To be a player from the past in World Soccer’s all-time best team is great, but to be the only player still playing to be ranked among the legends is even better. We are talking about Lionel Messi.

Old and timeless

The list of World Soccer’s all-time best XI, including their year of birth and playing time, is as follows:

Goalkeeper

Lev Yashin (1929-1990), career spanning from 1950- 1970

Defender

Cafu (1970), career 1989-2008

Bobby Moore (1941), career 1958-1978

Franz Beckenbauer (1945), career 1964-1983

Paolo Maldini (1968), career 1985-2009

Midfielder

Alfredo Di Stefano (1926), career 1945-1966

Johan Cruyff (1947), career 1964-1984

Zinedine Zidane (1972), career 1989-2006

Diego Maradona (1960), career 1976-1997

Striker

Pele (1940), career 1956-1977

Lionel Messi (1987), career 2004-present

This list has 6 people born from 1945 or earlier, 4 people born in the 60s-70s of the last century, and only Messi was born within 2 decades back.

This list also states that to be accepted, you must have worked for at least approximately 20 years. The person with the shortest career on this list, Zidane, also played football for 17 years.

There are many ‘trees of longevity’ in this squad: Cafu played until he was 38 years old, Maradona, despite being devastated by doping and his insatiable lifestyle, had to retire at 37 years old, Pele and Moore were also 37 years old, Beckenbauer was 38 years old. , especially Di Stefano 40, Yashin 41, and Maldini 41.

Conclusion: The all-time XI seems to not only celebrate talent, but also celebrate contributions that have persisted over many years, and the direction to the old value more than the present.

Contemporary stars are honored on the same level as legends

Personal impression

Not counting Messi, looking at World Soccer’s typical squad and we will notice that the playing time of the legends in the squad is concentrated in two periods: The 50s-70s of the last century. and the transition period to the new century.

The 50s and 70s of the last century were the period when individuality in football developed so strongly that a defensive player also had its own value: The libero role, with Franz Beckenbauer as the most elite representative, was A special position where even the lowest starting player in the lineup can make his personal mark. Meanwhile, a goalkeeper like Yashin also became particularly prominent. Cruyff even extended this concept of individuality to a supremely dominant role, in the Dutch total football team of the 1970s.

1970 was also the year in which we saw individuality. Ripe core in a team considered the greatest in world football history: Brazil won the world championship that year.

During the transition period and preparations for the transition to the new century, the individual’s mark was also widely eroded, and the libero position was eliminated because of the birth of regional defense. But during this period, the special development of the guardian role created outstanding figures in this position, such as Maradona or Zidane.

Myths were most clearly produced during the two periods that celebrated personal landmarks. Thanks to the prevailing tactical and style trends at the time.

A different Messi

Messi is an exception.

Messi is the only player still playing in this legendary team. He is recognized as being able to stand on par with his seniors after only 9 years of playing football, and has broken many records that have been in the museum for too long (Gerd’s record for the number of goals in a year has stood for 40 years). Mueller for example) of previous legends. And for the first time in history, we witnessed a player win 4 consecutive Golden Balls.

What is worth mentioning is that he became a living legend in a period that previous legends could hardly imagine: Football now tends to shorten the ‘career lifespan’ of players, and erase personal marks.

Michael Owen has been a veteran since he was 28 years old, Fernando Torres seriously declined before the age of 30, ‘fat’ Ronaldo only really ‘blooded’ football until he was 30 years old, and Ronaldinho returned to Flamengo when Only 31 years old, and at 33 years old, he already has “seniority” in his hometown. We still have ‘trees of immortality’, but they are players from previous eras like Zanetti (born in 1973) or Paul Scholes (1974), rather than asking the 8x generation to play football until the age of 40 is probably unreasonable. luxury.

Modern football also tends to glorify players who play for the team and connect individuals, like Xavi and Iniesta, rather than stars who can turn the tide of a match with their personal touch. In today’s world, players who can single-handedly decide a match are very rare. We can only mention Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, and ‘imitate’ Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Bale. Besides that, no one else matters.

To make a personal mark in an age that stifles such individuality is a wonderful thing, and to make a personal mark to be recognized as a living legend like Messi is truly extraordinary. Perhaps he is the only one who can preserve the concept of ‘genius’ in modern football, when the typical squads of all time are becoming more and more nostalgic.