Pictures from my computer No. 9

During the course of the Brazil match last night the cameras kept showing Pele sitting watching the match. We've also seen Beckenbauer at pretty much every match, Cruyff at the Holland matches and Maradonna acting like a complete loon during the Argentina matches.

It struck me that the from the collection of "Greatest Footballers Ever" that George Best was the first one to go. He didn;t quite have the global impact of some of the others, as being from Northern Ireland you don't get to play in many World Cups.

The others have driven their teams on to at least the final and, apart from Cruyff, have lifted the World Cup themselves once or twice. In Maradonna's case he almost singlehandedly delivered the World Cup with some of his performances in '86.

Despite this there was a lot of reaction to Best dying and a lot of plaudits from round the world. It will be strange when the rest of them start to shuffle off the planet, as they inevitably will, and to see the tributes that will be paid to them.

I've been lucky enough to see Ronaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho at their best and it has been thrilling and a delight but imagine what it must have been like to watch some of the fellows listed above...