Sport Columnists

I PLAYED against Pele. I marvelled at Maradona. I’ve been mesmerised by Messi.If the little guy lifts the World Cup on Sunday, it will be a great way to top off an amazing career.
Lionel Messi has the world in his hands but still can’t grasp the title of best ever just by helping Argentina beat FranceCredit: Getty
Messi’s modern-day rival Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, is destined to never win the World Cup after Portugal crashed out to Morocco in the quarter-finalsCredit: Getty
But it won’t stop the arguments about whether he is better than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Let alone where he stands in the all-time debate.
I find it tough and I’ve had more experience than most of some of the greats and what they meant in the game.
I was always a big Pele fan. Look at the amount of goals he scored, including two in the World Cup final when he was 17, the first of three he won with Brazil.
READ MORE ON THE WORLD CUP
A few times at West Ham we came up against his Santos team, then I played in America when he was at the New York Cosmos.
He had everything. He was so strong, as well as everything else.
All those things you see modern players doing everywhere on TV or social media — Pele probably did them first.
Maradona was incredible. To turn a team, Napoli, around like he did and win two Serie A titles was an amazing achievement. Then, of course, he led Argentina to World Cup glory in Mexico in 1986.
Most read in Football
BETTING SPECIAL – BEST OFFERS FOR EXISTING CUSTOMERS FOR DECEMBER 2022
You also have to remember that Pele was kicked from pillar to post. Teams would go out and try to absolutely finish him. He was fouled out of the 1966 World Cup.
It was pretty much the same for Maradona. There’s that stat about when Argentina played Italy in the 1982 World Cup and Claudio Gentile is supposed to have fouled him 23 times. And he only got a yellow card.
People have still steamed into Ronaldo and Messi but nothing like the way that those two were targeted and hurt in their day.
That’s a big reason why it’s hard and unfair to make comparisons across the years.
Other candidates?
I was playing in the England youth set-up at the same time Johan Cruyff was coming through in Holland, so we all knew about him from an early age.
All those things you see modern players doing everywhere on TV or social media — Pele probably did them first.Harry Redknapp
He was a fantastic talent, the best player in that Total Football side. But what’s also amazing about him is what he did after playing. He changed the game so much as a coach, too.
George Best was a rival and friend. He was also a genius. He never had the chance to show it in a World Cup, which tells against him in these kind of conversations.
And he had a short career at the top level compared to Pele, Maradona, Messi and Ronaldo.
I have to say there’s no one that jumps out at me at this World Cup and says he’s going to take over from Messi and Ronaldo when they retire.
People talk about Kylian Mbappe. He has great ability, no doubt about that. But he’s out of the game too much. Sometimes you don’t see him for ten or 15 minutes.
Brazil legend Pele celebrates winning the World Cup in 1970 after also lifting the top prize in 1958 and 1962Credit: Getty
The late George Best is arguably the most famous name in Man Utd’s historyCredit: PA:Press Association
He played in flashes against England but not so well to make you go, “Oh, my god”.
Kyle Walker did a good job on him but it would have been harder to do that to the others.
You couldn’t mark Messi out of the game. He would always be involved. Maradona, Pele the same.  Messi, when he picks the ball up and runs with it, it’s like it’s tied to his laces.
It’s incredible. His passes, and one-twos — I love it and always have done over the years watching Spanish football on TV when he was playing for Barcelona.
Messi has had an amazing World Cup. Everyone thought he was finished. After their opening-game defeat against Saudi Arabia, everyone thought Argentina were finished.
I’m glad they’ve proved people wrong.
Partly because the football romantic in me likes the idea of Messi going out in style.
But I also have to admit to having a little bet before the tournament — Argentina to win it and Messi to be top goalscorer.
Both are looking quite strong, so I’ve definitely got an interest in today’s final.
Just don’t ask me to put money on who’s the best player of all time — that race will never end.
WE CAN PHIL IT COMING
THIS World Cup was a big chance missed for England. But it will come again!
Because we have a fantastic group of young players. I think we had the best squad in the tournament.
Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, they’re kids with two, three, or four tournaments left.
Surely we will find a way of winning a tournament.  We can’t keep being unlucky.
I still think we can be a bit bolder in our selection.
We did play well against France so it’s hard to criticise.
But it would be great to find room for a No 10, whether it’s Foden or whoever. We’re still a bit negative.
Gareth must look at it and think, ‘Hang on, I’ve got a real chance here’.
If it was an ageing squad, ‘I’m not going to do anything with this lot, there’s only one way from here and that’s down’, then…
But it’s not. He has a real opportunity to win something. The Euros are in 18 months.
I’d be surprised if he moved on. People ask who could take over if he goes. But remember Gareth didn’t come into the job with an amazing record as a club manager.
If he stays, great. If he doesn’t, whoever gets the job has a great chance to be successful.
CHAMP DESCHAMPS
Only one manager has won two World Cups — and that was before even I was born.
Didier Deschamps is already in that very small group of those who have been world champ as both player and coach.
Read More on The Sun
Now he could join an even more exclusive club with Vittorio Pozzo, Italy boss in 1934 and ’38.
When you look at the players France are missing, it’s a great achievement. Not bad for someone Eric Cantona once dismissed as “a water carrier”. More

A MUCH-REVERED former colleague on The Sun used to boom out his favourite mantra at every World Cup: “When’s the parade?”It was a mocking reference to the eternal optimism many of the press pack had — me included — that England were going to win it and our gallant heroes would return in triumph, touring the streets of London on an open-top bus as hundreds of thousands of ecstatic fans lined the pavements.
England’s 1966 World Cup win feels increasingly distantCredit: Getty
The Three Lions lost to France in devastating fashion on SaturdayCredit: Getty
Any time England put in a sub-standard performance during a tournament, he would be at it: “When’s the parade?”
And, of course, once England went out he repeated it again, followed by a shake of the head and a knowing look which said, ‘You lot will never learn’.
Nothing would have given me greater pleasure in life than to have sent him a text this coming Sunday which read: “See you at the parade.”
That song from the 1982 World Cup squad had been ringing in my ears.
READ MORE ON THE WORLD CUP
You know the one: “This time, more than any other time, this time, we’ll get it right.”
More than ever before it really felt like it would happen.
This England had all the ingredients — better strength in depth than any other squad, an array of attacking talent rival countries could only dream of, players worth £100million-plus who were admired worldwide and a manager with the experience of coming so close to glory, who was ready to take the Three Lions that one final step.
The longer the World Cup progressed, the prize was within our grasp.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Germany were out, Belgium were out, Brazil were out and, when Portugal lost to Morocco and the Africans became our potential semi-final opponents, our name was all but on the golden trophy.
And yes, one of our number did make calls to the relevant authorities to ask whether arrangements had been made for the parade.
But, of course, it never works out does it.
England lack that magic ingredient, the killer instinct which gets us over the finish line, the X-factor of knowing how to win the biggest prize.
Reigning world champions France had that, despite the fact England probably had the better team.
Getting the first one for more than half a century is the hardest one of all.
France’s extra experience told on SaturdayCredit: Getty
We did it in 1966 and the names of that famous team have been burned into my brain all my life.
To meet some of them and, at times, work with them was always special. They had done it, they’d beaten the world yet they were always so humble about it.
That was partly because they were cast aside by the FA and the country generally. There were no big-money punditry jobs in those days.
They had to scrap for a living like everyone else.
On a previous paper I gave hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst a column during Euro 96.
He was surprised to get the offer as it was 30 years since his famous feat and he had carved out a new career as an insurance salesman.
I travelled with Sir Bobby Charlton a few times as he traipsed his way round the globe trying to win our bid to stage the 2006 World Cup.
It wasn’t a case of turning up at a few glamour events, he worked himself into the ground, on a hamster wheel which got ever faster as we forlornly tried to earn votes from corrupt Fifa executives.
Geoff Hurst has been a great ambassador for English footballCredit: Getty
He didn’t complain, he felt it was his duty. But no sooner had we lost the bid, the FA forgot about him again.
I met our World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore at Wembley and he introduced himself to me!
He never presumed people would knew who he was.
His job then was as a summariser for London radio station, Capital.
He was grateful for the work after some failed business ventures and there is a famous picture of him huddled up against the cold in the press box just days before he died of cancer.
Moore was sitting only a few yards from where he stopped to wipe his hands before receiving the World Cup from the Queen.
He passed long before the FA woke up and realised it was time we treated the 1966 squad with the deference they were due and Hurst has been a marvellous ambassador for that team.
But even he realises the time is long overdue to pass the baton on to a fresh generation of winners.
We desperately need new images to replace those fading black and white photos of a team which for many of us exists not in our memories but in those of our parents and grandparents.
And had England succeeded you can bet none of this squad would have become insurance salesmen, local radio commentators or been flogged into the ground taking round the begging bowl to bloated nobodies.
Only Charlton and Hurst from that ’66 team were knighted but not until 1994 and 1998 respectively.
Had England won this one, it would have been knighthoods all round and a lifetime of permanent adoration.
Arise, Sir Jude Bellingham, would have had a lovely ring to it.

IVANA GET DRESSED
THANKS to Croatian ‘super-fan’ Ivana Knoll for clarifying that, despite reports, she will not be stripping naked if her country wins the World Cup.
Ivana confessed that, before arriving in Qatar, she was not aware of the rules about dressing modestly and that she didn’t actually have the clothes with her to cover everything.
Fair play to her, she’s now doing her bit to fall in line… and has covered her shoulders !
Ivana Knoll has caused a stir at the World CupCredit: Splash
FIGHTING THE LLOR
EVEN the French laughed at The Sun posting pictures of our players all over Paris ahead of the quarter-final.
Good to see that they had a sense of humour — and, anyway, they got the last laugh following their 2-1 win.
One man without a sense of humour before the big match was Tottenham and France skipper Hugo Lloris, who was steaming mad about suggestions in the English press that he was one of the weakest links in the French team.
He joined in with the last laugh, too.
Hugo Lloris had the last laugh on SaturdayCredit: Getty
QAT OUT THE BAG
GOT chatting to a waiter in Doha who explained how he had come to the World Cup on a two-month contract for the princely sum of 5,000 riyals.
That’s £560 a month to you and me, or £125 a week for a nine-week contract. Or, if you like, £18 a day.
He told me he lived in a compound, four men to a small room, and all he did was work and sleep. “Now,” he said, “I want to get a job here!”
Sorry, what was that?
Read More on The Sun
“Yes, I come from Lebanon and my country is destroyed. Here there are opportunities.”
Never have I been so lost for words. More

I’M fed up with us being plucky losers.After we lost to France all the talk was: “Well done England, jolly good defeat, keep your heads high.”
England manager Gareth Southgate consoled Harry Kane after their World Cup defeatCredit: PA
I can’t stand that.
If I’d been one of those England players I’d be in “don’t talk to me” mode for about two years. I wouldn’t want anyone telling me that I’d done well.
We’ve missed another fantastic opportunity and it’s not a question of effort. We gave absolutely everything.
But our “good effort lads, better luck next time” attitude bloody annoys me. I’m such a bad loser, I can’t take it.
READ MORE ON THE WORLD CUP
This is the mentality we have to change.
They’re all nice people in the England camp. Gareth Southgate’s lovely, Stevie Holland is wonderful, Chris Powell is a beautiful man.
But they need an experienced, serial winner around the place.
Gareth doesn’t lack courage, he has tremendous courage. But he’s a good loser. It’s hard to say that but it’s the truth.
Most read in Football
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON THE WORLD CUP
Tony Adams believes Southgate needs to bring in a proven winnerCredit: Louis Wood
They need another voice, an experienced head who’s won stuff at the highest level for their clubs who can have a word in some ears about what you need to do to get over that line which we don’t seem able to cross.
We could have done it in Qatar. We fight, we don’t run away. But losing becomes a habit and it’s hard to shake that, even with all the will and all the skill in the world.
You go on the field fearing what might happen and the more you lose the worse that gets.
I don’t want Southgate and his coaching staff to quit. They are great guys and they’re doing great work.
Gareth’s probably thinking: “Have I taken it as far as I can go. I’ve had three shots at it.”
But is there someone else to replace him?
I don’t think Eddie Howe is ready yet, for instance.
He’s early in his development and probably wouldn’t leave Newcastle anyway. We have the best man at the moment but we have to find a way of getting to the next level.
Gareth doesn’t lack courage, he has tremendous courage. But he’s a good loser. It’s hard to say that but it’s the truth.
Which is why we need that Bryan Robson type of character, a winner who has a word for the manager or players at the crucial times. Someone the coaching team can call on for advice. Sol Campbell, too, might be someone who fits the bill.
France have that in their manager Didier Deschamps who has done it all and we are missing that ingredient among the backroom team.
When we were kids in the Arsenal youth team we were winning everything, so when we progressed to stepping out at Anfield for the first team it didn’t bother us, we expected to win. It was the same for the Class of 92 at Manchester United.
With experience, you get to know what you need to do, when to drop off, when to go forward. You learn what it takes.
Emotionally and mentally we need a significant shift here. We’re doing the same things. We get what we think we’ll get.
Someone needs to get in among these boys and say there’s going to be a moment where you need to step up.
I remember when we went to Rome needing a draw to qualify for the 1998 World Cup and there was a split second when Christian Vieri got in at the near post and he looked like he might score but I just did enough to stop him.
Bukayo Saka was superb before being replaced by Raheem Sterling in the 79th minuteCredit: Getty
Similarly, Harry Maguire had to get across and snuff out Olivier Giroud’s threat. There are moments in a game where it’s your turn, where an individual has to do their bit to make sure the team succeeds.
Players need to know when their moment is.
I was saying to my boy:  “Giroud’s not done anything.” And he said: “Dad, you’re putting a curse on him” — and he pops up with the winner.
He was there when it was his moment, Maguire wasn’t.
And Southgate also needed someone saying to him: “You can’t take Bukayo Saka off, he’s our best player.”
Saka was my man of the match, he was brilliant. And, like I said ahead of the game, their full-backs were not as good as ours.
Theo Hernandez was shocking and Saka took him to the cleaners. Whereas for us Kyle Walker had a good game against Kylian Mbappe.
We are working in the right direction. We’ve got good players but I stand by changing the captain. Harry Kane is the No 9 and did not shirk responsibility for missing that penalty.
But we’ve got to think about what we do now with the captaincy.
That’s more of an issue than the coach and, as I said before, I believe Declan Rice should have the job.
Is Kane going to be the shining star at the next two tournaments?
When are we going to get to the point where we take him off and change it?
It’s hard to do when he’s captain.
Southgate and Kane come as a pair, though, and there’s such a strong bond there.
Read More on The Sun
It’s another one for the experienced man to advise on and persuade the manager to make that change.
Find the right man for that job and we just might crack it.
England were left devastated following the narrow loss to FranceCredit: Getty More

THIS is the World Cup they said could never work — but one which has run like clockwork.I was one of those who had doubts about a winter tournament, about playing it halfway through the season and about it being in Qatar.
Crowd trouble has been replaced with more singing and dancingCredit: AFP
Morocco fans created a racket inside grounds across DohaCredit: Getty
Redknapp says the tournament has been a success so farCredit: Getty
But it’s been a success you couldn’t have imagined.
And despite all the scare stories beforehand, it has been a real enjoyment every way you look at it.
Conditions have been fantastic for the players, it’s not been roasting hot and we’re not having stoppages every game to throw bottles of water over them.
The football’s been great, we’ve had plenty of shocks — and as long as it doesn’t include England, we always love that — but most of all it has been fun.
READ MORE ON WORLD CUP
One of the huge things that sticks out for me is how everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — is saying how safe it’s been.
Look, we all know the issues about having it in Qatar, and I’m not going to sit here and start saying everything there is rosy.
But, in terms of this tournament, I think back to how everyone was kicking off at the thought of not being able to have a drink at the games, and it’s laughable.
Yes, there’s a different culture towards drinking over there.
Most read in Football
BETTING SPECIAL – BEST BETTING APPS FOR THE WORLD CUP
But it’s their culture, their country and you can’t say it hasn’t been a better World Cup all round because of it.
Has everyone forgotten those scenes at Wembley for the Euro final?
What about all the fighting in France in 2016?
How many times have the headlines been about fighting and aggro?
And it’s always when people have been on the drink.
We could take a big leaf out of their book in terms of the approach to it, although I’m not daft enough to think we will change our mentality over it.
But this will go down as the World Cup when we all felt so safe, where the fans were behaving and we weren’t rattling up the number of arrests.
Supporters are still lighting up the stadiums, singing and dancing on the Metro and in the streets, where women, kids, and families are having the time of their lives.
In fact it’s been such a success that I’d have no problem with the Middle East staging the World Cup again — or with it being in the middle of our season either.
And on the pitch there have been some huge shocks. Who thought Morocco would win their group and Belgium go out? Or Japan would beat Spain AND Germany.
There was one of the biggest upsets ever when Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia and Cameroon became the first African nation ever to beat Brazil.
Surprise package
Of course, the big names have stood out like we always hoped and thought they would.
Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo… they’ve all been headline news at one stage or another.
But the one player to leave a huge impression on me is Harry Souttar, the centre-half born in Scotland who plays for Stoke and was sensational for Australia.
If I was still a Premier League manager, he’d be the one I’d be trying to sign.
I saw him three years ago on loan at Fleetwood and thought he had a real chance then and have kept an eye on him ever since.
He got a real bad injury a year ago and only came back just before the World Cup.
Harry’s 6ft 6in, quick, strong, he can pass a ball and knows the English game – he’d be a great buy for someone.
Read More on The Sun
He reminds me of Dan Burn, who went round the houses on loan, went to Brighton and then ended up at Newcastle and everyone’s raving about him.
But, all in all, it will go down as a fantastic World Cup — and the great thing is we’ve still got another week to go!
Stoke’s Souttar impressed RedknappCredit: PA
Fans were on their best behaviourCredit: Getty
England crashed out in the quarter-finalsCredit: PA
Senegal fans came with props and paintCredit: Getty More