Jimmy Chitwood said:
i know there are a few footballers with near-world class speed, but not being familiar with enough of what's going on in the football world across the pond i have a question for Europe and Karl Baxter (who i feel are very knowledgable soccer folks):
who are the footballers with the best pace playing right now?
(translated for us Yanks, that would read: who are the fastest soccer players in the world?
)
Thanks for the praise. The ego always needs a bit of that...
Black pace on the soccer pitch is not as impressive as on the running track, because the flat running track simulates the hard, baked earth of Africa. The soccer pitch doesn't. The softer the going the greater the White advantage over Blacks. This rule also applies to bumpy ground and steep ground.
It's also true that having a ball at one's feet tends to complicate things for Blacks more than for Whites. Most fast Black strikers depend on crosses or short bursts with the ball. This is also why a lot of fast Black players prefer to play in defense. They do better on speed-to-the-ball than speed-on-the-ball, which I think is the main test of speed in soccer. Then there's also the intermediate skill of kick-and-chase.
I'd say that the fastest White players are Ronaldo, Torres, Bentley, Andy Johnson, and Owen (now slowing down). Rooney is also surprisingly fast for a big fella.
I also think a lot of White speed gets hidden by the superior passing and reading skills of White players. What need is there to dash 50 yards across the pitch when you can just pass the ball with pinpoint accuracy or when you've read the other team's attack and are in an ideal position to break it up?
The fastest non-Whites seem to be Lennon, Agbonlahor, and Walcott (mulattos), and Obafemi Martins, Adebayor, Gael Clichy, and Ashley Young, (Blacks). Although sometimes their speed is put to ludicrous effect when they come steaming through on the occasional open goal only to punt it into the stands, or completely ignore a team mate in an excellent scoring position to selfishly squander the ball.
If you look at the Euro leagues, then there are a whole bunch of other mainly White players to also consider. Messi, Kaka and Dennis Rommedahl are all very fast to my knowledge.
In order to sell more shoes, Nike put together a speed test sometime last year. At that time they ranked the top ten fastest Premier league players as follows (race added by me):
The sprint parade top 10, commissioned by Nike and put together by Opta Sportsdata, is as follows (the first figure is to the ball, the second with it):
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (White): 20.9mph -- 20.8mph
2. Andrew Johnson (White): 20.6 -- 20.7
3. Fernando Torres (White): 20.5 -- 20.6
4. Kenwyne Jones (Black): 20.7 -- 20.2
5. Ashley Young (Black): 20.4 -- 20.3
6. Aaron Lennon (Mulatto): 20.6 -- 19.6
7. Cameron Jerome (Black): 20.3 -- 20.1
8. Shaun Wright-Phillips (Black): 18.9 -- 21.2
9. Jermain Defoe (Black): 20.4 -- 19.2
10. David Bentley (White): 20.0 -- 19.8
[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-514146/Who -fastest-footballer-Premier-League--Ronaldo-Lennon-AJ-Find-h ere.html[/url]
Edited by: Karl Baxter 
