Here isa my own Top 5 African Players of all time

1, Samuel Eto'o
2, George Weah
3, Didier Drogba
4, Abedi Pele
5, Kanu Nwankwo

mikeapollo: Yeah, I would agree that Eto played at the highest level, but I am referring to players that were in an era that was close to or same as that of Abedi/Weah. Eto/Drogba became hits much later after Weah/Abedi have long retired, so I did not compare them.
Please, note that I am not just talking about goal scoring(which grabs all the attention/publicity/awards).Strikers are naturally advantaged in that regard. Eto and Weah were very good strikers who scored a lot of goals, so naturally,they would most probably win more awards(FIFIA encourages goals).
But Abedi was a midfielder who had a knack for scoring incredible wonder goals out of individual brilliance, as if he was a striker. Am talking about overall abilities, including goal scoring,dribble,defending,playmaking,motivating and carrying a team on his shoulders with individual performance....the complete football artistry on the field of play that motivates teams mates for results......
Even at the twilight of his career, he dusted players like Gullit and Baggio when he played against them in the Italian league. He was voted the best foreign player in the Italian league in 1994 when the likes of Gullit, Rikaard etc were playing actively. That was a season before Weah was voted best world player in 1995,

Abedi was voted best foreign player in Italy for a single season because of his performance for Torino in 94 and faded after that season till he left Torino in '96, Gullit and and Baggio are legends for AC Milan and Inter respectively and are far ahead of Abedi whose only notable achievement was the '93 Champions league triumph at age 38.
Baggio is a legend with the Italian national team,Bologna,Inter Milan,AC Milan and Inter same goes for Gullit who set the Italian league alight along side Van Basten and Rajkaard,they were miles ahead of Abedi.
Abedi was called to the national team at 16 because Ghana had no pace winger at that time,if he was so respected as you claimed how come he received just 10 votes in '99 to placed 9th best in the world in '93 at age 38 years while Kanu got 39 votes in '96 to placed 6th best in the world at age 20.
Kanu also made his Eagles debut in '94 at age 18


The 1996 FIFA World Player of the Year award
was won by Ronaldo, the youngest player to ever win
the award aged just 20.
Results
Player
Points
1
Ronaldo
329 PSV → Barcelona
2
George Weah
140 Milan
3
Alan Shearer
123 Blackburn Rovers → Newcastle United
4
Matthias Sammer
109 Borussia Dortmund
5
Jürgen Klinsmann
54 Bayern Munich
6
Nwankwo Kanu
32 Ajax → Internazionale
7
Paolo Maldini
25 Milan
8
Davor Šuker
24 Sevilla → Real Madrid
9
Gabriel Batistuta
19 Fiorentina
10
Romário
13 Flamengo → Valencia
11
Zvonimir Boban
11 Milan
12
Kalusha Bwalya
9 América
13
Éric Cantona
9 Manchester United
14
Roberto Carlos
8 Internazionale→ Real Madrid
15
Predrag Mijatović
8 Valencia → Real Madrid
16
Giovanni
7 Santos → Barcelona
17
Alessandro Del Piero
6 Juventus
18
Youri Djorkaeff
6 Paris Saint-Germain → Internazionale
19
Karel Poborský
6 Slavia Prague → Manchester United
20
Dejan Savićević
6 Milan


The 1993 FIFA World Player of the Year award
was won by Roberto Baggio.
Results
Men
Rank
Player
Points
Team
1
Roberto Baggio
152
Juventus
2
Romário
84
PSV
Barcelona
3
Dennis Bergkamp
58
Ajax
Internazionale
4
Peter Schmeichel
29
Manchester United
5
Hristo Stoichkov
22
Barcelona
6
Faustino Asprilla
21
Parma
7
Bebeto
16
Deportivo La Coruña
8
Ronald Koeman
15
Barcelona
9
Tony Yeboah
13
Eintracht Frankfurt
10
Raí
12
São Paulo
Paris Saint-Germain
v


Kanu remained the only African player to be ranked 6th in world at age 20 beating top players like Batistuta,Romario,Paolo Maldini,Eric Cantona and so many more,,at 18 Kanu played 54 games for Ajax and called 25 goals.
When Madrid signed Eto'o at same age he didn't perform as Kanu did because he was loaned to Real Mallorca after 3 years but Kanu was playing for the greatest team on the planet at that time and did excellently well to earn himself a $4.8m transfer to Inter at just 19 years,you call that a fluke or amazing talent.

mikeapollo: Yeah, I would agree that Eto played at the highest level, but I am referring to players that were in an era that was close to or same as that of Abedi/Weah. Eto/Drogba became hits much later after Weah/Abedi have long retired, so I did not compare them.
Please, note that I am not just talking about goal scoring(which grabs all the attention/publicity/awards).Strikers are naturally advantaged in that regard. Eto and Weah were very good strikers who scored a lot of goals, so naturally,they would most probably win more awards(FIFIA encourages goals).
But Abedi was a midfielder who had a knack for scoring incredible wonder goals out of individual brilliance, as if he was a striker. Am talking about overall abilities, including goal scoring,dribble,defending,playmaking,motivating and carrying a team on his shoulders with individual performance....the complete football artistry on the field of play that motivates teams mates for results......
Even at the twilight of his career, he dusted players like Gullit and Baggio when he played against them in the Italian league. He was voted the best foreign player in the Italian league in 1994 when the likes of Gullit, Rikaard etc were playing actively. That was a season before Weah was voted best world player in 1995,

On the first part my bad. I thought you were not only comparing but implying Abedi being far ahead of the likes of Drogba/Eto'o. In which case my point stands. Weah and Eto'o ahead of Abedi.

Not taking anything away from Abedi and his playing achievement. In my books he is the third best African player of all time however he lags behind those two aforementioned players.

Btw, Rijkaard had left Milan for Ajax by the time Abedi signed for Torino. Also If Memory serves me right he had one really good season and another very mediocre one.

Abedi went to Torino at 30 and was already past it then

But Abedi at marseille was King and the best African player of the late 80's early 90's

I still remember how he tormented Nigeria at Senegal 92 when Aloy Agu was chasing his glancing header all over the place.

All Nigerian players were clasing Abedi while prince Opoku Polley and Ibrahim Ali were screwing us

dayokanu: Abedi went to Torino at 30 and was already past it then

But Abedi at marseille was King and the best African player of the late 80's early 90's

I still remember how he tormented Nigeria at Senegal 92 when Aloy Agu was chasing his glancing header all over the place.

All Nigerian players were clasing Abedi while prince Opoku Polley and Ibrahim Ali were screwing us

Ofcourse he was like most African players are at that age. His best days as we all well know were at O'M. However saying he beasted throughout his stay at Torino is just not true(He had one great season)

You don't see me arguing that he was no the best African player during that period and as I have already stated he is ranked no3 in my list just not ahead of Sammy and Weah.

Folks, try and get what I am saying: in terms of awards/laurels won, Weah and Eto Fils can be said to have achieved more than Abedi. Weah and Eto benefited from the change in European football rules in 1995. Africans,South Americans and other non-European citizens became eligible for nomination/selection for the European footballer of the year award in 1995, which was a critical factor when players are to be nominated or voted for FIFA WFPOY award.
Without that change of rule in 1995, Weah would not have been considered for European footballer of the year in 1995(and that could probably have robbed him the FIFA WFPOY award). Eto was also voted in the top 3-5 players in Europe at some periods in his career which enhanced his world ratings.
If you consider the fact that Abedi was better than some of the players that won European footballer of the year between 1991-1994, then you would realise what I am saying.The rules at that time worked against him.

The question you need to ask is:how difficult was it for an African player to make it in Europe at time Weah/Abedi etc started playin, compared to later years of Eto/Kanu?. How many African players were shortlisted in the world top 10 players by FIFA between 1990-1992? How many players would be shortlistelisted at that time, even when such a player had not played at the world cup and his team(OM) did not win the European Champions League? How many? It must take an extra-ordinary and consistent performance on the field before you can be listed. George Weah was also doing great but Abedi was ahead of him.

Things were much easier for African players during the era of Eto/Kanu. A lot of youth under-age tournaments had been introduced by FIFA to discover talents early, and we all know that Eto and Kanu etc benefitted from such innovations. But Abedi, Weah and the older generations never had that opportunity/privilege, so you must be extremely good to be discovered and given a chance to play in Europe, mostly when you are already in your 20s. Eto, Kanu etc had the opportunity to play in Europe at a much younger age, and for a team like Barcelona/Ajax ect that won a lot of laurels. The U-17/U-20 tournaments introduced by FIFA made way for a lot players in the Eto/Kanu/Sammy Kuffour era. A player like Odartey Lamptey who played at the 1991 U-17 Championship has some good number of laurels to his name because the tournament opened ways for him to play early in Europe. Players like Lamptey, Kuffuor, Kuffuor Eto etc would not have been able to achieve as muchas they did if not for the U-17 platform.
But Abedi was winning INDIVIDUAL awards DESPITE the fact that Ghana did not qualify for World Cup,and Marseilles did not win the CL league between 1990-1992.
Form is temporary. But I am talking about CLASS or the QUALITY!. About OVERALL football SKILSS and ABILITIES!Abedi was more skillful than Weah, Eto, Drogba, Okocha, anytime anyday.He was a playmaker and scorer of unbelievable goals. No wonder he was more popular than Weah and all other African players of his era when they were in their prime in France,Germany, Holland, Belgium etc.
If FIFA could include him in the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he has not been to the world cup, then we should just accept how great he was as a player. He is an household name in FIFA, for people like Sepp Blatter, Beckenbeaur,Pele,Joao Havelange etc all
I conceed to the fact that Weah and Eto won more laurels, but there were factors that made it so, not because they were better than Abedi!

Granted the likes of Weah and Eto'o benefited from those aforementioned rule changes but we will kidding ourselves if we thought Abedi was ever going to win that award. He was not good enough. Simple as. He was never going to win it.

You say Abedi wa better than some of the ballon d'or winners between 1991-1994 but I ask which one of those players was he better than? Robby Baggio?...Van Basten or Stoichkov? I don't think so. The only ballon d'or player you could say he was at his level during that period was Papin and yes as you guessed it Papin was the better player. Marseille fans can attest to that. Yes Abedi was more skilful but a better player, I highly doubt that.

Abedi was ahead of Weah in the late 80's and early 90's but overall Weah was simply the better player. Granted the change rules helped the likes of Sammy kuffour and Kanu to place highly on the list even with that Abedi was never ever going to win either award. Unlike Weah who not only won both in 1995 but placed also placed second in 1996(FIFA). And pls don't give this crap about Marseille not winning in 1990-92 cuz neither did Milan or Monaco win CL during Weah's tenure at both clubs. Infact he was at a disadvantage because unlike Ghana's relatively star studded, Liberia wher shitty in comparison. Also considering the fact weah did not start playing football in europe til he reached 26 I wonder how much better he would have been.

Abedi pele was a more skilful player than Eto'o,,Weah,Drogba and Okocha but is simply not the first two players I mentioned. After all Denilson was more skilful than Rivaldo and Kaka but was never in a million years the better player. Mind you Drogba is fast catching him up on the list of Africa greatest if not already ahead(would probably be by the time his playing career is over). Their Individual laurels allied to their individual brilliance is what IMO makes them the better players.

Nigeria as a country has won numerous valuable tournanment prizes in the african football realm compare to ghana.

Musyus: Nigeria as a country has won numerous valuable tournanment prizes in the african football realm compare to ghana.

African Nations cup: Nigeria 2; Ghana 4
Olympics: Nigeria 1; Ghana 0
U-20 World cup: Nigeria 0; Ghana 1
U-17 World Cup: Nigeria 3; Ghana 2
World cup appearance: Nigeria 4; Ghana 2
World Cup best performance: Nigeria, 2nd round; Ghana, Q/Final


So, where did you get your fact sir?

@Jarus,

You seem to follow the idea that any player(striker) that scores more goals(and almost certainly wins more awards) is better than a midfielder that scores less goals! That cannot always be true. One way to prove this is to compare which player that had the highest number of 'Most-Valuable Player of the Match' in all the matches in a season, and then compare to which player gets selected or wins the 'Best Player of The Season'. In most cases, the Best Player Award of the season(UEFA/FIFA/CAF etc) goes to the highest goal scorer, not necessarilty to the player that had the highest number of MVP in all the matches of the season. The reason is the goal scorers naturally grab the awards/attention/headlines.
Papin was the top scorer for Marseilles, but Abedi was the top play-maker for the team. His performance on the field determined what happens to the team on most occassions.Abedi won the highest number 'Man of the Match ' but Papin scored more goals for Marseilles. To me, I would rate a player(midfielder) that won the highest number of 'Man of the Match' higher than a player(striker) that just scored more goals

I know for sure that the quality/performance of Abedi of 1991/92 was better than that of Stoichkov or Alan Shearer or even the quality/performance that won the WFPOY for Weah in 1995. There was relatively less competition (performance-wise) among the top players in the world, and Weah's humanitarian activities of sponsoring the Liberian national team and using football to make peace during the war played more role(than his on-the-field performance) in his emergence as WFPOY. That is the real truth, although we are all happy that an African won it!

Even in France, where both Abedi and Weah played in their prime, it is well known fact by all that Abedi was a better player than Weah, even though they were both at the top. Weah was at PSG/AC Milan, two teams that were active in the Champions League in 1995(plus his peace-making/humanitarian activities in Liberia), while Abedi was at Torino that was in the top 5-7 position in Italy, so the odds favoured Weah that years, especially when Abedi was going down in form!
I can accept that Weah/Eto are two players that probably won more awards than Abedi, and MAY be rated above him in terms of NUMBER OF AWARDS won, but NOT in terms of OVERALL FOOTBALL PLAYING ABILITIES......goalscoring, defending, play-making, skills, scoring individual brilliant goals out of nothing etc, all combined!

You are now starting to overrate this Abedi Pele of a bloke. Infact I think you are starting to look desperate in your defence of Abedi.
There is no way Abedi's performance was better than Stoichkov's. Quite a number of analyst actually viewed stoichkov as Barca's most important player during that period. So you are kidding no one by insinuating Abedi's performance was better. It simply wasn't. I doubt it was any better than Shearer's(Shearer did not the win award btw).

Now onto Weah winning the award partly due to his humanitarian role in the war, pls don't crack me up. Do you think they take sentiments into consideration when handing out these awards(most especially the Ballon D'or) ? Dude this is not the African Player of the Year award. This is the Ballon D'or the most respected individual award of the lot. They give these awards based solely on their performances ON THE PITCH(not off it as you claimed) and Weah won it. Even though some might not agree with winners, if we looked at it objectively, we could see the reason why they won the award in the first place.Abedi could have played til he reached Metusellah's age and still would not have won it.

Ofcourse there was a certain period in their career when Abedi was viewed as the better player(his three consecutive APY is testiment to that) but that does not mean he still seen as the overall better player. Del piero was also seen as superior to Zizou at one point in their career but do u hear anyone claiming he is superior now. Dude let's not deceive ourselves here Eto'o and Weah were better players. Abedi might have been more skilful but those two were better(Denilson is also superior to Kaka in terms of Skills but is he the better player?....Quaresma is superior to Figo in terms of skills but is he the better player?......I could go on and on).

The whole wide world knows that ON THE FIELD of PLAY......over the span of their respective careers, the best football perfomances of Abedi was better than the best football performances of Weah.
But the best of Abedi between 1990-93 did not win the WFPOY (because of more quality contestants), while the best of Weah in 1995 won the WFPOY.

It is like a student that scored 80% and came fifth in a class(because of very high competition/performers), and another student that scored 70% and came first in another class(because of less competitive contestants).

Go and assemble a collection of what they both played ON THE FIELD, and see what I am talking about. It is a well known fact in France and even FIFA

Let me use this question to test/confirm my analogy!

Yaya Toure and Essien!
Yaya has probably won more titles/laurels(at Barcelona) and has just won CAF's Player of the Year!

But let me ask you.....who is a better ALL-ROUND PLAYER, between Essien and Yaya Toure?!
Compare the best of Essien's performances against the best performances of Yaya Toure, and give me the answer!

I believe Essien is (abi na was) the better player of the duo. Essien was unfortunate to have Eto'o and Drogba at their peaks too when he was also in his peak. Yaya Toure, Adebayor and Kanoute are other AFotY winners that are just above average, just happened to shine when there was no world class challenger.

Jarus,
God bless you my brother! Exactly the same analogy I was trying to explain as regards Abedi and Weah.

On paper, Yaya Toure has won more laurels and even won CAF's African Player of the Year, which Essien has not won, but only someone ignorant about football that would say Yaya was/is better than Essien.

In future, those who did not see/watch the real performance/abilities of the players ON THE FIELD would only refer to the awards won and say that Yaya was/is better than Essien. They would just be using the awards won by Yaya to judge that he was better.
Those who really watched/saw Abedi in his best days would agree that he was better than the best of Weah

Abeg Abedi's best days where not better jare. If they were he would smelt the Fifa World Player Of The Year but he did not.
Let's forget about winning for the winning award for a sec cuz we all know not in his slightest dream did he ever have any chance of achieving that.
Why didn't he ever place in top 3?.....You know why? Because he was good enough.
Abedi is good but let's not romanticize the idea of how good he was.
It would have been much clearer who the better player was had Weah had a remotely good national side. Unfortunately he never did.

@topic ghana is better overall than based on their AFCON Won(4 times) and perfomance @ world cup(q-finals).

Abedi better than okocha talent/skill and technique wise!? I weep in twi if u are talking who was more consitent, professional played for better clubs/made better career choices u might have a point but other than that even in abedi's dreams is he in anyway better than JJ. Infact he's not fit to wash okocha's boots let alone tie his shoe laces. Have u seen jj perfomances @ the WC 94, 98, 2002(biggest world stage)? His goals for his modest clubs? Jj at his peak is damn near unmatchable. Dk remember usa 94 against italy, or france 98 against spain, bulgaria denmark? Or japan/korea 2002 against all our group opponents? And u still compare him to odartey lamptey!!? Ah ah na be fair to jj is without doubt the most skillful talented player to ever come out of africa. His lack of laurels/awardsclub wise is down to ill-luck,wrong club choices(agreed self inflicted). I have seen jj disgrace(not just out play o I mean humiliate) world class perfomers like roy keane, luis enrinque, oliver kahn etc at NT level he's won the AFCON ONCE,a silver several bronze medals(note nigeria was banned during some of this period) won olympic gold went and performed outstandingly @ 3 WC. Wereas abedi won one AFCON (as a teenage bench warmer) led ghana to one final and several tournaments of weeping and gnashing of teeth (when he was supposed to be at his peak) won lge titles with marseilles(most of which were tainted by match-fixing scandals) won african footballer of the year 3 times(when the award was being sponsored by a french soccer magazine go figure!) If u even mentioned kalusha bwalya I would have listened to u small but abedi? Mtcwwww abeg abeg

If its by senseless driblles then Denilson should be the best player in the world

If its by driblling everyone go and check Saheed owairans goal in US 1994.

Great players are not known by their ability to dribble but making good decisions

JJ is not top 5 in Nigeria and shouldnt be compared to Abedi Pele not even to Kanu

Guy u say jj is all about dribbles? Ok for sake of argument let's compare and contrast jj has dribbling skills, deadball delivery(free-kicks corners etc) passing ability, shot accuracy, vision big game player, has delivered when needed most. As for kanu dribbles yes shoting ability fair above average dead ball skills(pls don't make me laugh) passing ability excellent vision ok big game player? Rarely turns up and u dey compare am to jj? Pesin wey no use mistake score half a goal @ AFCON tourney abbeeeggg. Is jj a nice guy maybe not is he a selfish S.O.B Probably not but give the guy his due his talent no get rival

How many goals has Messi scored at the World cup?

If Okocha was that good, He would be playing for top clubs not the likes of Bolton, Hull City and Fenerbahce or Frankfurt

Join us the true Naija Real Madrid Fans.
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Chic2pimp/Ayusco,

You people know little about Abedi, so dont say much. Okocha is a baby to Abedi. Even Weah cannot say he was better than Abedi. Did you watch the 1991/92/93 European Champions League? I doubt it. DStv was not widely available in Nigeria (and most African countries)at that time.Please, also go watch the French League of the same period before you come talk anything.

You want to compare Okocha with senseless, unproductive dribbles with Abedi? Okocha was even always a substitute under Westerhof when Eagles were at their best.It was one of his stupid, selfish plays that made him lose the ball to the Italians who counter-attacked and scored the equaliser against us at USA 94.
All the did at France 98 was to do glory-seeking leg overs that yielded nothing to the team. You may say he was the best Nigerian player at France 98, but he cannot come near Abedi.
Great world players like Pele, Frank Beckenbeur, Platini,Tigana have all acknowledged Abedi as the most gifted all-round player in Africa. Weah won FIFA award in 1995 at a time when Abedi had lost form, but when you compare the two of them, the best of Abedi in his hey deys were better than George Weah in 1995/96. Okocha does not come near them.....remember Okocha was even below Yeboah when they were at Frankfurt, yet Abedi was better than Yeboah!

It is an insult to football to even say Okocha was equal to or better than Abedi!

Mikeappollo I watched the 93 uefa chmp lge final and abedi did not do shiaaat no be the match wey basile boli score? Abeeeegi if ur abedi was so fantastic why couldn't he lead ghana to any WC OR ANY AFCON win? Ur hero is so self cofident he had to add PELE to his name to validate himself! Wereas jj okocha is so recognizable even blind monks in the himalayas know who he is!

mikeapollo: Chic2pimp/Ayusco,

You people know little about Abedi, so dont say much. Okocha is a baby to Abedi. Even Weah cannot say he was better than Abedi. Did you watch the 1991/92/93 European Champions League? I doubt it. DStv was not widely available in Nigeria (and most African countries)at that time.Please, also go watch the French League of the same period before you come talk anything.

Mr Know It All AKA Abedi Pele's son

The little I know is probably more than you'll ever know so let's not go there. [size=15pt]Where in all of my posts did I ever say Okocha was a better player?[/size] Ofcourse you can't find it because I never said that. All I said was that Weah(not Okocha) was the better player and that statement still stands. Let's for a minute assume I did not watch the 1991/1992/1993 ECL, was his performances in that competition any better than say Deco's from 2003-2006? Ofcourse not so pls cut the crap. Go and watch Marseille's Match fixing tainted era? Nah i'll pass on that. When Abedi ever places in that top 5 of the FPOTY Award, get back to me.

Also can you post me links of those supposed players calling Abedi Africa's greatest ever player. I'd dearly love to see it. A wild guess would say you are making that up. It is widely acknowledged that Weah is at worst in the top two of Africa's greatest ever. That would have been even more clearer had Weah been fortunate to play in a moderately good national team.

ayusco: Mikeappollo I watched the 93 uefa chmp lge final and abedi did not do shiaaat no be the match wey basile boli score? Abeeeegi if ur abedi was so fantastic why couldn't he lead ghana to any WC OR ANY AFCON win? Ur hero is so self cofident he had to add PELE to his name to validate himself! Wereas jj okocha is so recognizable even blind monks in the himalayas know who he is!

Did George Best lead his country to the world cup, What of Ryan Giggs? George Weah, David Ginola, What of Di Stefano

Okocha is not fit to clean Abedi Peles boot wherever football is being discussed

Ayusco,
Did you really watch the 1993 European Champions League final? Who won the Man-Of-The-Match award? Go online and find out. Before and apart from the final match, how many other matches of Olympic Marseilles did you watch?

Did you watch the 1991 Champions League Q-Final when Marseilles defeated AC Milan? Did you watch the semi-final where Abedi scored 2 goals against Spartak Moscow? Did you watch the Final against Red Star Belgrade which Marseilles lost by penalties and Abedi won Man of the match? Please go watch these matches first before you make comments.

Those were years when it was much more difficult for an African player to succeed or be given the opportunity to play in Europe, except you are obviously better. Again, that was a period when there was a quota on the number of foreigners that can play in a team(about 3), unlike now when things are more relaxed now

This is what FIFA says about Abedi on their website....read it

http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=161081/index.html

@dk ryan giggs played for a not so strong welsh team but his contributions to MAN u's dominance are note-worthy
Geogre weah played for a self-service liberia side yet he still qualified them for the nations cup first time in their history and almost took them to japan/korea 2002 if not for nigeria's late resurgence.
Ginola is similar to cantona great players who just couldn't cut it @ NT level
While de stefano was just like messi @ this moment won loads of club football luarels yet couldn't win with the NT but that doesn't take away from his greatness.

Abedi on the other hand played for one of the strongest teams in africa then yet could not lead them to any nations cup win(note some of these were years when nigeria argueably the best team in africa then was absent). Even abedi's club career luarels(french league titles) were tainted by match fixing. After he left marsielles wat else did he achieve in his club career? Zilch! Mikeappolo stop with all this ur man of the match mumbo jumbo next thing u know u'll be saying because osaze won 3 EPL player of the month awards he is now one of the greatest strikers

Ayusco,
Why are you avoiding issues originally raised by yourself? You said in your earlier post that you watched the 1993 Champions League final and that Abedi did not play shaat(your own words)! And I ask you who won the man of the match in that match? Cant you answer the question? Does UEFA give man of the match award to just any player who did not do shaaat?(accoring to your words)? Do you know the calibre of players in both AC Milan and Marseilles that played that match?
Abedi blossomed at a time when Ghana was having problems in their football. Ghana withdrew from internation football from 1984 untill 1990 when they came back to contest for the Senegal 1992 Nations Cup. Abedi almost single-handedly lifted the Ghana team to the final. Go watch his goal against Egypt, Zambia(both won by 1-0 margin) and against Congo in the Q-Final! FIFA compares the goal against Congo to the goal scored by Maradona against England at Mexico 1986 W/Cup as one of the best ever. (http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=161081/index.html)

And do you remember his glancing header goal against the Super Eagles in the Semi-Final match?
Ghana with Abedi on the pitch would have won the cup in the final if he had not been suspended. Everybody acknowledges that.

No Nigerian player comes close to Abedi.....so let's stop deceiving ourselves

Abedi gave all his match allowances at Senegal 92 to the home-based/local players in the BlackStars and also sponsored part of the teams expenses on training tours.
It was the beef between him and a disgruntled Tony Yeboah that caused more problems for the team which affected Ghana's performanc. It is mischebious and shallow minded to use that to speak against Abedi's undeniable vast talent.


Weah won his awards on the strength of his performances for his club and also because of the great humanitarian efforts in using football to preach/promote peace in his war-torn country and also sponsoring his national team (he learnt from Abedi's gesture, but he also went further to shoulder virtually all the expenses of the team(of course, he also got into some beef with some other players in the team which also affected the ascendancy of the Liberian team)

Dont even bring the issue of Nigeria being absent at the time! Nigeria was ALWAYS playing in Nations Cup and W/Cup qualifiers. Who told you that Nigeria was the best/strongest team at that time?It was either Cameroun, Ghana or the North Africans that eliminated us.
Nigeria was at the 1986/88/90 Nations cups which Ghana did not participate in, untill 1992 when THEY BEAT US in the Semi-Final. At the 1994 Nations cup in Tunisia, we were so scared of Ghana that the whole nation/NFA was praying for Cote de Voire to beat Ghana in the Q-Final so that we can handle a less difficult CIV in the S-Final.
Ghana with Abedi, Yeboah, Baffoe, Opokun Polley, Nii Odartey Lamptey and Edward Ansah was a terror team to the Super Eagles and we were dead-scared to play them.A full Super Eagles squad with all our foreign based professionals could not even beat their home-based players in Lagos! It happened in the 1992 qualifier and on some other occassions.

Nigeria had her pound of flesh in later years, but that was when Ghana had serious problems, e.g when they suspended all their foreign based players and we played them 0-0 in Accra, beat them 3-0 at PH for the 2002 W/Cup Qualifier and we gave them $25,000 after the match(some people said it was a bribe), beat them 1-0 at both the 2002 and 2006 Nations Cup(They did not qualify for the 2004 Nations Cup because of their crisis)

Please do your research well and stop deceiving yourself when it comes to football between Ghana and Nigeria. Nigeria was scared of Ghana even when we had our best teams in 1992-1994!

mikeapollo:


Weah won his awards on the strength of his performances for his club and also because of the great humanitarian efforts in using football to preach/promote peace in his war-torn country and also sponsoring his national team (he learnt from Abedi's gesture, but he also went further to shoulder virtually all the expenses of the team(of course, he also got into some beef with some other players in the team which also affected the ascendancy of the Liberian team)

Dude will you spewing poppycocks pls. Who told you Weah won those awards on the back of his humanitarian efforts. Abeg if you don't have evidence to bring to the people pls stop lying.

Weah won those awards because yes he was that good. I know it is hard for you to admit it since Abedi never got close to either awards but son you just have to.

Do you think the Ballon d'or is given out based on sentiments? If it was the great Zidane would have won it more than once considering he is French. I keep reiterating if Weah had had a moderately good national team they would have been much more daylight between the two than there is now.

Also one would have thought Abedi would have led the star studded ghananian team to worldcup qualification once but as we all know He never did.

Chic2pimp,

You seem not to know that on-the-field and off-the-field activities/conducts count in determining who wins or losses an award!
Do you think FIFA would give world footballer to a player that plays well on the field but is always involved in terrible conducts off the field in public e.g violent conducts,battery,figthing, drug addiction etc? Never. So it also works in the positive when a player dispalys exemplary conduct outside the field.
Weah was very good, but what helped me more was those heart-winning exemplary conducts which made him a role-model all over the world. It is like a Nobel Award Winner in the football(FIFA) world.

George Weah performed an unprecedented feat in using football to preach/promote peace in Liberia at a time when virtually all political efforts have failed. He also personally sponsored the team from his pockets. That was exemplary conducts of the field, which also catapulted him above other contenders.

Even Weah won the award based only on his performance on the picth, I still insist that the best of Abedi was better than the best of Weah! They peaked at different times in their career, when the rules were different, and contenders were also different!

@Topic,
I think Ghana is better, both traditionally, and in the current era.
Nigeria only had their golden era during the period when Ghana went into a football slump, the '90s.

They have since picked up, and habitually been eliminating Nigeria from regional competition.