Pele was the best of the lot

In the last of our series on the best World Cup XI, William Johnson explains why the Brazilian striker was so special.

The key figure in what was an exciting crop of Brazilians in the 1970 World Cup, Pele scored six goals, including the opener in a 4-1 final victory over Italy.

Ever since Pele exploded on to the global scene as the youngest player to appear at the World Cup finals, the Brazilian has been winning friends and influencing people. He was four months short of his 18th birthday when he made his senior debut against USSR and by the end of that 1958 tournament he had become a household name, scoring a hat-trick in the semi-final win over France and two more in the final against Sweden, the hosts.

Injured four years later when Brazil defended the Jules Rimet Trophy in Chile, and cynically targeted by tough-tackling Bulgarian opponents when the event was staged in England in 1966, Pele flourished for a second time on the biggest stage of all in Mexico in 1970. The key figure in what was an exciting crop of Brazilians that year, he scored six goals, including the opener in a 4-1 final victory over Italy. Popular wherever he went during an outstanding international career which spanned 14 years and took in 92 matches during which he amassed 77 goals, Pele went on to become a respected ambassador for the game worldwide.

His place in this all-time fantasy XI was never in doubt but there was considerable debate over who should be his strike partner. Diego Maradona, who captained Argentina to glory in 1986 and is now coaching them in South Africa, eventually got the nod over West Germany's Gerd Muller, the arch predator who plundered a staggering 68 goals in 62 international appearances, most of those lethal strikes coming from well inside the penalty area.

Another of a string of outstanding Germans who have graced the World Cup over the years can be considered unfortunate not to have broken into our star-studded midfield quartet of Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Ferenc Puskas. He is Lothar Matthaus, whose magnificent international career of 150 matches covered five World Cups, notably the triumphant 1990 campaign. It was hard to discard a midfield dynamo who holds the appearance record at World Cups (25), but in the end he had to settle for a place on the imaginary substitutes' bench.

Similarly, Carlos Alberto, Brazil's inspirational winning captain in 1970, can feel aggrieved not to have broken into our back line. The marauding defender was versatile enough to take the places of any of our illustrious quartet of Cafu, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore and Paolo Maldini. However, after considerable debate the scorer of a magnificent clinching goal in that Pele-inspired 4-1 triumph over Italy in 1970 was omitted from the final XI.

Goalkeeping deliberations focused on Lev Yashin's credentials to oust the selection of England's Gordon Banks. Banks' excellence in England's winning team of 1966 and his even better displays in the 1970 tournament just tipped the balance over Russia's Yashin and the Italian stalwart Dino Zoff. @Email:[e-mail]