PAEDIA EXPRESS BACKS PELE ON GEORGE BEST

SOCCER  :WHO IS THE GREATEST EVER?

PAEDIA EXPRESS BACKS PELE ON GEORGE BEST

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU

 fans throng the streets of Belfast ,Northern Ireland to celebrate the life an times of a son who brought joy to their faces through sports as they mourn him in death in 2005

Without an iota of doubt the lack of recognition given to the natural and God given talent endowed upon the legs of Belfast native and outrageously brilliant :George Best had to be the greatest act of       deliberate omission or sporting heresy.

So brilliant was Georgie that a commentator once dubbed him as while he actually played the game ,the rest merely kicked it around.

When this reporter heard about George Best for the first time in the 1990s via a documentary showed on one of the local televisions in Nigeria ,the first thing that came into his mind was who was this white magician?

It was no surprise  later when Pele whom many regarded as the greatest footballer ever fittingly told  a shocking world  that even he was stunned to the marrow about the supremely gifted Irish man .

At his beloved Manchester United Football Club where he came to the limelight ,George Best remains the demi-god till this day.

By recognizing, George Best’s outstanding contributions to humanity via football,we are only following a clear cut tradition which respects natural ability and not just awards or cup wins as just about any one can get an award.

The Liberian George Opong Weah could probably have helped a nation like Nigeria up the soccer ladder due to his outstanding individual qualities  ,however most of his team mates at Lone Stars could not come near hi in terms of his  talent .

He remains the only man from Africa to have ever won the Fifa World Footballer of the Year,The U.E.F.A European Footballer of the Year and the African footballer of the Year due to his individual contribution despite having never been to a World Cup or won the African Nations Cup Football Competition.

The Nigerian International :Augustine Jay Jay OKocha was once voted the 4^th best player in a particular season in the English Premiership despite playing for lowly rated ,Bolton Wanderers at the time.

So there are several factors that could be used to determine who the greatest of all time was but without a doubt,The sublime technical  quality of George Best stands him out.

We salute a no lesser mortal like Pele for now been selfish in making this true comments about a compatriot .