Romario is the most NOTORIOUS of the Brazilians. Dude was a headache to coaches because he slept until the afternoon and then went to training for like 2 hours before going to the club until 2 AM. Then he showed up on Saturday and was a goal machine so he was undroppable.
Look, if a player came up for a game, won me points and went to a club... I say go for it. I dont care. If i get 30 goals a season from him, he can do whatever the hell he wants
There's a story about Romario's time at Barcelona that perfectly represents him that could have been included in the video. The Rio carnival was approaching, and he wanted to attend it, of course. He went to Cruyff and asked him for vacation days in order to make the trip. Cruyff told him that if, in the next match, he scored at least two goals, he'd give him a couple of days off. Match day came and, of course, Romario scored twice. As soon as he scored the 2nd goal, he went to the bench and asked for a substitution. He already had tickets for Rio and his plane was leaving in one hour. Cruyff just laughed it off, replaced him, and Romario left for Rio immediately. It took Barcelona a week to get hold of him and make him come back to the team.
In 1985 I was lucky enough to attend a match at São Paulo's Morumbi stadium between São Paulo, which featured Careca and Müller, and Corinthians, which featured Socrates. It was crazy. This was before they installed seating. At that time, it was just continuous concrete slabs - not so different from the Coliseum in Rome - and had a capacity of 120,000, making it the largest private stadium in the world. Basically, São Paulo was a tennis club with a giant football stadium. There was no parking lot to speak of (more than what one would expect at a typical tennis club). My girlfriend lived in a house literally across the street. Cars parked up and down the side street approaches and residents made money renting out their driveways and lawns to match attendees. You couldn't carry on a conversation in any living room for several blocks around the stadium due to the din during a match. Watching those Brazilian stars competing against each other locally before they made their big moves to Europe was like observing Lions in their original habitat!
It is still insane how much Ronaldinho won in his 4 years prime with Barcelona and with Brazil and in personal level as well, just god knows what could had been if he had the same training dedication as Zlatan or CR7.
Romaria was just endearingly lazy. I remember him at PSV, he refused to train 'because romario is cold'. They left him out of the squad for some other discipline infringement for an europa league knockout match. Which PSV lost. Romaria subsequently told his club that he'd fix this issue if they just played him again on the away return. He fixed it. At Barca he wanted to go to Carnaval in Rio on a game night. Cruijff (i think) told him no. A bargain was made, Romario proposed that if he scored 3 goals he would be allowed to leave. He left a bewildered Cruijf as he walked off the pitch at half time, having scored 3 goals and just ook of his kit to inform them that he would now be catching a plain as he had held up his end of the bargain with a 'Romario scored 3 times yes?'.
Having been able to watch Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho play in my lifetime will be something I will always treasure as a football fan. Those guys were pure magic in the pitch. If you want to do a part 2, another mercurial Latin American you can include is Jorge Alberto "Mágico" González, El Salvador's best ever player and a star for Cádiz in the 80s, where he's still possibly their most beloved player ever. His love for nightlife was so great that Cádiz had to have an employee just to wake him up in the mornings before a match so he wouldn't sleep in. He would have been an absolute monster star of football in the 80s (Maradona considered him one of the best players he ever saw) if it wasn't for his complete lack of footballing ambition. He only played for fun.
As a Salvadoran! I’m happy to see people still remember “el magico gonzalez” he was so good my grandad and dad would always tell me story’s about him and I wouldn’t believe them when they’d say maradona believed he was better then himself but then I saw an interview of him talking about Gonzalez
Just wanted to add a cool thing about Socrates' passing. He was very vocal that he wanted his death to be on a Sunday with Corinthians being champions. He died early in December 4th, 2011, a Sunday. Later on that day in the afternoon, the last round of the Brasileirão 2011 season was played and Corinthians won their 5th title. I'm not a Corinthians supporter but I really love this story and only wish he lived a few hours longer to watch them become champions...
I was similar to some of these guys in that I never trained but did athletics/rugby and was always the star man. Looking back I regret it bitterly as I'm sure Ronaldinho, Romario and Socrates (RIP) do as well. We think our talent will last forever and get us through everything, that getting old only happens to other people. That's not how life works. If you are a young person remember this quote: "There's nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man, the only true nobility is being superior to your former self" - Hemmingway
They might not regret it. They played at the highest level and are recognised as legends of the game without having made the sacrifices other less talented players had . They pretty much did whatever they wanted.
@@JoseSantos-vd4pg Ronaldinho effectively retired aged 31 (AC Milan) and retired from the pinnacle of football (FCB) at 28. He could have played much longer at the very top considering he didn't have any major injuries. While not true for every top sports star, the majority of top players after they retire experience severe depression. The thing their heart desires most is to be back out on the pitch performing at the highest level. Ronnie knows within himself that he didn't try his best and could have done better. Only immature people (like I was) think that because they smoked, drank and partied that they had a better lifestyle than clean and sober people. The older you get the more cringeworthy such juvenile actions appear. What perhaps you don't realise is WHY people do this. It's partly out of fear as the worst nightmare of anyone who considers themselves to be the best, or one of the best, is to try really hard and fail. Famously Jon Jones used to party and get "black-out drunk" in American speak (George Best's Tuesday afternoon in British speak) a week before title fights so that he could have a ready excuse for himself if he lost. Jon Jones told this story to Joe Rogan who couldn't fathom why someone would do that, but I know why. It's fear, it's immaturity. When you are older and wiser you look back on yourself and think you were pathetic for not giving it your best shot, because that's the only thing you would do if given the chance to replay your life - you would try 100%, not party and be a smart-arse. I'll re-emphasise the Hemmingway quote. There is no nobility in being superior to your fellow man, like Ronaldinho, true nobility is being superior to your former self, being able to look yourself in the mirror and have a good night's sleep. These are not lessons that come pre-programmed in youth which is why so many talented sportsmen have mediocre careers. When you ask them about it later in life, to a man they wish they had seized the opportunities that came their way because those opportunities will NEVER come around again, regardless of how talented you are One final anecdote - USAIN BOLT - who is a famous party-animal and retired young. He's still pretty young and recently experienced acute regrets about retiring and wanted to go to the next Olympics. Guess what though? Even for the GOAT of sprinting he can't do it anymore, he can no longer be a champion. That keeps real men up at night while little boys drink themselves to sleep.
@@Pax_Veritas You sound like you really miss getting drunk and high (the lady doth protest for half a dozen paragraphs), just do whatever makes you happy.
@@wloonie not on level with the names mentioned before, these guys tore club and international football apart with their talent, pelé was just shining as a international player and never fully displayed his talent to the high level
He could have been a top 3 English defender of all time if he hadn’t been so unlucky, he made defending look easy ata young age so imagine what a fit LK in peak age would have been like
16:28 About Romário not being allowed to fly a kite, the reason likely was fear of him being electrocuted, as trying to pull back kites that fell over power lines was a common cause of injury/death for kids
I remember seeing an episode of QI (british show about interesting but obscure facts) that in India it was the number one cause of death in the country!
Rooney should be on this list. He refused to work in gym and returned with weight gain but still absolutely destroyed teams in Premier league. He was all talent and power. Could play anywhere on pitch and run for 90 minuets. He was very fast in his early days.
For the Brazilians: Ronaldinho's leg strength indicates he trained much more than suggested by his reputation. Not just his thigh size and definition, but you can see how bloody strong was by how he moved, especially at Barca. Ronaldo's thyroid problems was (part of) the reason he gained weight, so he also likely was more diligent in training than many people think. Althoug, much of that would have been rehab. Romario, however, has his spot as number 1 deservedly.
Glad to see King being added into this mix. He really was unreal, him rio and terry would have made a deadly back 3 with beckham and Cole as wing backs. If only ey
That explains a lot; now I understand why he sometimes underperformed and why his body language didn't look good in some games; he probably was constipated; imagine how much money some betting man could've won only if they had known before every game if Ronaldinho had taken a sh** before the game.
Romario, R9 and Ronaldinho had that ridiculous degree of imaginative wizardry that CR7 (and this era in general) never had for all his numbers. It was genuinely a party when they played and that’s where all the joga bonito/YT highlights culture came from lol. There are so many different ways to enjoy the game and the passage of time shows that. It goes to show you can’t have it all no matter what era you’re in.
@@rachetmarvel931 and can’t use his right leg. Also is missing couple world cups in there specially the one Romario won with the worse Brazilian team to win a World Cup. Messi who ?
There is a lack of understanding of elite Brazilian players. A lot of them started playing futsal competitively at the age of 11-13 so by the age of 16-19 their ball control and footwork was already perfected (or at least more advanced than the average 25 year old player). All they needed now was just strength training and then they would became monsters on the pitch (e.g Adriano, R10, R9). At that stage working hard on the training pitch would just offer diminishing returns. These players regress because of physical or psychological issues(e.g Adriano) , not because they didn't keep doing drills like everyone else. They are just built different.
Adriano was a beast. His shot power was just lethal. Sad but most Brazilians don't get to play their full potential and don't get to have a full career. I'm pretty sure R9 would've been in some other level if he had fitness and determination of CR7 or Messi.
I live near to where McGrath lived in foster care and the foster family’s house has two full size goals in the back garden making what is nearly a full size pitch. I walk past it on my commute to college each day and often like to imagine a young McGrath constantly out there playing
Great video! I’d love to see a video from the other end of the spectrum where you go through stories of world class footballers who are known for there work ethic!
When Romario mentioned "fly a kite" i think he was talking about his father not wanting him to be part of a favela gang. The kids fly kites to alert that law is coming.
Im from Eindhoven, and can confirm both R9 and Romario. Here we say that Romario scored every weekend: if it wasnt a goal, it most definitely be in a club later that night ;)
I'm still amazed how fans disregard older generation players when making best 11 teams, I bet romario barely makes any of those teams same goes for Lev in goal :( . But with the area of selection in some countries being determined by money rather than skill we will see less and less of these players who are just naturally gifted at this game.
Romario spent all his time on the beach playing futvolley with bikini girls Anytime you went to the beach, he was there So actually he did train, just not on the football pitch 😂
@@ThePsuedo Neymar has already given PSG their fair share of headaches... from injuries, to his party lifestyle, to frequent trips to Brazil. He's a shoo-in to join those on the list.
I can't believe that Ronaldinho was playing as recently as 2019 i always get the impression that he was long retired by then certainly his best days were many years behind him.
💯 I remember as a kid seeing him doing a dummy back heel that sent the defender to the shops for him 😂 it was the first ‘skill’ I ever tried out myself as an 8 year old. It worked a treat for creating space.
Very entertaining video. Honorable mention to Eden Hazard? Granted, he's not an extreme case (King) or a particularly inspiring one (Socrates), he just had a reputation for being laid-back and took A LOT of punishment in matches. I remember reading about him telling a concerned (envious?) teammate, following a particularly lax training session. "Don't worry. I am the boss". It sounds like arrogance, but I think from him it was confidence and more importantly, a determination not to let fun get sucked out of he game he loved.
Is it just me or anyone else noticed that Brazillians and Argentines are just naturally good at football? Even Maradona and Pele were heavy in partying and didn't need much physical training still these footballers were absolute class and destroyed their opponents like in most cases European footballers train and work hard to reach a certain stage to play however seems like 🇧🇷🇦🇷 are just naturally gifted to play well
Reminds me of a classmate back in high school. A serial prankster; a mega nuisance in the class, never on time with school work (sometimes didn't do at all) , never focus, and hyperactive. When came to exam performances, he was always within the Top 5. Good Grief man!!!
José Manuel Moreno had its brazilian counterpart at the time, and equally legendary. Heleno de Freitas was a talented striker that also was a lawyer, womanizer, gambling addict, alcoholic and drug addict, also had a bad temper on the pitch, getting on brawls even with team mates and managers alike. When he passed away struck by syphilis aged only 39, many journalists claimed that his death was the day that football died
Indeed Paul Mcgrath was among the first of Alex Ferguson's disciplinary casualties who wanted to bring complete professionalism to Man Utd as opposed to the players best friend approach that Ron Atkinson took but Ferguson simply wasn't having any of the party lifestyle and when you look at the success he had as manager of Man Utd was the correct approach to take.
@@timsmith1323 They were top notch defenders as well. I wouldn't say easily, but there was a good chance of it. I mean when fit he was at least as good as Sol Cambell and it is unfortunate Spurs never got to seriously build off of them as a pairing. King only geting 1 real season in the last year Campbell was at Spurs.
Ronaldo wasn't called a phenom for no reason. He is literally the definition of born different. His injuries might just be one of the biggest misfortunes for the fans of football, as we were all robbed of what could have genuinely been one of the players in the discourse for Best of all Time
He is still in that discourse though. Probably not topping it (due to the injury), but he's up there with the five-ten names always mentioned. Watching him in the nineties was pure magic. He transcended the sport like Michael Jordan did for basketball.
You forgot the greatest player of all time.Diego maradona.He almost never showed up for training especially at napoli.And on the rare occasion he did show up he was still drunk or on drugs and did not train like the others it was only light training.This is why he stood out so much in the 86 world cup because he actually did train and went to bed early etc
In Brazil kites are flown above the rooftops in the Favelas to signal drug deliveries to or availability between the parties involved in the drug trade. That might be the reference to kite flying from Rosario’s father.
System tells me to reply and I giz this would be one. But I aint got no telegram machine and wouldnt know which message to send either. Like your cut the crap approach, u should be with the BBC or with the Guardian.
Tommy Docherty had a wealth of football stories and anecdotes, some of which are no less funny for being completely untrue but he once claimed that before his time at Old Trafford, Dennis Law never trained.
This is what really happened to Neymar career. I actually thought about this topic a year ago. When I watch his games he always play decent it's actually rare he having a bad match. That's bcoz of the natural talent he got or the reason Samba. They can literally dominate every game and starred out in his own team. Bt when I watching him play he literally doing same things over and over in every game. Dominating opposition, skills, dribbles using the talent he got, rather than improving the weakness he got in areas like finishing, aerials, physic etc. You can only improve your weakness by hard training and concentration. I'm only talking about individual training not team drills. Like all other player's he trains too bt not too care about his weaknesses and the importance of training in present football. This season is bit different he actually improved his finishing. That's a good sign.
the thing about neymar and other brazilian players (which is why there are so many brazilian players in this list of players who don't train) is that, culturally, we (i'm brazilian) view football as an art form and not a science - and it is, of course, a science of sorts, which is why training is so important when it comes to improving at it. personally i understand that, but many brazilians and brazilian players don't. players like neymar view football as something that comes naturally, something that should be fun, and not something that should feel burdensome or like a responsibility - again, because they see it as art and not science. that does hinder his potential a bit, in my opinion, just as it hinders the potential of other brazilian players. i think that as a nation, if we want to keep winning world cups at this level and at this point in history, we have to instill a new culture in our country that favors hard work and training, because that's for sure not the norm right now - we think great players are born great, we see them as football artists, when in actuality they could be much better if they, y'know... took training seriously.
@@gunnerlia you're pretty much right. I'd think Brazil needs to step upto the occasion a little bit. Sometimes you need individual game changing moments from a player. Rather than doing same things over and over. It should only done through hard drills when comes to the big occasion. Brazil now playing good football as a team even without Neymar. Bt that won't win them titles. I'm talking about attack. Almost every Europeans teams has rock solid backline. They probably knew how to beat an all-out attacking teams like Brazil for eg. - with proper sit back and counter strategies. The players improve their pace, control, finishing almost every weakness they've got through proper individual training. That's helps them to adapt to any situations in a game and to be more clinical upfront. They can rise to the occasion. I'd think Brazil team lacks that for more years now. Against Belgium, or Argentina at final the whole team fail to the situation and everyone pass the ball to Neymar the single player only can change a little bit. The only time when he saw space through belgium backline he took a shot bt courtois denied it. Now that's that single player can't change a match. Brazil need more players who to step up to the occasion.
@@gunnerlia hi bro, Brazil are out. Again by a European team. Do you think tite is the right manager for the Brazil team? I think Brazil need a strict-control manager who implement new culture, a proper ambition squad. A european manager would be more better imo. Is fans accept any non-brazilian manager? Brazil never gonna play any other European team for next 4 years at this level, intensity. Maybe In friendlies. So the better way is to appoint a european manager who knew the culture of European teams.
@@yadukrishnam8139 aight, here we go. no, i don't think tite is right for the brazil team anymore. he did a great job, but great isn't perfect, and perfect was what we needed to win the world cup. he had his chance. however, i think brazilians would be hard-pressed to accept an european coach... again, because of our culture and the way we view ourselves in relation to football. to be quite honest brazilians think we are better at football than everyone else, so it'd be hard for both the team and the fans to accept a coach who they'd deem as "inferior" for not being brazilian. also, i think it'd hurt our egos, because it'd be like saying "oh well, seems like there's no good coaches in brazil anymore, so we need to look abroad". but i think that's what's gonna happen - that is, i do think an european manager is going to take over from here on out, and i also think it's the best option for the seleção, both because it'd make us more acquainted with the european playstyle AND because european coaches tend to be less laid-back and more focused/strict/rigorous when it comes to training and stuff like that, which is definitely what we need. it'll be a HARD hard adaptation process though because like i said in my first comment, brazilians just don't think about football this way and also as a people we tend to be very very VERY stubborn. but i think great things could come of it and hopefully 2026 or 2030 will be ours :)
I don’t think any of them did not train hard when they were younger but once they got to a certain level they did not have to. But you don’t get to that level without a lot of hard work in your youth so this is taking it out of perspective.
Another excellent vidro Alfie just wondering have you heard the controversy surrounding the celebrations of the Ireland's Women's National Team qualifying for the World Cup? Would love to hear your opinion.P
Well what would happen if players never trained and just played more games? Would this lead to more Taarabts and Ben Arfas and less Milners and Hendersons? I like the sound of that tbh :D
Hi Alfie as a Brazilian i love your video. The coup in 1964 was a military anti-democratic coup but it was not a fascist one. It was an primarly anti-communist military regime funded by the United States. However you cannot compare it to Nazi Germany or Italy
If you think Romario was lazy, you should include my all-time favorite player - Michael Laudrup. Cruyff hated him and benched him a lot and also explain how lazy he was. That is the same guy who coach Romario in Barcelona.
Sad I wasn't on the list. Despite never training I have not lost a single game of football when I played. I have also not played any games of football (except FIFA, FIFA Manager and a bit of Football Manager), but that doesn't count. At least I'm not Romario, who is actually part of Bolsonaros party and in the brazilian senate for them (there are like 30 parties so he had enough options). Instead I suggest: Day 19: The biggest wins in every european top flight (Athletic Bilbio 12-1 FC Barcelona; Gladbach 12-0 Dortmund; Ajax 13-0 VVV Venlo).
What about Matthew Le Tissier. Just look at him. He was chubby. But I guess there's very few in Southampton who think about that regarding Matthew Le Tissier My team wasn't Southampton, but you just had to love Le Tissier as a player. He could pass short, long out wide to both side. And many screamers from outside 16-meters. Someone told me that in Southampton they put Le Tissier as number 1. God is number 2
@16:25 Flying a kite in Brazil could be precarious with all those unauthorized wooden power lines around the less affluent parts and even affluent parts that still had no underground power but above ground poles...
Romario is the most NOTORIOUS of the Brazilians.
Dude was a headache to coaches because he slept until the afternoon and then went to training for like 2 hours before going to the club until 2 AM.
Then he showed up on Saturday and was a goal machine so he was undroppable.
Look, if a player came up for a game, won me points and went to a club... I say go for it. I dont care. If i get 30 goals a season from him, he can do whatever the hell he wants
@@milosilic23 but what does a manager do to his teammates that cant do that.
His first words in Dutch were; Romario is a little tired...
There's a story about Romario's time at Barcelona that perfectly represents him that could have been included in the video.
The Rio carnival was approaching, and he wanted to attend it, of course. He went to Cruyff and asked him for vacation days in order to make the trip. Cruyff told him that if, in the next match, he scored at least two goals, he'd give him a couple of days off. Match day came and, of course, Romario scored twice. As soon as he scored the 2nd goal, he went to the bench and asked for a substitution. He already had tickets for Rio and his plane was leaving in one hour. Cruyff just laughed it off, replaced him, and Romario left for Rio immediately. It took Barcelona a week to get hold of him and make him come back to the team.
He never drank too much. That's the secret.
In 1985 I was lucky enough to attend a match at São Paulo's Morumbi stadium between São Paulo, which featured Careca and Müller, and Corinthians, which featured Socrates. It was crazy. This was before they installed seating. At that time, it was just continuous concrete slabs - not so different from the Coliseum in Rome - and had a capacity of 120,000, making it the largest private stadium in the world. Basically, São Paulo was a tennis club with a giant football stadium. There was no parking lot to speak of (more than what one would expect at a typical tennis club).
My girlfriend lived in a house literally across the street. Cars parked up and down the side street approaches and residents made money renting out their driveways and lawns to match attendees. You couldn't carry on a conversation in any living room for several blocks around the stadium due to the din during a match.
Watching those Brazilian stars competing against each other locally before they made their big moves to Europe was like observing Lions in their original habitat!
Dam that so dope
Wasn't Socrates gone from SCCP in 85? He went to Fiorentina in 84?
And the Morumbi had wood benches at that time from what I remember.
@@axxessmundi On the second level was concrete , and on 85 Socrates was already back from Italy
@@markriobr But Socrates didn't go back to Corinthians. He went to Flamengo.
@@axxessmundi Think he went to Flamengo after The W Cup in Mexico 86 . Will check anyway
It is still insane how much Ronaldinho won in his 4 years prime with Barcelona and with Brazil and in personal level as well, just god knows what could had been if he had the same training dedication as Zlatan or CR7.
Romaria was just endearingly lazy. I remember him at PSV, he refused to train 'because romario is cold'. They left him out of the squad for some other discipline infringement for an europa league knockout match. Which PSV lost. Romaria subsequently told his club that he'd fix this issue if they just played him again on the away return. He fixed it.
At Barca he wanted to go to Carnaval in Rio on a game night. Cruijff (i think) told him no. A bargain was made, Romario proposed that if he scored 3 goals he would be allowed to leave. He left a bewildered Cruijf as he walked off the pitch at half time, having scored 3 goals and just ook of his kit to inform them that he would now be catching a plain as he had held up his end of the bargain with a 'Romario scored 3 times yes?'.
Stop calling him Romaria. He's a man, not a lady.
@@bazingacurta2567 hahahhha
@@bazingacurta2567 so what? How do you know he identifies as a man?
Latin culture needs to get with the times and adopt gender neutral languages.
@@i_know_youre_right_but interesting. You're not only racist but you're worse than cancer.
@@i_know_youre_right_but not this again💀
Having been able to watch Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho play in my lifetime will be something I will always treasure as a football fan. Those guys were pure magic in the pitch.
If you want to do a part 2, another mercurial Latin American you can include is Jorge Alberto "Mágico" González, El Salvador's best ever player and a star for Cádiz in the 80s, where he's still possibly their most beloved player ever. His love for nightlife was so great that Cádiz had to have an employee just to wake him up in the mornings before a match so he wouldn't sleep in. He would have been an absolute monster star of football in the 80s (Maradona considered him one of the best players he ever saw) if it wasn't for his complete lack of footballing ambition. He only played for fun.
you can add rivaldo also!
UNO: LA HISTORIA DE UN GOL - its on TH-cam
@@r.baggio6207 IMO Rivaldo is not on par with the other three guys. He was a sensational player too, of course, but one or two steps behind them.
As a Salvadoran! I’m happy to see people still remember “el magico gonzalez” he was so good my grandad and dad would always tell me story’s about him and I wouldn’t believe them when they’d say maradona believed he was better then himself but then I saw an interview of him talking about Gonzalez
Just wanted to add a cool thing about Socrates' passing. He was very vocal that he wanted his death to be on a Sunday with Corinthians being champions. He died early in December 4th, 2011, a Sunday. Later on that day in the afternoon, the last round of the Brasileirão 2011 season was played and Corinthians won their 5th title. I'm not a Corinthians supporter but I really love this story and only wish he lived a few hours longer to watch them become champions...
I was similar to some of these guys in that I never trained but did athletics/rugby and was always the star man. Looking back I regret it bitterly as I'm sure Ronaldinho, Romario and Socrates (RIP) do as well. We think our talent will last forever and get us through everything, that getting old only happens to other people. That's not how life works. If you are a young person remember this quote:
"There's nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man, the only true nobility is being superior to your former self" - Hemmingway
They might not regret it. They played at the highest level and are recognised as legends of the game without having made the sacrifices other less talented players had . They pretty much did whatever they wanted.
@@JoseSantos-vd4pg Ronaldinho effectively retired aged 31 (AC Milan) and retired from the pinnacle of football (FCB) at 28. He could have played much longer at the very top considering he didn't have any major injuries.
While not true for every top sports star, the majority of top players after they retire experience severe depression. The thing their heart desires most is to be back out on the pitch performing at the highest level. Ronnie knows within himself that he didn't try his best and could have done better.
Only immature people (like I was) think that because they smoked, drank and partied that they had a better lifestyle than clean and sober people. The older you get the more cringeworthy such juvenile actions appear. What perhaps you don't realise is WHY people do this. It's partly out of fear as the worst nightmare of anyone who considers themselves to be the best, or one of the best, is to try really hard and fail.
Famously Jon Jones used to party and get "black-out drunk" in American speak (George Best's Tuesday afternoon in British speak) a week before title fights so that he could have a ready excuse for himself if he lost. Jon Jones told this story to Joe Rogan who couldn't fathom why someone would do that, but I know why. It's fear, it's immaturity. When you are older and wiser you look back on yourself and think you were pathetic for not giving it your best shot, because that's the only thing you would do if given the chance to replay your life - you would try 100%, not party and be a smart-arse.
I'll re-emphasise the Hemmingway quote. There is no nobility in being superior to your fellow man, like Ronaldinho, true nobility is being superior to your former self, being able to look yourself in the mirror and have a good night's sleep. These are not lessons that come pre-programmed in youth which is why so many talented sportsmen have mediocre careers. When you ask them about it later in life, to a man they wish they had seized the opportunities that came their way because those opportunities will NEVER come around again, regardless of how talented you are
One final anecdote - USAIN BOLT - who is a famous party-animal and retired young. He's still pretty young and recently experienced acute regrets about retiring and wanted to go to the next Olympics. Guess what though? Even for the GOAT of sprinting he can't do it anymore, he can no longer be a champion. That keeps real men up at night while little boys drink themselves to sleep.
@@Pax_Veritas well said. We also use black out drunk in England.
@@Pax_Veritas Joe Rogan is so mired in mediocrity that he can't fathom living with talent. Probably why he supports the fascist Republican party
@@Pax_Veritas You sound like you really miss getting drunk and high (the lady doth protest for half a dozen paragraphs), just do whatever makes you happy.
Romario, R9, and Ronaldihno are the true peak of natural born talent, it’s like these guys were born with the ball
Maradonna as well
Only Maradona was born with a ball attached to his left foot.😂
And Pelé wasn't?
@@wloonie not on level with the names mentioned before, these guys tore club and international football apart with their talent, pelé was just shining as a international player and never fully displayed his talent to the high level
I'd go so far as to say Ronaldinho was in a league of his own. Dude didn't train AND thrashed his body, and still made magic happen lol.
What happened to Ledley King is so sad. That guy was completely electric, that guy played defense so well, he was amazing to watch.
He could have been a top 3 English defender of all time if he hadn’t been so unlucky, he made defending look easy ata young age so imagine what a fit LK in peak age would have been like
Absolute amazing defender
Seeing a St Patrick’s Athletic mention in a HITC Sevens video makes me smile
McGrath is my favourite player of all time. The game against Italy in 1994 is legendary. His autobiography is sad, fascinating and a wonderful read.
16:28 About Romário not being allowed to fly a kite, the reason likely was fear of him being electrocuted, as trying to pull back kites that fell over power lines was a common cause of injury/death for kids
I remember seeing an episode of QI (british show about interesting but obscure facts) that in India it was the number one cause of death in the country!
You left out that Socrates came out of retirement to play non-league football in the UK at 50 years old! Legend!
ya he barely moved but was fizzing balls around something incredible. legend
Imagine rocking up on a Sunday morning, hanging out of your arse from the night before, and seeing Socrates turning out for the opposition
Can’t believe not many people talking about him, dude was part in bringing down a dictatorship
Rooney should be on this list. He refused to work in gym and returned with weight gain but still absolutely destroyed teams in Premier league. He was all talent and power. Could play anywhere on pitch and run for 90 minuets. He was very fast in his early days.
Now he's very fat and couldn't run for 90 seconds
Wow!!!I am totally surprised to see these respective footballers to be extremely so fantastic without that much of a training,good friends!!!🙏
"Players with some fitness problem, players that have so much Power in a club, and Brazilians"
Man, I laughed a lot in this part.
me too😋
For the Brazilians:
Ronaldinho's leg strength indicates he trained much more than suggested by his reputation. Not just his thigh size and definition, but you can see how bloody strong was by how he moved, especially at Barca.
Ronaldo's thyroid problems was (part of) the reason he gained weight, so he also likely was more diligent in training than many people think. Althoug, much of that would have been rehab.
Romario, however, has his spot as number 1 deservedly.
I used to be impressed by the smallest things watching football but ever since I watched r9 nothing impresses me anymore,he definitely the goat.
Glad to see King being added into this mix. He really was unreal, him rio and terry would have made a deadly back 3 with beckham and Cole as wing backs. If only ey
Ronaldinho also used to do the dirty before every game... what an absolute legend
Yeah well... I also feel much lighter on my feet after a dump.
That explains a lot; now I understand why he sometimes underperformed and why his body language didn't look good in some games; he probably was constipated; imagine how much money some betting man could've won only if they had known before every game if Ronaldinho had taken a sh** before the game.
My most unpopular opinion is that if Ronaldinho trained like Messi he'll be the best player of all time.
Wow, Socrates, what a life man. He did all that and still had time to humiliate Plato repeatedly.
Do a "who don't train", curious to see who you call out of today's footballers! :D
probably harder to get away with it today unless it's due to chronic injury.
As I have mobility issues caused by the same issues as Ledley King, at 37. I feel for the man
Paul McGrath’s interview with Tommy Tiernan is an excellent watch for anyone interested
Romario, R9 and Ronaldinho had that ridiculous degree of imaginative wizardry that CR7 (and this era in general) never had for all his numbers. It was genuinely a party when they played and that’s where all the joga bonito/YT highlights culture came from lol. There are so many different ways to enjoy the game and the passage of time shows that. It goes to show you can’t have it all no matter what era you’re in.
Wise words being spoken. Messi and Ronaldo are perfect but missing the magic
What bull, Messi is up there with the magic. I would even go and say he has more natural talent and the three Brazilians.
@@rachetmarvel931 and can’t use his right leg. Also is missing couple world cups in there specially the one Romario won with the worse Brazilian team to win a World Cup. Messi who ?
@@rachetmarvel931 In terms of pure imagination I’d even put neymar ahead of him
Damnn lol
Thank you Alfie for delivering the goods 👏👏
There is a lack of understanding of elite Brazilian players.
A lot of them started playing futsal competitively at the age of 11-13 so by the age of 16-19 their ball control and footwork was already perfected (or at least more advanced than the average 25 year old player).
All they needed now was just strength training and then they would became monsters on the pitch (e.g Adriano, R10, R9).
At that stage working hard on the training pitch would just offer diminishing returns.
These players regress because of physical or psychological issues(e.g Adriano) , not because they didn't keep doing drills like everyone else.
They are just built different.
Adriano was a beast. His shot power was just lethal. Sad but most Brazilians don't get to play their full potential and don't get to have a full career. I'm pretty sure R9 would've been in some other level if he had fitness and determination of CR7 or Messi.
@@boredflaneur R9 had the determination, otherwise he wouldn't have come back from a career ending knee injury.
I live near to where McGrath lived in foster care and the foster family’s house has two full size goals in the back garden making what is nearly a full size pitch. I walk past it on my commute to college each day and often like to imagine a young McGrath constantly out there playing
Great video! I’d love to see a video from the other end of the spectrum where you go through stories of world class footballers who are known for there work ethic!
When Romario mentioned "fly a kite" i think he was talking about his father not wanting him to be part of a favela gang. The kids fly kites to alert that law is coming.
Im from Eindhoven, and can confirm both R9 and Romario. Here we say that Romario scored every weekend: if it wasnt a goal, it most definitely be in a club later that night ;)
😀😀😀😀😀😃😃😃😄😄😁😁😃😀😀😃😄😄😁😁👍👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👏👏
Hahaha nice one
I'm still amazed how fans disregard older generation players when making best 11 teams, I bet romario barely makes any of those teams same goes for Lev in goal :( . But with the area of selection in some countries being determined by money rather than skill we will see less and less of these players who are just naturally gifted at this game.
It's probably because Romario got a bit eclipsed by R9, who was basically a faster, more powerful version of him.
Romario spent all his time on the beach playing futvolley with bikini girls
Anytime you went to the beach, he was there
So actually he did train, just not on the football pitch 😂
This was fun to watch.
"...and Brazilians". I think in a few years time Neymar will join that list.
Disrespectful. Neymar is 30 years old and still playing at a high level. He's already lasted longer than the majority of samba stars before him
@@ThePsuedo Neymar has already given PSG their fair share of headaches... from injuries, to his party lifestyle, to frequent trips to Brazil. He's a shoo-in to join those on the list.
Have you ever heard news about neymar skipping training?
@@antoniosaldanha4500 he’s skipped games never mind training
He literally misses a game which is played around his sister’s birthday
@@antoniosaldanha4500 Oh yes... countless times.
I can't believe that Ronaldinho was playing as recently as 2019 i always get the impression that he was long retired by then certainly his best days were many years behind him.
I thought he retired in 2015 or something
He was not playing lol, he hadn't played in years when he retired
Ronaldinho played a handful of games in 2015 after that it was Futsal so he was done by 2015 offically.
After that he spent some time in prison too just to add some extra colour to his notorious career.
2013 was his last great year with atletico. He was on fire there. then he went to mexico and it was already almost a retirement...
Romario hands down was the most lethal striker. As the saying goes.." When the ball touches Romarios foot in the penalty box it's already a goal"
💯 I remember as a kid seeing him doing a dummy back heel that sent the defender to the shops for him 😂 it was the first ‘skill’ I ever tried out myself as an 8 year old. It worked a treat for creating space.
Wow
Socrates is a legend
Very entertaining video. Honorable mention to Eden Hazard? Granted, he's not an extreme case (King) or a particularly inspiring one (Socrates), he just had a reputation for being laid-back and took A LOT of punishment in matches. I remember reading about him telling a concerned (envious?) teammate, following a particularly lax training session. "Don't worry. I am the boss". It sounds like arrogance, but I think from him it was confidence and more importantly, a determination not to let fun get sucked out of he game he loved.
Truly Ronaldinho was a soccer genius
Is it just me or anyone else noticed that Brazillians and Argentines are just naturally good at football? Even Maradona and Pele were heavy in partying and didn't need much physical training still these footballers were absolute class and destroyed their opponents like in most cases European footballers train and work hard to reach a certain stage to play however seems like 🇧🇷🇦🇷 are just naturally gifted to play well
It's weird because they have spanish/portuguese and japanese genetics. It must be the culture.
@@user-yc3fw6vq5n i would say they have more african and native genertics than japanese
@@CristianRodriguez99999 Brazil had a large influx of Japanese migrants
@@user-yc3fw6vq5n im not denying that but they are definitely more rooted in african and native cultures,
TALENT IS SAME WORLDWIDE ,THE DIFFERENCE COMES IN TRAINING, TYPE OF FOOTBALL PLAYED IN THE STREETS, ESPECIALLY IN THE YOUNG YEARS....
Quality work, thanks.
Reminds me of a classmate back in high school. A serial prankster; a mega nuisance in the class, never on time with school work (sometimes didn't do at all) , never focus, and hyperactive. When came to exam performances, he was always within the Top 5. Good Grief man!!!
Ronaldinho trained so hard when he was a little child.
You weren't kidding about Brazilians and training! Nearly half the list are Brazilians 🤣🤣🤣
And all of them were World Cup winners, I honestly don’t know how we do it.
*all but Socrates
Maradona is definitely a notable mention😂👌🏽
José Manuel Moreno had its brazilian counterpart at the time, and equally legendary. Heleno de Freitas was a talented striker that also was a lawyer, womanizer, gambling addict, alcoholic and drug addict, also had a bad temper on the pitch, getting on brawls even with team mates and managers alike. When he passed away struck by syphilis aged only 39, many journalists claimed that his death was the day that football died
Explains why Ronaldhino aged very quickly
16:26 Flying kites in the favelas is sometimes a way of alerting drug dealers that the police is coming, maybe that's what Romario's father meant.
Le Tissier might be a shout for this list.
A video where you look into players who won; player of the year, golden boot etc in the same season their teams were relegated
best premier league players by number
I don’t if anybody knows, but Socrates played his final match for Garforth Town, in the 7th tier of English football.
wasn t he 50 years old by then? Definitely in my top 3 all time
@@danieldossantos6847gullit zidane pirlo r9 messi neymar adriano seedorf punching the air rn
Gotta be some Ledley King in here
Those River shirts that button all the way down are dope
Rhonaldhino trained plenty when he was young with his father and brother.
Indeed Paul Mcgrath was among the first of Alex Ferguson's disciplinary casualties who wanted to bring complete professionalism to Man Utd as opposed to the players best friend approach that Ron Atkinson took but Ferguson simply wasn't having any of the party lifestyle and when you look at the success he had as manager of Man Utd was the correct approach to take.
Ronaldo is like a zip folder, he compressed his career and achievements in a few years. That's more than some folks would achieve in their lifetime.
Sócrates was a hell of a man. His younger brother Rai is cut from the same cloth. He also was a hell of a player and role model.
Congrats on 501k subs
Allie always finds a way to sneak in our favorite Brazilian comrade 😉
You forgot to mention. Ronaldinho was the person to hit 1M views on TH-cam.. whilst he was training.
Ledley's case is just hearthbreaking.
King's injury is tragic. Must have done horrible damage with his career.
It ruined his career he could easily have been better than Terry and Ferdinand
@@timsmith1323 They were top notch defenders as well. I wouldn't say easily, but there was a good chance of it. I mean when fit he was at least as good as Sol Cambell and it is unfortunate Spurs never got to seriously build off of them as a pairing. King only geting 1 real season in the last year Campbell was at Spurs.
Finally a video that doesn't praise Messi or Cr7.
Pele, Maradona, R9, Ronaldinho, Zidane. Top 5 greatest footballers
Ronaldo wasn't called a phenom for no reason. He is literally the definition of born different. His injuries might just be one of the biggest misfortunes for the fans of football, as we were all robbed of what could have genuinely been one of the players in the discourse for Best of all Time
He is still in that discourse though. Probably not topping it (due to the injury), but he's up there with the five-ten names always mentioned. Watching him in the nineties was pure magic. He transcended the sport like Michael Jordan did for basketball.
Good one BRO
Once again I'm petitioning for a title "What is going on at Arsenal" I would honestly love to hear your opinion and the research you will come up with
You forgot the greatest player of all time.Diego maradona.He almost never showed up for training especially at napoli.And on the rare occasion he did show up he was still drunk or on drugs and did not train like the others it was only light training.This is why he stood out so much in the 86 world cup because he actually did train and went to bed early etc
In Brazil kites are flown above the rooftops in the Favelas to signal drug deliveries to or availability between the parties involved in the drug trade. That might be the reference to kite flying from Rosario’s father.
All Ireland and Aston Villa fans know how incredible Paul McGrath was.
Like your videos and your edge too. Thumbs up!
System tells me to reply and I giz this would be one. But I aint got no telegram machine and wouldnt know which message to send either. Like your cut the crap approach, u should be with the BBC or with the Guardian.
You are missing Jorge Mágico González at Cádiz - La Liga, that guy even sleep in the haft time break
Should be on the list or at least get an Honorable mention Jorge “magico” Gonzalez the Cadiz magician from El Salvador
Tommy Docherty had a wealth of football stories and anecdotes, some of which are no less funny for being completely untrue but he once claimed that before his time at Old Trafford, Dennis Law never trained.
Cool video Mate 👍🇦🇺👍
The title of this video should be "Romario and 6 other world class footballers who didn't train"
This is what really happened to Neymar career. I actually thought about this topic a year ago.
When I watch his games he always play decent it's actually rare he having a bad match. That's bcoz of the natural talent he got or the reason Samba. They can literally dominate every game and starred out in his own team. Bt when I watching him play he literally doing same things over and over in every game. Dominating opposition, skills, dribbles using the talent he got, rather than improving the weakness he got in areas like finishing, aerials, physic etc. You can only improve your weakness by hard training and concentration. I'm only talking about individual training not team drills.
Like all other player's he trains too bt not too care about his weaknesses and the importance of training in present football.
This season is bit different he actually improved his finishing. That's a good sign.
the thing about neymar and other brazilian players (which is why there are so many brazilian players in this list of players who don't train) is that, culturally, we (i'm brazilian) view football as an art form and not a science - and it is, of course, a science of sorts, which is why training is so important when it comes to improving at it. personally i understand that, but many brazilians and brazilian players don't. players like neymar view football as something that comes naturally, something that should be fun, and not something that should feel burdensome or like a responsibility - again, because they see it as art and not science. that does hinder his potential a bit, in my opinion, just as it hinders the potential of other brazilian players. i think that as a nation, if we want to keep winning world cups at this level and at this point in history, we have to instill a new culture in our country that favors hard work and training, because that's for sure not the norm right now - we think great players are born great, we see them as football artists, when in actuality they could be much better if they, y'know... took training seriously.
@@gunnerlia you're pretty much right.
I'd think Brazil needs to step upto the occasion a little bit. Sometimes you need individual game changing moments from a player. Rather than doing same things over and over. It should only done through hard drills when comes to the big occasion. Brazil now playing good football as a team even without Neymar. Bt that won't win them titles. I'm talking about attack. Almost every Europeans teams has rock solid backline. They probably knew how to beat an all-out attacking teams like Brazil for eg. - with proper sit back and counter strategies. The players improve their pace, control, finishing almost every weakness they've got through proper individual training. That's helps them to adapt to any situations in a game and to be more clinical upfront. They can rise to the occasion. I'd think Brazil team lacks that for more years now. Against Belgium, or Argentina at final the whole team fail to the situation and everyone pass the ball to Neymar the single player only can change a little bit. The only time when he saw space through belgium backline he took a shot bt courtois denied it. Now that's that single player can't change a match. Brazil need more players who to step up to the occasion.
@@gunnerlia hi bro, Brazil are out. Again by a European team. Do you think tite is the right manager for the Brazil team?
I think Brazil need a strict-control manager who implement new culture, a proper ambition squad. A european manager would be more better imo. Is fans accept any non-brazilian manager?
Brazil never gonna play any other European team for next 4 years at this level, intensity. Maybe In friendlies. So the better way is to appoint a european manager who knew the culture of European teams.
@@yadukrishnam8139 gimme like 5 hours to answer this i'm still crying profusely
@@yadukrishnam8139 aight, here we go. no, i don't think tite is right for the brazil team anymore. he did a great job, but great isn't perfect, and perfect was what we needed to win the world cup. he had his chance. however, i think brazilians would be hard-pressed to accept an european coach... again, because of our culture and the way we view ourselves in relation to football. to be quite honest brazilians think we are better at football than everyone else, so it'd be hard for both the team and the fans to accept a coach who they'd deem as "inferior" for not being brazilian. also, i think it'd hurt our egos, because it'd be like saying "oh well, seems like there's no good coaches in brazil anymore, so we need to look abroad". but i think that's what's gonna happen - that is, i do think an european manager is going to take over from here on out, and i also think it's the best option for the seleção, both because it'd make us more acquainted with the european playstyle AND because european coaches tend to be less laid-back and more focused/strict/rigorous when it comes to training and stuff like that, which is definitely what we need. it'll be a HARD hard adaptation process though because like i said in my first comment, brazilians just don't think about football this way and also as a people we tend to be very very VERY stubborn. but i think great things could come of it and hopefully 2026 or 2030 will be ours :)
Day 435: make a new channel called HITC Svens and only make content about people called Sven
That's why Ronaldinho only lasted 10 years on the world stage because he never took training seriously.
I don’t think any of them did not train hard when they were younger but once they got to a certain level they did not have to. But you don’t get to that level without a lot of hard work in your youth so this is taking it out of perspective.
Another excellent vidro Alfie just wondering have you heard the controversy surrounding the celebrations of the Ireland's Women's National Team qualifying for the World Cup? Would love to hear your opinion.P
Video Request: *The 7 Greatest Players of All Time (Updated)*
Forgot about Mané Garrincha
Well what would happen if players never trained and just played more games? Would this lead to more Taarabts and Ben Arfas and less Milners and Hendersons? I like the sound of that tbh :D
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:16 7. Ronaldinho
4:09 6. Paul McGrath
6:45 5. Ronaldo (R9)
8:51 4. Sócrates
11:15 3. José Manuel Moreno
13:18 2. Ledley King
15:03 1. Romário
16:55 Outro
Thanks!
Without the injuries Ledley King would have been Englands first choice centreback
Hi Alfie as a Brazilian i love your video. The coup in 1964 was a military anti-democratic coup but it was not a fascist one. It was an primarly anti-communist military regime funded by the United States. However you cannot compare it to Nazi Germany or Italy
i knew ledley king had to be on this list as he,s a true case of what could have been if only !
If you think Romario was lazy, you should include my all-time favorite player - Michael Laudrup. Cruyff hated him and benched him a lot and also explain how lazy he was. That is the same guy who coach Romario in Barcelona.
Make one about most hardworking players who are also a great player.
Romario is my favorite player of all time .
Sad I wasn't on the list. Despite never training I have not lost a single game of football when I played. I have also not played any games of football (except FIFA, FIFA Manager and a bit of Football Manager), but that doesn't count.
At least I'm not Romario, who is actually part of Bolsonaros party and in the brazilian senate for them (there are like 30 parties so he had enough options). Instead I suggest:
Day 19:
The biggest wins in every european top flight (Athletic Bilbio 12-1 FC Barcelona; Gladbach 12-0 Dortmund; Ajax 13-0 VVV Venlo).
Imagine if ronaldinho had cristiano's mentality and dedication
He'd have thrown his skills and dribbling behind and turned into a tap in penalty merchant by the end of the day.
What about Matthew Le Tissier. Just look at him. He was chubby. But I guess there's very few in Southampton who think about that regarding Matthew Le Tissier
My team wasn't Southampton, but you just had to love Le Tissier as a player. He could pass short, long out wide to both side. And many screamers from outside 16-meters. Someone told me that in Southampton they put Le Tissier as number 1. God is number 2
some greats on this list
Brazilians are so proud right now
Those 7 stars they were talented
@16:25 Flying a kite in Brazil could be precarious with all those unauthorized wooden power lines around the less affluent parts and even affluent parts that still had no underground power but above ground poles...
Admit it.. you're only here for ronaldinho ❤
Ronaldinho is the greatest to ever dribble a football
Why doesn't he get mentioned in the same breath as Messi and CR7.?