The Best Asian Players Of All Time - John Duerden/ESPN

[Zamboor]

Bro, I know we both like Iraqi/ brown girls but Younis is not even in the top 25 lol

Harry Kewell is also a big absentee here. As is Viduka. These people played in the EPL and were very successful. Compared to the worst Asian title win ever (Iraq in 2007). It's incomparable. How is Mahdavikia, Karimi, Azizi, Bagheri not there ... Bagheri lead world one year in WCQ goals.

Going to World Cup is much, much more prestigious than Asian Cup win bro.

Nah man I never said this list was solid or not but you can't deny that he is a legend in his own way. I agree all those players that you mentioned got a higher legend status than Younis Mahmoud.

[Tehranto]

Nah man I never said this list was solid or not but you can't deny that he is a legend in his own way. I agree all those players that you mentioned got a higher legend status than Younis Mahmoud.

Yeah, he cracks the top 10 Arab AFC list - we can agree on that

But continental wise? Nahhh

[Zamboor]

Yeah, he cracks the top 10 Arab AFC list - we can agree on that

But continental wise? Nahhh

Top 10 nope top 100 yes

[arash123]

GTFO if you don't have Kia in the top 10 of Asian greats of all time. Ali Daei got robbed, too.

[ali alipour]

Obviously he is not going to put 5-6 iranians in the top ten even if they deserve to be. He clearly wants to satisfy his easy asian audience putting a filipino at 2 is ridiculous. Ali daei should be in the top 3 no doubt and kia/karimj/abedzadeh should be there instead of nekounam.
Apparently the guy is Norwegian you have to be pretty weird to be a norwegian so interested in asian football. I doubt there are any koreans who are experts in norwegian football.

[babak_australia]

Obviously he is not going to put 5-6 iranians in the top ten even if they deserve to be. He clearly wants to satisfy his easy asian audience putting a filipino at 2 is ridiculous. Ali daei should be in the top 3 no doubt and kia/karimj/abedzadeh should be there instead of nekounam.
Apparently the guy is Norwegian you have to be pretty weird to be a norwegian so interested in asian football. I doubt there are any koreans who are experts in norwegian football.

Did you read the bio on the Filipino guy?? Im suprised he wasnt first.

He held the Barcelona goal scoring record until Messi took it from him.

Daei sat on the bench for a champions league final. How is that better than the Filipino?
I also think Nek deserves over Kia as Nek was first to go to Spain and also captained a La Liga team. That is a phenomenal achievement.

[ramingeles2000]

Hossein Kalani, Homayoun Behzadi, Behtash Fariba, Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh.. I can go on for ever, this guy dosen't know jack about asia.

Come. ON. No offense dude, but I'm tired of old-timers on this website hyping obscure TM playrs from the 70s, 80s and early 90s. It honestly seems like you're just trying to show off that you've been a TM fan for a long time. Outside of Abedzadeh, none of the players you mention would even be on a top-20 all-time Asia list. Even Abedzadeh doesn't belong.

As for Duerden, like it or not he's probably the most informed western journalist on Asian football. His list is good, just has 3 errors:
1) Shunsuke Nakamura should have been included over Younis Mahmoud (he was best player in Scotland, amazing club career)
2) The philipino player should have been #1
3) Mahdavikia should have taken Nekounam's spot.

Sorry guys, but Karimi doesn't belong on that list, maybe a top-15 list. A guy who played 2 seasons in Europe and didn't accomplish anything that scores of Japanese and Korean players haven't. 2 Iranians belong in the top 10: Mahdavikia and Daei, and MAYBE Nekounam/Karimi. Let's be realistic. Duerden has been more than complimentary of Iranian football over the years. He's fair. Frankly this attitude of thinking there's a constant conspiracy against us (by the refs, by the arabs, by western media, etc) is getting tiresome. Let's stop playing the victim and actually earn some silverware at this asian cup so that we earn people's respect.

[jahandoost]

Im sorry but John Duerden is a joke, the only reason he has achieved some so called journalistic acclaim is because there very very few journalists who call themselves asian football specialist.

So he has spot a gap and is using it well to his advantage, but his footballing knowledge about Asia is not deep at all.

[jumba47]

He clearly wants to satisfy his easy asian audience putting a filipino at 2 is ridiculous.

read the description first before judging based on someone's nationality lmao

[DireStraits]

Where is Ostad Asadi?

[babak_australia]

Where is Ostad Asadi?

Probably still sporting the National Team tracksuit pants with the leather jacket.

I still have a photo of him dressed like that and after 18 years it is still in a place I will see on a daily basis and it still makes me smile after all these years. That and the fact that my dad decided to pick him of all the players to get a photo with.

[hzv]

the top 5 seems legit even though he clearly is favoring club play over international. younes mahmoud and sami al jaber should not be anywhere near the list i would not even put them top 50. sami jaber is not even in top 3 saudi players let alone top 10 asian players of all time.

[babak_australia]

the top 5 seems legit even though he clearly is favoring club play over international. younes mahmoud and sami al jaber should not be anywhere near the list i would not even put them top 50. sami jaber is not even in top 3 saudi players let alone top 10 asian players of all time.

Owairan should be in the list simply for the goal he scored against Belgium at USA 94. One of the best World Cup goals EVER!

[Irannn]

the list isn't that bad, I would remove the Filipino player, who the hell was following football in 1920 ?!!! lol

with all respect, I would replace Nekou with someone else like Parvin or Ghelchkhani. and obviously he didn't want to pick more than 2 from each country which is fair.

and Sami Al-Jaber isn't even the best KSA player ever, this guy apparently never heard of Majed Abdullah. they also had Mohammed Al-Deayea.

and seriously Younis Mahmood should not be here.

[persianfire]

Ignore John Duerden. He doesn't even know the rules of football. He said Azmoun's goal was a foul lol.