Ronaldo retires

[pa___ul3]

the REAL Ronaldo that is, not that greasy show pony, without doubt one of the greatest number 9's of my generation. Along with Van Basten, another phenomenal striker whose career was cut short in it's prime through injury.

[redman41]

Another good Player bites the dust so to speak.
A new generation of Players take their place

[pa___ul3]

he was biting the dust even when he went up for a header with those teeth!

[redman41]

Wish England could come up with the talent that Brazil and Argentina seem to produce on a regular basis, maybe then we would get to the World Cup Final and win it for the first time since '66 !!

[pa___ul3]

we've had some fantastic players, but the way England play has generally not been suited to creatively expressive individuals. Matt Le Tissier being an obvious example. It's a culture thing, 10 year old kids here play to win, we don't like big egos and it's all about supporting the team, you don't learn how to beat 5 men in a row.

[rowanwitch]

Just sad that for many the image will be from the end of his career, overweight, clumsy and slow

[Tim123]

Not many players from South America, or from anywhere else, have had the natural talent of Paul Gascoigne or Stan Collymore. It's tragic that they were such troubled individuals, because they could have won the World Cup for us.

[redman41]

Collymore and Gascoine, not in the same class as the natural talents of some of these South Americans Tim123.

[Tim123]

I beg to disagree

[rowanwitch]

don't think they'd have won the world cup even if they had their heads screwed on straight... last I heard football was a team game and unlike the latin countries back then we couldn't get a whole team with the basic skill level of the Brazilians or Argentinians etc.. its not the stars...its how good the supporting cast is that gets you through big tournaments........

[redman41]

This is the England Team that won the 1966 World Cup, all talented Players.
England had strength in depth as well if you look through the rest of the Squad.
They were worthy winners but we do not have this strength in depth in today's England Team unfortunately.

GK 1 Gordon Banks
RB 2 George Cohen
CB 5 Jack Charlton
CB 6 Bobby Moore (c)
LB 3 Ray Wilson
DM 4 Nobby Stiles
AM 7 Alan Ball
AM 9 Bobby Charlton
AM 16 Martin Peters
CF 10 Geoff Hurst
CF 21 Roger Hunt
Manager:
Alf Ramsey
No Substitutions were allowed.

Jimmy Greaves, John Connelly, Ron Springett, Peter Bonetti, Jimmy Armfield, Gerry Byrne, Ron Flowers, Norman Hunter, Terry Paine, Ian Callaghan, George Eastham

[pa___ul3]

I don't really know too much about the '66 team as individuals, but from what I've heard, and from what I've seen of Brazil in the last 20 years, and of Spain recently, is that there were very very good players to fill the key creative roles in the side, massively skillful players in their own right, but they each had their really solid core which gave the creative players freedom to express. England could have done this recently, we've had very skillful players, but McManaman was used as an orthodox left winger with defensive duties, Hoddle was under used, Le Tissier wasn't used, Joe Cole was stifled from an early age. Even Capello now goes on about how he wants Darren Bent to not only score goals but to tackle back. Has anyone ever seen Romario make a tackle? We're not good enough for the 'total football' of the dutch, we're kind of stuck in the middle... all 'jacks of all trades but masters of none'.

[nappertandy]

if both were in their prime "the greasy show pony "would be most experts choice,not the one who was injured for a lot of the time,how many matches has has Ronaldo(2)missed through injury,i cant recall him missing two games on the trot since he came and went from england.he is breaking all records so to judge him to the brazilian is a little premature,dont you think.

[pa___ul3]

I'm not comparing the two, I'm merely clarifying which Ronaldo has retired. You obviously knew which was which so my description worked. Ronaldo Luis Nazario Da Lima has scored more World Cup goals than anyone else, despite having his obvious problems in France in '98. Cristiano Ronaldo isn't breaking all records, he won't get a sniff at that one. And to speculate that 'experts' would say Cristiano Ronaldo is the better, and then saying I should reserve judgement.. well that's just a flawed argument underlined.