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War of words Maradona not close to the best, Pele says
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Is Diego Maradona the best soccer player ever? Not even close, says Pele. Pele, 60, finally weighed in on the question that is consuming Brazilians and Argentines these days, as FIFA prepares to release on Monday the results of its survey to determine the outstanding player of the 20th century. Until recently, Brazilians never doubted it would be Pele, the all-time leading scorer with more than 1,200 goals and a member of three World Cup champion teams in 1958, 1962 and 1970. The French sports magazine L'Equipe already had named him athlete of the century, and his selection seemed without question. But a Spanish sports daily reported unofficially that the survey, conducted on the Internet in October and November, would name Maradona the winner. Brazilian media quoted the Argentine as saying he was pleased with the award and that he considered it fair, because he played most of his career for Napoli in the tough Italian league while Pele spent his best years in Brazil with Santos. In a TV interview in Argentina, Maradona said he took more punishment and played a faster, more physical and more competitive sport than Pele did. "He shone in Mexico [in the 1970 World Cup],' admitted Maradona, now 40 and retired. "But he received the ball, could turn around with no problems and then choose. They didn't give me a centimeter." Pele's former teammates and contemporaries sprang to his defense, but the "king" was silent until now. In an interview with Brazil's Globo TV network, Pele suggested that Maradona took a back seat to a handful of Brazilian and Argentine greats. "Socrates, Rivelino, Romario, Tostao..." he ticked off. "I think that if Maradona wants to speak with Pele, he has to speak to them first." "After speaking with them, Maradona should ask permission of [Alfredo] Di Stefano or [Jose Manuel] Moreno," added Pele, referring to two former Argentine greats. The FIFA survey gave voters a choice of 27 candidates, including seven Brazilians and two Argentines - Maradona and Di Stefano. Jose Roberto Wright, a former FIFA referee who saw both athletes play, sided with Pele. "Maradona was exceptional," he wrote in a column Friday in the Rio sporting daily Lance. "I saw his art up close. He was truly extraordinary. But he doesn't merit comparison with Pele, because [Pele] was a complete player."
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