England manager Gareth Southgate saw his squad get their winter World Cup campaign
up and running on Monday as we faced off against Iran in the Group B opener out in
Qatar and took a pretty comprehensive
6-2 victory on the day.
It was by no means a fantastic showing as there are obvious concerns about conceding
the two goals given the incredibly poor form levels across our Nations League clashes
that became the warm up for the tournament, but one huge positive is obviously in
seeing five different goalscorers get on the scoresheet as that will certainly help
confidence levels as we continues preparations for the next Group B clash against the
United States on Friday evening (UK time).
Although England have, in particular, plenty of attacking talent at their disposal in the 26
man squad, even the biggest fan of the Three Lions would be hard pushed to expect
someone like
Betway Insider to feature one of our top talents in a greatest of all time
(G.O.A.T) World Cup list when you look at the calibre of players that can be boasted by
the wider world of football, and of course, European talents.
Maybe a couple of the
current squad could go on to develop into the kind of player (with
the kind of success) that others have had over the years, but even the closest players
who could argue for a shot at such a title from our own Premier League domestic game
would have major difficulty in challenging Betway's top five as they made their shortlist
prior to the 2022 World Cup kicking off.
Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish, even Phil Foden in a few more years
would struggle to make an impact on a list that featured serial football successes and
arguably legends in their own right, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi,
Pele and Zinedine Zidane.
Southgate could only dream of selecting players of that calibre for his campaign and in
his
starting line ups, but the majority of fans will completely agree with Betway's
reasoning behind their inclusion.
Maradona - In 1986 he racked up a career-defining five goals and five assists, including
in *that* game against you know who. His single best World Cup moment? There’s only
one we could go with. From the deftest of touches to receive the ball and the single-
handed demolition of England’s defence, to sliding past Peter Shilton under pressure.
It’s a moment still referred to as the goal of the century. God-like, we’d say.
Ronaldo - His hat-trick against Spain in 2018 is undeniably one of the greatest World
Cup performances off all time, as he scored a flawless free-kick in the 88th minute to
earn a point in a 3-3 draw and become the oldest player to ever score a World Cup
treble.
Messi - For Messi’s greatest World Cup moment, we’ve gone with his performance in
Brazil in 2014. Not only was he top scorer for Argentina - which included a corker of a
strike to send Iran packing, and netting a free-kick with pinpoint accuracy against Nigeria
- he was also named the best player of the tournament and won the Golden Ball award.
Pele - If we had to pick Pelé’s greatest moment, it would have to be winning Brazil's first
World Cup against Sweden in 1958 at just 17 years old, making him the youngest scorer
in World Cup history. During the final, Pelé scored one of the greatest goals ever,
effortlessly flicking the ball over the defender and volleying into the back of the net.
Zidane - You can’t speak of Zidane without mentioning his heroic performance in the
1998 World Cup final, scoring two headers against Brazil and winning the tournament for
France for the first time ever. His graceful display as he floated past defenders with ease
and set up his teammates for victory is certainly one for the history books.