In an attempt to clarify 'world' class the thread leaves more confusion!. Personally it could be as someone has said, a player who would be bought by the top teams in World football. Its a loose term really that'll always cause a row!
One definition of a world class player is that everyone agrees that he is. Currently playing world class players? Messi Ronaldo Who else? For me that makes it a very small elite group. Whereas many Spurs fans would think of Modric as world class, I suspect many other fans around the world would voice opinions like, Who? or What has he won? and so on.
I honestly wouldn't say the showpony was, given how ineffective he's been throughout his career against the best opposition. As for world class players (that I haven't mentioned already)... Casillas Buffon Neuer Nesta Xavi Sneijder Kaka Messi Villa
Ronaldo's not world class?! He scored 53 goals in 54 games last season, including 40 in 34 league games. In the past 5 seasons he's scored 177 times. He's already got 7 goals in 5 league games this season. I wouldn't mind, but you've included Kaka. That Ronaldo stat for the last 5 years is actually more goals than the Brazilian has ever scored, including internationals.
Schweinsteiger is a player who I rate as probably the best all round central midfielder in the world. He has the goalscoring, the passing, the defensive ability, and he retains all his silky technical skills from when he played as a winger. He has a record of 22 goals in 89 games for his country and he's still only 27. He'd walk into any team in the world, full stop.
Can't knock Kaka because his goal tally doesn't measure up, he does much more than this at his best. However Ronaldo is world class by any definition (horrible human being, but world class player)
can't get into this world class thing.none of them can dribble,hold the ball,etc like Pele and maradona.guess i've been spoiled by being able to watch them at thier best
Yet he has been habitually ineffective against the following teams: Barcelona, Milan, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and just about any international team that are recognised as being good at football. If a player is to be considered world class, they'd have to regularly perform against the top opposition in their league or at international level - which Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't. Against the teams ranked 14th, 15th and 16th - and three of those were penalties. STAT!
He scored against Barcelona this season and got two against them last season. Ronaldo would get into any team in the world. I don't like him, but he's clearly an outstanding talent and has been for years. His form has been far, far better than either Kaka or Villa for some time.
Handy he plays for Barca, then... Back to the show pony, if he was world class he'd have more than 29 goals for Portugal - and they'd be against stronger opposition than Luxembourg, Cyprus, North Korea and the various -stans.
I remember a couple of seasons back on old606 somebody (possibly NSIS) saying that, whilst Torres got all the hype, in Spain it's Villa who was considered the best striker they have and was seen as the legitimate world class striker. That might be because no football pundit in Spain at the time were former Valencia players overhyping any player with some legitimate quality in the team, of course...
29 goals for a winger is exceptional at international level Croydon, especially when you consider that he doesn't play for one of the usual top teams and he's still only 26. Messi is two years younger, plays for a better side and has scored 12 goals less. 10 of his 17 goals have come in friendlies, whereas only 5 of Ronaldo's have. Messi may have got goals against Brazil, Spain and France, but they weren't in competitive games. Those that were in qualifiers and competitions were against Serbia, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay.
The show pony often plays up front for Portugal instead of on the wing, whilst Messi was wasted because Maradona played him behind Tevez and Higuain to avoid having to leave one of the three on the bench (Argentine fans noted the only coach in world football to nullify Messi was Maradona) - and, as I stated, Ronaldo's goals have almost entirely come against the weakest opposition available, in games that are far less competitive than any friendly. And, let's be frank here, there's no such thing as a "friendly" between Brazil and Argentina, as they see the games as an opportunity to prove who the superior nation is at football, rather than a 90 minute kick about at half-pace that England see them as.
So Ronaldo's goals don't count, but Messi should be credited for more than he's actually scored? Ok, then... We're not going to agree on this, but you're clearly using one standard for one player and a totally different one for the other. I'm guessing that Kaka, who's also scored less than Ronaldo at international level, despite being three years older and playing for a better side, comes under the same scope as Messi, too. His goals have come against such greats as the UAE, Tanzania, Egypt, Peru and Ecuador, too.
When a player is played out of position, like Messi was throughout Maradona's time in charge, they tend to be less effective - although Messi would've scored against Mexico at the World Cup if Tevez left the ball alone (not least because he was offside, as everyone but the linesman could see) Also, Kaka's also scored against Argentina, Uruguay, USA and Croatia in competitive games - and Egypt are a better footballing side than Estonia, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Iceland, Armenia or Cyprus (which makes up half of Ronaldo's competitive international goals)
There is no universally accepted definition of "World Class". For me, I tend to think of the 10 best players in the world for their particular position works well enough, so that makes about 110 World Class players at the moment. I think Spurs have three of them in Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart and Gareth Bale.
