Portugal legend Eusebio believes football today cannot be compared to how it was during his career because of its commercial interests.

The 68-year-old, who was the leading scorer at the 1966 World Cup with nine goals, is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever to grace the game.

Speaking in Johannesburg today, Eusebio felt the game had evolved over the years, with commercial interests having taken over.

"It's difficult for me to make a comparison given the fact that I played so many years ago," he said. "What I can state, though, is that my generation, that of the 60s, soccer was really played and it was played all over the world.

"Today what I should say is that soccer is nothing else but a commercial enterprise.

"There are some good players, but essentially today the show is a commercial one."

Eusebio also defended some of the current household names in the game, the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, who failed to deliver in South Africa.

He continued: "What I can say about Rooney is that I believe he is a great player.

"He is probably not 100% up to his performance at the moment, but I believe he is a great player.

"Unfortunately for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo didn't do too well in this championship. But I am not going to condemn him for that.

"I have also played in the past and I can understand that players are on good or bad form."

The Maputo-born striker, who scored more than 40 goals in his 64 appearances for Portugal, tipped Brazil to win the World Cup, but was impressed with Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina and Spain's David Villa - the joint-top scorers so far along with Robert Vittek of Slovakia.

He said: "The stand-out strikers for me who have been doing well for their teams are Gonzalo Higuain and David Villa.

"The top scorers in this tournament have four goals, but there is still a lot of time left."

Another former World Cup top striker, Germany's Gerd Muller - the leading marksman in 1970 - favoured his namesake Thomas Muller to claim the top prize.

The young Bayern Munich striker has netted three times so far, including a brace that sunk England 4-1 over the weekend, and Gerd Muller added: "He might be a bit like me. He's an excellent player.

"At the age of 18, he was already in our first team. He's a very valuable player and a good person on top of that, which is important as well."