Stars and strikes

The Soccer Saturday panel describe the greatest goals and players they have ever seen at a World Cup.

Maradona? Pele? Hurst? We look at some top players and goals...

It's not long until the World Cup kicks off - and our panel of experts are here to tell you exactly what you can expect in South Africa. Here on skysports.com, we've brought together the studio stars of Soccer Saturday - Jeff Stelling, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas - to share their thoughts on football's showpiece tournament. In the coming days they'll bring you their tips on the players and teams to look out for in South Africa - as well as debating some of the big World Cup talking points. And in the latest column we asked them to debate the greatest goal ever scored in the World Cup - as well as the best player to ever grace the biggest stage of them all.

skysports.com: The world's best players are heading to South Africa this summer, but who do you think is the greatest player to ever grace the World Cup? MATT: All the goalscorers stand out. You look at Paolo Rossi in 1982, Toto Schillaci in 1990, Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer in the 1970's... there's plenty to choose from. Pele was before my lifetime in all fairness, so I'm hard pressed to look past Diego Maradona as the greatest ever footballer. I'd have to go for him. THOMMO: I would say Maradona as well. He may have had a fall from grace, but he singlehandedly won the 1986 tournament for Argentina and you're not going to see many more perfect performances like the ones he gave then. CHARLIE: Agreed. You have to remember that was a time when the best players in the world were always marked. Managers sent their teams out and would sometimes put two players on Maradona, but he was the type of guy who could do anything. As we saw with his second goal against England in 1986, he could pick the ball up on the half-way line and you'd think there was no danger whatsoever and all of a sudden he'd put the ball back of your net. The ball was probably never more than six inches from his foot. It was remarkable. MERSE: I agree. Maradona by a mile. He was the best footballer I've ever seen. The best of the best. That goal against England will never be seen again in world football. Then in the next round against Belgium he scored another phenomenal goal. He finished it off without falling over and I still can't figure out how he managed to keep his balance. CHARLIE: That's why we're all talking about Lionel Messi now because he's the nearest there's been to Maradona with his left foot, his dribbling ability, his speed and his muscle. Maradona carried an average Argentina team to levels they should never have reached. THOMMO: But surely Messi has to do what Maradona did at a World Cup before he reaches the same level? Obviously Maradona had issues with drugs after '86 which has tainted it a bit, but some of the stuff he did during that tournament was just magical. JEFF: I wouldn't have Maradona, not in a million years! I'd have to go for Pele because as a kid he was the player that everyone wanted to be. When you had a kick-around with your mates he was the one everyone wanted to try and emulate. We didn't always see the best of him at World Cups and in 1966 he was just kicked off the park. But he was of course part of that 1970 Brazil team who were just fantastic and everyone remembers the Gordon Banks save from his header. CHARLIE: I have no disagreement with people who would stand up Pele, as I was fortunate enough to remember seeing Pele in 1970 in Mexico. But for me Diego Maradona, circa 1986, was the greatest ever player. skysports.com: And what would you regard as the greatest World Cup goal ever scored? CHARLIE: There's many varieties of great World Cup strikes, but Maradona's second against England is definitely one of the all-time greats. There was no danger whatsoever when he got the ball on the half-way line, but suddenly five players were beaten and it was put in the back of the net. That's surely got to be the standout World Cup goal? MERSE: Yes. Maradona against England was the ultimate goal. We're not talking about a third-rate team here; it wasn't against New Zealand or anything. England were a top team full of great players, who I can't speak highly enough of - I think Peter Reid was voted the fourth best player in the world that year. Yet Maradona went round them all like they were a bunch of amateurs. Then he went around one of the best goalies of all time in Peter Shilton like he wasn't even there. Plus he never touched the ball with his right foot. I've watched it again and again and it's just impossible how he never used his right foot. You'll never see that again. MATT: I'd have to go for Maradona against England as well. His first goal in that game was obviously cheap, but you can't take anything away from the brilliance of the second. I've never seen a goal like it in a World Cup. MERSE: Apart from Maradona I'd pick Eder chipping it over Alan Rough of Scotland in 1982. The keeper just stood there, he didn't move because it was that good. Some of the goals Brazil scored in that tournament were just a joke. THOMMO: There's been so many fantastic goals in the World Cup but for its importance I'd have to go with Carlos Alberto for Brazil in the 1970 final against Italy. If you watch it again you'll see that the ball hits a slight bobble and sits up perfectly for him but it was all about the move. Pele laying it off perfectly for him into his stride and he just clipped it beautifully into the corner of the net. That for me was just a superb goal and capped a wonderful tournament. MERSE: Another goal I like, which is a worldy, was Teofilio Cubillas for Peru against Scotland in 1978 with the outside of his right foot at pace around the wall. That's probably the best free kick in World Cup history. Phenomenal. JEFF: Well you guys have gone for the easy ones so I'm going pick one from an England perspective - Geoff Hurst's second against West Germany in the 1966 final. It's probably one of the most famous goals ever and it won us the World Cup.