but that's all he does for the teamplay.
Messi can play (and he does most of the time) in the midfield just holding possession, distributing the ball, delivering the killer pass or just making the team play. I've never seen Ronaldo do any of that, so I can't understand how he can be most "complete" as a player. I think you're simply admiring his constitution because he's taller and has more muscles, because being a complete player is not only shooting stronger, running faster or jumping higher. Messi scores more headers than Ronaldo, by the way. Football is in the mind, and in the mind of Messi everything can happen and he sees everything. I have the feeling Ronaldo is like a horse that only runs forward.
Anyway, the best possible way to choose who's the best is time, and time will put everyone to its place.
PS: Pub talk is great now and then just so see different points of view, even if they're wrong, hehehehe.
. Ronaldo has also produced moments like that for us, and along with his natural ability is why I believe in some ways he's better than Messi. But again like I said its a matter of opinion.
) could do, and only once per season. Messi is doing them regularly. The thing sRonaldo do are great, but I've never seen him doing things other people couldn't do, he nevers makes me think "wow what an amazing thing he's done", other than some free kick now and then.
