By Mark Walker, PA Sport
Last updated March 28 2006
Pele, Maradona and Cruyff, arguably the three greatest footballers of all time, achieved footballing immortality after parading their genius on the biggest stage.
All three cemented an indelible place in the hearts of countless millions of football followers after mesmerising a global audience when it mattered most, at the World Cup finals. The biggest show on earth has made legends of others. Puskas, Garrincha, Eusebio, Charlton, Beckenbauer, Kempes, Rossi, Platini, Ronaldo, Gascoigne, Zidane and Ronaldinho, to name only a few.
But the beautiful game has spawned players who, for reasons beyond their control, never had the chance to showcase their skills at the main event. Had they done so, the 'greatest' list might well have read differently.
So who is the best player never to have played in the World Cup finals?
Among those still playing, Czech Republic playmaker Pavel Nedved, of Juventus, Manchester United's Dutch predator Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ukrainian goal-machine Andrey Shevchenko, of AC Milan, would top the list. But all three will appear at Germany 2006, barring late injuries, and will probably write some new headlines too.
Of the legends who have missed out on the greatest stage, two names that surely head the list are George Best and Alfredo Di Stefano - two true greats in anyone's language. The incomparable Best played only 37 times for Northern Ireland and scored an unimpressive 10 international goals, but won two league titles and the European Cup with his beloved Manchester United while lighting up British football like no other before or since.
Voted European player of the year in 1968 after helping United lift the European Cup, Best was by no means a big man, but was nevertheless the complete footballer. The man the Spanish media lauded 'El Beatle' after running Real Madrid ragged at the Bernabeu Stadium in the semi-finals of the European Cup, had supreme balance, the dribbling skills of Stanley Matthews on fast-forward and two magical feet.
He could head the ball better than most and was ferocious in the tackle. There was nothing he couldn't do with the ball. Best, arguably, was the world's first footballing superstar and, undeniably, one of the greatest entertainers. Off the field Best's hell-raising lifestyle was equally spectacular - alcoholism accounted for his early retirement in 1974 - but for a decade his light shone brighter than any other. Pele once named Best the greatest and who could argue?
South Americans, Spaniards and Italians certainly would. They would thrust forward Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano as their choice, not as the greatest never to appear at the World Cup finals, but simply as the greatest. In Latin America those who saw the Blond Arrow play say he was better than Pele. Di Stefano won five consecutive European Cups with Real Madrid and was twice voted European footballer of the year, in 1957 and 1959. In terms of longevity he outshines them all and won international honours with three different nations, Argentina, where he was born, Colombia and Spain.
