Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
The nearest thing I've ever seen to a one man team winning a major trophy for countries was Argentina in 1986, that's the reason why I've always rated Maradona as the best p,layer I've seen, with Pele a contender for second best (I only really saw him at his best in 1970 and it was easy for such a gifted player to shine in a team like that).
As for John Charles, my old man always used to rave about him and so many players from that era are quick to rate him right up there with the greats, but it was an era where it was virtually a case of the only way you would get to see a great player or team was to go along to a game and watch them, so how much did Brits see of Charles when he was at his peak at Juventus?
It's all about opinions in any "greatest player" debate of course, but it is a matter of fact that John Charles was playing for Cardiff City that was hardly setting the Second Division alight at the age of only thirty one. This strikes me as not the sort of setting you would expect to find a player who is supposed to be among the best who ever played the game in his early thirties - i can only assume that years of being kicked by Italian defenders had taken their toll.
I look at Gareth Bale and see someone who was a major influence on a successful Welsh campaign in the the first major international tournament Finals they had reached since Charles went to Sweden for the 1958 World Cup. On the face of it, Bale made more of an impact than Charles did in a major international tiournament, but I say that as someone who has watched Bale in France 2016 over and over again, whereas it's only possible to see snippets of what Charles did fifty nine years ago, so i suppose it would be unfair to say that Bale was the better of the two - given that I cannot remember watching Charles play live for his country, Bale is the best I've seen playing for Wales.