Are footballers actually getting better?
With the kick off to the World Cup just a few days away and many a nation’s hopes resting on their finest talent doing the goods in South Africa, I couldn’t help but ask myself a (rather long) question as I watched a comparison between Pelé and current FIFA World player of the year, Lionel Messi, on a news channel this morning.
With the standard of ball and boot technology increasing all the time, is it becoming easier for players who’s talent is a cut above the rest to appear even better than those that had similar levels of talent in bygone era’s of football such as the 1960’s and 1970’s?
Another question to elaborate on the previous one is, if that be the case then do the highly researched products used in today’s game allow players with less natural talent than the superstars of bygone eras to perform at the same or a higher level?
I think the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. Long gone are the days of boots heavy enough to wedge a barn door open or footballs that if fired from a cannon could sink a Royal Navy battleship. These are replaced by today’s examples of pressure tested, impact zone perfection that weigh less than the core of an apple and have millions spent on them every year in research. Comparing the video footage of Pelé and Messi this morning further supports my claim. For Pelé, often cited as the greatest player to ever grace a football pitch, to get power and lift on the ball it looks to me like he needed to smash it with just about every ounce of his body weight, this is in stark contrast to Lionel Messi who hits it with barely half the power he could and the thing almost breaks the net from 25 yards!
Call me old fashioned but i think with the same equipment, on the same pitch, Cruyff, Best and Pelé would more than give Rooney, Ronaldo and Messi a run for their money.
