An image of the real greatest footballer of all time flickered briefly across the stadium with no proper name before the team captained by the imposter to that throne desecrated his beautiful game.Pele, from wherever he was watching, will have been as tortured as the rest of us by the ghastly possibility of Argentina slithering to World Cup victory on penalties after kicking more Spaniards than they did footballs.Brazil’s maestro of the most glorious football ever played, along with hundreds of millions of us who love this game, was spared that obscenity by a solitary goal scored by a Spanish substitute in extra time.Nor will Pele have been as forgiving of Lionel Messi’s part in that looming travesty as all those who have casually mis-proclaimed their darling little Leo as the most talented player ever to walk God’s hallowed turf. With the emphasis on walk.And neither will he have been impressed by the armbanded standard-bearer for the ugliest losers in World Cup history. Especially not as Messi sat shedding tears for his men’s brutish failure to defend their championship. Instead of crying for Argentina and himself, he should have wept for the infamy of the team under his charge.From Messi there has not been one syllable of apology for the thuggery which ruined the principal showpiece for the game which has enriched him beyond Croesus. Not one word of regret for his disgruntled brethren instigating the brawl which disgraced their hour of defeat. No hint of recognition for reducing this nasty, tedious game to the bottom of the list of the 13 World Cup finals which have come under my scrutiny. Messi shed tears for his men’s brutish failure to defend their championship. Instead of crying for Argentina and himself, he should have wept for the infamy of the team under his charge No hint of recognition for reducing this nasty, tedious game to the bottom of the list of the 13 World Cup finals which have come under my scrutiny MY UPDATED TOP 10 FOOTBALLERS OF ALL TIME 1. Pele Brazil 2. Diego Maradona Argentina 3. GarrinchaBrazil4. Johan CruyffNetherlands5. Alfredo Di StefanoSpain6. Lionel MessiArgentina7. Ferenc PuskasHungary8. Cristiano RonaldoPortugal9. John CharlesWales10. George BestNorthern Ireland To think, furthermore, that I was once seduced by his natural-born skills into elevating Messi to third in my ranking of the best in the anthology of football. We all make mistakes.Those revised rankings accompany this verdict on FIFA’s elongated tournament of mixed blessings. Along with little Leo clinging on to a place in my forever best world Xl. Just about. Although he was on the brink of deletion at the end of Sunday’s final to which his only contribution was to lob a hopeful cross-cum-shot onto the roof of the Spanish goal netting.That carefully curated image was not helped, either, by Messi doing precious little in the semi-final before Thomas Tuchel sounded England’s retreat into suicidal defence of a one-goal lead.A lot of reputations were damaged in this ever-lasting tournament. To suggest that Tuchel should escape the hardest judgement because England won a 10-goal so-called thriller against France in that spurious run-out for third place only handicaps any hope of recovery.That was a Mickey Mouse coconut shy of a match which France threw away by not turning up for the first half, although they partially redeemed themselves by running riot through Tuchel’s wonky England defence after the interval. Also exposed was this manager’s stubbornness in not selecting England’s most exciting player, Bukayo Saka, before they were knocked out. Even though the Arsenal forward had declared himself fully fit.With the FA further hog-tied after rushing an extension of Tuchel’s contract to the home Euros two years from now, they are condemning England to stagnation. As Brazil, Germany, France, Argentina, especially Italy and Spain as well as Argentina begin a four-year recycling programme of head coaches as well as players towards the next World Cup, so England will lag two years behind.Trapped in their Tuchel syndrome. If it carries on like this, stand by for another 60 years of depression.Ominously, also, the gap is closing fast between the old-guard masters of Europe and South America and the uprising of African, Asian and Caribbean football. Witness Morocco, Egypt, Cape Verde, Senegal, Ivory Coast, DR Congo and Curacao coming close to springing a mass upset here. To think that I was once seduced by his natural-born skills into elevating Messi to third in my ranking of the best in the anthology of football. We all make mistakes DR Congo came ever so close to causing a huge upset against England in the last 32