7 Greatest Footballers Who Never Won The World Cup

in winning the 2022 World Cup Lionel Messi has cemented his status in many people's minds as the greatest footballer of all time it has long been debated whether someone can truly be considered an all-time great without winning what is widely considered to be the biggest trophy in their sport the answer to me is Claire of course they can If Messi had been born in Albania rather than Argentina or Palais in Bolivia instead of Brazil they would never have won the World Cup would that make them any less good at football obviously not yet greatness is intangible difficult to Define and even harder to measure and big moments at the World Cup by virtue of it being the biggest tournaments in football are integral to the legacies of so many great players with that in mind I wanted to take a quick look at some of the greatest players who never won the World Cup starting with who I consider to be the seven greatest list followed by a number of honorable mentions that many of you will be fuming with me for leaving out but that is all part of the fun I will try to explain my logic throughout though obviously these things are highly subjective but without any further Ado here are the seven greatest footballers in my eyes at least who never won the FIFA World Cup seventh zico we start with a man who I would consider certainly outside of Brazil Italy and Japan to be one of the most underrated footballers of all time nicknamed the white palette zico broke into the Brazil team five years after Pele retired from International Football and had he been able to replicate Palais success at the World Cup he would most likely have a similar status and Legacy within the game heading into the 1986 World Cup in Mexico there was a great deal of debate about who was the best player on the planet between zico Maradona and platini all three of them number tens and I have long felt that whilst I do think Maradona was the best of the three at his Peak which also was at that World Cup had either France or Brazil won that world cup instead of Argentina either zico or plazini would probably be spoken about in the same terms as Maradona over 30 years old unlike Pele zico wasn't 18 sensation struggling evens weren't a professional contract in his early years and then to break into flamingo's first team due to his luck of strength and slim physique it was only when flamengo's youth team coach who had already worked with zico was handed the first team job that zico got his big break and he was 23 years old when he won his first cap for Brazil from that point on though there was no looking back one of the finest dribblers of all time zico was for many years the best playmaker and the best goal scoring midfielder in all of world football he was integral Journey golden age for Flamingo scoring a quite incredible 65 goals in his most prolific season from Midfield before becoming the best player in Syria at udinese even in his 30s and later revolutionizing football in Japan so much so that there is still a statue of him outside of the home ground of his former Club zico had three cracks at the World Cup in 1978 1982 and 1986. as Brazil finished third in 1978 and fifth in both 1982 and 1986. if zico had won any of those World Cups he'd probably be remembered as one of the 10 greatest players of all time he didn't of course so he isn't but he makes my seven greatest that didn't which I'm sure will come as an enormous Comfort to him 6. love Yashin the title of this video is the seven greatest footballers who never won the World Cup and there is an argument to be had that goalkeepers aren't even footballers I mean they are of course officially speaking but they also sort of aren't are they it is hard enough comparing forwards and Defenders let alone someone whose role is so far removed from any Outfield player that they might as well be playing another sport nonetheless given that they do exist and they play in probably the most important position on the pitch they cannot be overlooked and love Yashin is still rightly in my view considered to be the greatest goalkeeper of all time born in Moscow Yashin was Dean amount moscow's number one for 20 years and the Soviet unions for 16. for more than a decade he was almost universally regarded as being the best goalkeeper on the planet and the finest that the game had ever witnessed not an absolute Giant of a man at six foot two yashin's presence and broad shoulders added an extra foot in the eyes of forwards bearing down on his goal renowned not just for his athleticism reflexes handling and all-round goalkeeping fundamentals but also for the way in which he influenced the game every keeper that followed Yashin for the next three decades saw to emulate aspects of his game in terms of charging out to meet on-rushing attackers communicating with his Defenders and becoming an active participant in the game not just when called into action by a shot on his goal Yashin was rather fittingly a footballing revolutionary from the USSR still the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or like zico Yashin competed in three World Cups in 1958 1962 and 1966. the USSR reached the quarterfinals in 58 and 62 and their semis in 66 where they lost 2-1-2 the West Germans as the greatest player of all time in its possession whilst it is so difficult to compare it with any other position I do still think that Yashin is good value for a spot in sixth fifth Michelle platini I mentioned Michelle plazini not that long ago in the context of zico and Maradona and despite being a truly truly wretched human being like a number of great athletes I suppose there can be no doubting his talents or greatness within the sport the greatest Frenchman ever to have played the game and one of the five finest Europeans it is only through a combination of World Cup success and recency bias that anyone would be led to conclude that Zinedine Zidane was a greater player than him zizu was more elegant not just than platini but that almost anyone who has ever played the game a better athlete and perhaps a little better in transition but platini was better at everything else including passing the ball and scoring goals and in terms of the latter it wasn't even close platini scored 312 goals in 580 games at Club level and 41 goals from 72 caps for France whilst playing in Midfield and that is most prolific he was averaging almost a goal a game platini won the Euros with France in 1984 where he scored nine goals in five games but they were knocked out by West Germany in the semi-finals of both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups platini made the team of the tournament at both of those World Cups but a year after Mexico in 86 he retired from football voluntarily aged only 31. it was a short but remarkable career in which platini won three successive ballon d'ors during his Glory Days at Juventus and he won everything that is worth winning within the sports other than the FIFA World Cup fourth ference puscash it is easy to fall into the Trap of running out of superlatives in these types of videos and it is really difficult to put into words the majesty and greatness of the most magical of hungary's magical Majors namely ference puskash the most concise way of summing up quite how spectacular he was is to note that in 1956 following the Hungarian revolution in which he and several other of hungry star players left the country he was banned for two years by UEFA for refusing to return to Hungary and to his Club Budapest Hanford then aged 29 a two-year banfree lot of footballers at the age of 29 particularly in the days before most of the sports science and nutritional breakthroughs that modern players benefit from came in would have been career ending not for ference puscash though a man's whom football was second nature after his two-year Band came to an end age 31 he signed for Real Madrid and over the next eight years so between the ages of 31 and 39 he scored 242 goals in 262 games for the best team in Europe it is remarkable to think what puscash could have achieved with those extra two years which likely would have been his best or even just if his legacy at Budapest honved where he had an even better goal scoring record was as appreciated as his time at Real Madrid sadly a combination of War Exile and injuries meant that puss gash only ever competed in one World Cup in 1954 which Hungary went into as the best national team on the planet and as enormous favorites puscash scored three goals in hungary's opening two games but in the second of those games he suffered a hairline fracture to his ankle thoughts are all him out for their remaining fixtures he was rushed back for the final despite the injury against West Germany in which he scored after just six minutes but clearly was not fully fit and Hungary went on to lose their game 3-2 third Johan Cruyff you can count on one hand the number of people who have ever been better at football than Johan Cruyff and there may be none who have ever found the sport so easy or so effortless remember today primarily as a pioneer of Total Football at iax Barcelona and with the Netherlands in his early years before he had such great influence crife was just an utter goal scoring and creating phenomenon who tormented offenses without needing to break a sweat at the age of 18 he scored 25 goals in 23 games for Ajax and The Following Season he struck 41 times in 41 games crave dropped deeper and deeper as his career went on still scoring a ludicrous number of goals but also running matches orchestrating those around him and becoming quite literally the total footballer it is a tragedy that Christ then only ever played at One World Cup in 1974 in which the Netherlands cruise to the final and krauth was the tournament's outstanding player in the final before West Germany had even touched the ball craith won a penalty in the opening minute it was dispatched but West Germany fought back to win their game 2-1 then etherlands reached the final again in 1978 where they lost to the hosts Argentina but Christ stayed at home fearing for his family's safety following a kidnapping attempts in Barcelona in terms of greatness there is little to split the top three in this seven and I wouldn't argue with anyone who considered crave to be the greatest of the lot second Cristiano Ronaldo the only active player in this seven I know that there is some talk on social media of Cristiano Ronaldo sticking it out until the 2026 World Cup but given the fact that he will be 41 years old by then it's most likely just about to go to Saudi Arabia and his regression already over the last 12 to 18 months you'll have to forgive me for not being convinced and his tears when Portugal were knocked out by Morocco in the quarterfinals in Qatar would suggest to me that neither is he the 2022 World Cup couldn't have gone much worse for Ronaldo who was dropped mid-tournament just as he has been at Club level this season and forced to watch on as amanui has so long viewed as his rival got his hands on his first World Cup but it's full from Grace over the last 12 to 18 months or not blinders so what Ronaldo has achieved within the game from tricky Winger to complete wide forward a are eventually a dead-eyed poacher Ronaldo is one of the deadliest goalscorers ever to have played the game his record at Real Madrid where he scored 450 goals and 438 games was his most impressive meanwhile 118 goals from 196 games for Portugal makes him the highest scoring player in the history of men's international football and the joints highest appearance holder the 2022 World Cup was Ronaldo's Fifth and almost certainly his last the closest he came to Glory was at his first in 2006 when Portugal beat England on penalties in the quarterfinals but lost one nil to France in the Sammy's I think Johann Cruyff ference puscash Michelle platini and zico were all more naturally gifted players than Ronaldo and it is Testament to his mentality longevity and work ethic that for all of his faults he has arguably still gone on to other greater career than all of them honorable mentions I could go on for days in terms of the Litany of honorable mentions for a seven such as this but that would be deeply tedious so I won't instead I will limit myself to only an extra seven so a second seven if you like Jose Manuel Moreno was considered the greatest Argentinian footballer of all time by almost all those who saw him including those who also saw Alfredo de Stefano Maradona and even messy if they lived for quite a long time but he never got the chance to compete in a world cup let alone win one since Argentina didn't participate in 1938 and World War II meant that there wasn't Another World Cup until 1950. Paolo Maldini is undoubtedly one of the greatest Defenders ever to have laced up a pair of boots and whilst he was still active and indeed still world class when Italy won the World Cup in 2006 he had retired from International Football following the disappointment of the 2002 World Cup having come closest in 1994 when Italy lost on penalties in the final against Brazil arguably Britain's two greatest footballers John Charles and George best only competed in one World Cup between them when Charles was part of a Wales team that gave Brazil their toughest test at the 1958 World Cup staying local Stills some might suggest the greatest player that England has ever produced Stanley Matthews was 35 years old at his first World Cup and 39 at his second and England won neither of them Europe's greatest pre-war footballer Matthias Schindler was Austria's star man at the 1934 World Cup but refused to represent Germany following the Angelus of the World Cup in 1938 and use Sabio Golden Boot winner in 66 but a losing semi-finalist number less completes my honorable seven and that brings us to top spot first Alfredo de Stefano I am of the opinion that Lionel Messi and pelay are the two greatest footballers of all time and after that there are four players I think who could lay claim to bronze the least frequently mentioned of those four largely by virtue of when he played is Alfredo de Stefano but no discussion around the greatest footballers of all time could be complete without him completeness incidentally is something that estefano has over all of his Rivals for that Crown as the most complete player ever to have played their game originally a Ford in the late days of river Plate's Great LA makina team this Stefano headed to Colombia's Bandit league as Argentinian footballers went on strike before Real Madrid managed to wrestle him out of the clutches of Barcelona in a transfer battle that wood comes in to find the next half century of both Spanish and European football over the years one whilst this Stefano continued to score goals as though he were still an out and Out Center forward he had actually begun to drop increasingly deep sometimes even into his own half picking the ball up off of his Santa half and initiating attacks Flawless in possession laser-like in the past and lethal in front of goal it's often said that his Stefano turned Real Madrid from being the second best team in Madrid to the finest in all of Europe and whilst of course he didn't do that alone no one was more important to that transformation than him Los Blancos Talisman as they won five consecutive European cups DeStefano himself won a couple of ballon d'ors and everything that there was to win within the club Game Time and Time Again International Football was rather less kind to him though despite the fact that he represented two different national teams or three if one counts the outlawed Colombia representative 11. DiStefano just scored six goals in six games for Argentina all coming in 1947 at the age of 21 but it would be a decade before he officially played International football again this time for Spain following four years at Real Madrid Spain failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup and after qualifying in 1962 by which stagedist Stefano was 35 but still a key man injury prevented him from playing at the tournament as Spain went out in the group stage Alfredo de Stefano then the greatest of greats that this sport has ever seen not only never won the World Cup he never even played a World Cup game that is it for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching hit the like button if you enjoyed it I sincerely hope that was the case of course let me know your thoughts Down Below in the comments and feel free to subscribe and turn on notifications for hitc sentence you can also find me on either Twitter or on Instagram by the username at hrtz7s on both should you wish to do so

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 124,073

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, World Cup, Greatest, Never, Won, Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA World Cup, Johan Cruyff, 2022 World Cup, Cristiano, Ronaldo, Cruyff, Best, All Time, Di Stefano, Puskas, Platini, Premier League, Footballers, Players

Id: qtmGWi_ecXw

Length: 19min 2sec (1142 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 24 2022