All-Time Fantasy Draft

I have spent a half hour doing research. will PM you now.

Also spent a half hour cursing MJJ and wishing terrible things on him tbh.
 
NM said:
I have spent a half hour doing research. will PM you now.

Also spent a half hour cursing MJJ and wishing terrible things on him tbh.
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I made my pick 1 hour 20 min ago aprox. Stop slacking.:p I need to find a RB tomorrow, not looking forward to it at all.
 
mightberight said:
Raymond Kopa.

url


GK
Gerets --- Bergomi --- Koeman --- Marzolini
Varela --- Breitner
Jairzinho --- Kopa --- Stoichkov
Puskas​

Too many obscure names to win the tournament but I'm pretty happy, has been fun.
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Outrageous he lasted this long, awesome pick.
 
Cutch said:
Andrei Shevchenko.

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Bastard! That's the 11th pick I was winging! I thought it would be Dan getting him though, not you greedy draft muppet!

Oh well, I had 3-4 alternatives but I hope you get Titus Bramble now and that people only remember him in blue.
 
Raul:

Fabio Capello (15/11/99): "He is a winner. He is the inheritance of Real Madrid"

Franz Beckenbauer (09/05/00): "Raúl is one of the best of Europe. He is Real Madrid's spirit. He is like Matthäus for us: indispensable, and with a bad haircut".

Sir Alex Ferguson (08/04/03): "Real buy these big players like Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo but I think the best player in the world is Raúl"

Ottmar Hitzfeld (16/02/07): "I’d sign him right here and now, and I’d go wherever it takes to land a player like that"

Pep Guardiola (2010) "With Raul's departure, goes the best player of all time in Spanish football. The numbers speak for themselves."

Isotope (22/01/13)" "He's my childhood idol. I'd do gay things with him"
 
After careful consideration:

Ashley Cole. Best LB in the world for a while now.

Ashley-Cole-006.jpg
 
Fergus'son: 1. Beckenbauer 2. Eusebio 3. Didi 4. Krol 5. Zanetti 6. Kocsis 7. Vidic 8. Shesternyov 9. Pirri
DanNistelrooy: Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Ronaldinho 3. Nesta, 4. Gascoigne 5. Makelele 6. McGrath 7. Vogts 8. Camacho 9. Seedorf
KM: 1. Messi 2. Scirea 3. Bozsik, 4. Sammer 5. Nedved 6. Valderrama 7. Banks 8. Schiaffino 9. Djalma Santos
Thisistheone: 1. Maradona 2. B.Charlton 3. Eto'o, 4. Cannavaro 5. Coluna 6. Bremner 7. Carlos Alberto 8. Blanc 9. Alonso
NM: 1. Pele 2. Neeskens 3. Passarella 4. Boniek 5. Thuram 6. Tardelli 7. Carvalho 8. Blokhin 9. Rummenigge 10. Cole
Cutch: 1. Best 2. Van Basten 3. Robson 4. R Baggio 5. Charles 6. Tigana 7. Hierro 8. Maier 9. Nilton Santos 10. Shevchenko
Brwned: 1. Di Stéfano 2. Keane 3. Falcão 4. Giggs 5. Matthews 6. Brehme 7. Trésor 8. McGrain 9. Spencer 10. Germano
MJJ: 1. Duncan Edwards 2. Garrincha 3. Muller 4. Luis Suárez 5. Meazza 6. Schmeichel 7. Rui Costa 8. Nasazzi 9. Chumpitaz 10. Zebec
JakeC: 1. Ronaldo 2. Maldini 3. Deschamps 4. Gento 5. Stam 6. Law 7. Deco 8. Janes 9. Augusto 10. Peters
mightberight: 1. Ferenc Puskas 2. Stoichkov 3. Breitner 4. Jairzinho 5. Bergomi 6. Varela 7. Koeman 8. Marzolini 9. Gerets 10. Kopa
EDogen: 1. Cruyff 2. Moore 3. Redondo 4. Figo 5. Romario 6. Desailly 7. Dzajic 8. Schnellinger 9. Essien 10. Guardiola
Gio: 1. Platini 2. Xavi 3. Rivaldo 4. Kohler 5. Davids 6. Gentile 7. Moreno 8. Nordahl 9. Franklin 10. Jennings
Antohan: 1. Laudrup 2. Rijkaard 3. Iniesta 4. Facchetti 5. Henry 6. R. Ferdinand 7. Effenberg 8. Vasovic 9. Dasayev 10. Andrade
Stobzilla: 1. Zidane 2. Yashin (Russia) 3. Scholes 4. Souness 5. Savicevic 6. Cafu 7. Kubala 8. Van Nistlerooy 9. Puyol 10. Ayala
Isotope: 1. Zico 2. L. Matthäus 3. Santamaríá 4. Hansen 5. Hagi 6. Finney 7. Viera 8. Irwin 9. Cabrini 10. Raul
paceme: 1. Figueroa 2. Baresi 3. Voronin 4. Masopust 5. Batistuta 6. Gullit 7. Socrates 8. Amoros 9. Schuster 10. Gordillo
 
Philipp Lahm

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Can play left or right. Capable of getting forward to offer width like Carlos Alberto on the other flank.
 
I'm going for a "Popluhar" pick in Jan Popluhar.

I'll also get my coat.
 
Fergus'son: 1. Beckenbauer 2. Eusebio 3. Didi 4. Krol 5. Zanetti 6. Kocsis 7. Vidic 8. Shesternyov 9. Pirri
DanNistelrooy: Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Ronaldinho 3. Nesta, 4. Gascoigne 5. Makelele 6. McGrath 7. Vogts 8. Camacho 9. Seedorf
KM: 1. Messi 2. Scirea 3. Bozsik, 4. Sammer 5. Nedved 6. Valderrama 7. Banks 8. Schiaffino 9. Djalma Santos 10. Popluhar
Thisistheone: 1. Maradona 2. B.Charlton 3. Eto'o, 4. Cannavaro 5. Coluna 6. Bremner 7. Carlos Alberto 8. Blanc 9. Alonso 10. Lahm
NM: 1. Pele 2. Neeskens 3. Passarella 4. Boniek 5. Thuram 6. Tardelli 7. Carvalho 8. Blokhin 9. Rummenigge 10. Cole
Cutch: 1. Best 2. Van Basten 3. Robson 4. R Baggio 5. Charles 6. Tigana 7. Hierro 8. Maier 9. Nilton Santos 10. Shevchenko
Brwned: 1. Di Stéfano 2. Keane 3. Falcão 4. Giggs 5. Matthews 6. Brehme 7. Trésor 8. McGrain 9. Spencer 10. Germano
MJJ: 1. Duncan Edwards 2. Garrincha 3. Muller 4. Luis Suárez 5. Meazza 6. Schmeichel 7. Rui Costa 8. Nasazzi 9. Chumpitaz 10. Zebec
JakeC: 1. Ronaldo 2. Maldini 3. Deschamps 4. Gento 5. Stam 6. Law 7. Deco 8. Janes 9. Augusto 10. Peters
mightberight: 1. Ferenc Puskas 2. Stoichkov 3. Breitner 4. Jairzinho 5. Bergomi 6. Varela 7. Koeman 8. Marzolini 9. Gerets 10. Kopa
EDogen: 1. Cruyff 2. Moore 3. Redondo 4. Figo 5. Romario 6. Desailly 7. Dzajic 8. Schnellinger 9. Essien 10. Guardiola
Gio: 1. Platini 2. Xavi 3. Rivaldo 4. Kohler 5. Davids 6. Gentile 7. Moreno 8. Nordahl 9. Franklin 10. Jennings
Antohan: 1. Laudrup 2. Rijkaard 3. Iniesta 4. Facchetti 5. Henry 6. R. Ferdinand 7. Effenberg 8. Vasovic 9. Dasayev 10. Andrade
Stobzilla: 1. Zidane 2. Yashin (Russia) 3. Scholes 4. Souness 5. Savicevic 6. Cafu 7. Kubala 8. Van Nistlerooy 9. Puyol 10. Ayala
Isotope: 1. Zico 2. L. Matthäus 3. Santamaríá 4. Hansen 5. Hagi 6. Finney 7. Viera 8. Irwin 9. Cabrini 10. Raul
paceme: 1. Figueroa 2. Baresi 3. Voronin 4. Masopust 5. Batistuta 6. Gullit 7. Socrates 8. Amoros 9. Schuster 10. Gordillo
 
Quite happy with my team overall now. Plenty of keepers left but the 12th man is a bit tricky. Feels like it could be an important pick?
 
antohan said:
Bastard! That's the 11th pick I was winging! I thought it would be Dan getting him though, not you greedy draft muppet!

Oh well, I had 3-4 alternatives but I hope you get Titus Bramble now and that people only remember him in blue.
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:lol: yeah i dont have a serious need for him, but thinkin he might be able to do a job for me as an inside forward, something like

626678_Dream_Team.jpg


Any thoughts on if that would work?
 
kps88 said:
:lol: I did that earlier in the thread and no one got it.
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I did mate, but I only saw it ages later.

The odd thing is I didn't get it straight away. I'm so used to it by now I almost think that actually is Cordoba and I had to think through it... "Hmmm, what was supposed to be funny about this... Oh wait, of course! That's Lucio!"
 
Cutch said:
:lol: yeah i dont have a serious need for him, but thinkin he might be able to do a job for me as an inside forward, something like

626678_Dream_Team.jpg


Any thoughts on if that would work?
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You knob, that makes no sense whatsoever, there are far far better players still available for that role while I wanted him as one of two options upfront, where he played.
 
antohan said:
You knob, that makes no sense whatsoever, there are far far better players still available for that role while I wanted him as one of two options upfront, where he played.
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Ah well, if i've sabotaged one of my rivals atleast some good will come out of it. :p

Gonna be useful anyway to have players from lesser nations, if i need to make adjustments at some point.
 
There's something appealing about picking a player who you don't need, but do so anyway just because you can (and somewhere in Montevideo somebody is tearing their hair out).
 
Gio said:
There's something appealing about picking a player who you don't need, but do so anyway just because you can (and somewhere in Montevideo somebody is tearing their hair out).
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Its the cnut coming out in us just.

Definately thought Shev could have done a job for me a bit deeper but, coming in from wide area like he tends to do. I thought he had started off for Kiev playing wide but maybe i'm wrong on that. Definately have a backup plan in mind anyway incase it wasn't a popular pick
 
Thisistheone said:
As for Varela... aware that he's one of his countries best ever but I'm always a bit weary of picking Uruguayan's because of the standard of competition they faced, or lack of, when they won their World Cups. How good were they really?
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Couldn't answer this earlier for obvious reasons ;)

At right back I pick the very first international black player, also the first international football superstar. The French baptised him "The Black Marvel"

José Leandro Andrade

f64e129154059d526f420f7e541d6cdb.jpg


International


Individual


(by 1930 his vision was slightly impaired due to a collision with a goalpost. He had actually been a free-agent for three months prior to the WC, and even then was good enough for Bronze Ball and MOTM in the final. Peaked at the Olympics)

Him being black makes him a cult figure among people of African origin, he was a trail-blazer. The very first to play internationally was actually another Uruguayan (Isabelino Gradin) in an away game against Brazil, where football was an elitist sport. Black people took notice.

A few years later there were already a couple of black Brazilians worthy of a national callup, but the Brazilian Federation barred them from playing (at the country's President's request, no less). At one point there were people complaining Uruguay were cheating by fielding African players.

Then in 1924, for the first time, a South American team crossed the ocean to pit itself against the very best. After all, that's where football had come from. The Yugoslavs were up first and sent spies, so the confident Uruguayans decided to train like complete monkeys, overshooting their balls, missing the goal by a mile, running into each other... Chaplin stuff. "They won't be a problem" stated the report, and Yugoslavia lost 7-0. Those present at the Olympics realised there was something special and new about it all. It wasn't methodic and rigid, but fluid, it was revolutionary... and that got the wheels turning and eventually led to the creation of the World Cup Tournament.

People were taken aback by the fluid passing, the ingenuity, the attacking flair... At the centre of it all was José Leandro Andrade, the right halfback. Halfbacks were usually defensive, some attacking, but very few combined both. Andrade was the one organising the defensive line, but also bringing the ball out of defence and acting, effectively, as a deep-lying playmaker.

No one got anywhere near him, or else they would risk embarrassment. It was his dribbling and passing range which made him the Black Marvel, but also the way he run the game at a time when the pitch was split into halves and connecting them two was a long ball. Andrade would keep the ball at feet and progress, attacking the space until some poor sod broke the line and came to stop him, providing the gap for a 5 vs. 4 or an opportunity to dribble through and turn that into 5 vs. 3. Revolutionary stuff, ridiculous as it may now sound.

Don't get me wrong, his defensive duties were of significant importance so in a tight game those would be prioritised. You certainly wouldn't find him running the length of the pitch then. Just to highlight his defensive nous I offer the following:

  • 1924 final, against a free-scoring Switzerland. Their star player, Abegglen was the tournament top scorer so far. He operated at inside left, Andrade shut him out: 3-0.

  • 1928 final, against eternal rivals Argentina. Top scorer of the tournament Tarasconi, inside left, shut out. 1-1 and 2-1 (no ET or penos then), both Argentine goals came from the other flank.

  • 1930 final, again against Argentina, who had the tournos top scorer again (a CF though). Andrade was man of the match keeping Uruguay in the game while still 2-1 down and at 2-2. Both goals scored from the left flank again.
He was immense and had the attributes to do a job either on the right of a DM pair or at fullback.

But back to the story... it was Andrade's success and acclaim at the Paris Olympics that finally forced the Brazilian Federation's hand. Fortunate for us spectators, unfortunate for every side they have pissed on since!

Leaving aside the fact Argentina were every bit as good (and forget about 1950 not being competitive), to say Uruguay's opposition were poor quality is a massive disservice to the role they played in getting that superiority to start a revolution in world football.

La Celeste changed the course of the game when they arrived as unknowns to sweep their way to the gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics. They were watched with great enthusiasm by Gabriel Hanot, for decades to come an influential French football journalist.

Hanot praised their "marvelous virtuosity in receiving the ball, controlling it and using it. They have pushed towards perfection the art of the feint and swerve and the dodge, but they also know how to play directly and quickly. They created a beautiful football, elegant but at the same time varied, rapid, powerful and effective".

Most important, it all came from a country with 1.5M people. Some countries decided to have a look into it, started changing the way they played, made sure they participated in more tournaments that gave them greater exposure to it (the likes of France, Hungary, Yugoslavia). Others (i.e. Italy) opted for scouting and bringing over the best talent, with some of Uruguay's and Argentina's best crossing the ocean. Two of the Argentinian World Cup finalists from 1930 eventually won it for Italy four years later.

Ominously, the marvel that was Andrade finally forced Brazil to accept black players... He did for Brazilian football what Tiger Woods did for golf.

Other countries (ehem) decided to ignore the whole business, remained isolated, and by the time they decided to join in to see what the whole business was about were humilliated by the United States.

This is the best quality clip I could find on that fantastic team. I prefer the very brief 1924 sections, by 1930 they were closer to retirement, but nevertheless... PS: Just noticed Pedro Cea is a dead-ringer for Chicharito :lol:



Being a final against Argentina, Andrade's role was primarily defensive, and the pitch was very much split into two 5-a-side confrontations. But you can still appreciate his defensive ability at 9:50 when he darts through the box to intercept a runaway Stabile, and at 10:50 when he closes down (and wipes out) an Argie as he shoots, then hooks the ball out of the danger zone under pressure.

Released by his club, he had spent the last three months not training properly, while looking for a club in Argentina (no agents to do the legwork back then). A collision with a goalpost against Italy in the 1928 Olympics had gradually lost him his sight on his left eye so clubs baulked at giving him the 4 years he felt he still had in him. Still, on reputation and experience alone he got selected, and his MOTM performance in the final was testament to the Big Game Player he was.
 
Gio said:
There's something appealing about picking a player who you don't need, but do so anyway just because you can (and somewhere in Montevideo somebody is tearing their hair out).
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Unfortunately you can't get him :lol:
 
@anto

Clearly Uruguay had a brilliant team back then & I haven't given them enough credit. Guess I thought that because they've never achieved such heights since, that their success had a lot to do with a lack of world-wide competition and the rest of the world eventually catching up. As a country they haven't changed in the way Hungary or Austria have so what do you think is the reason for not being as strong in the modern day game? Was it just a golden generation? Or being ahead of everyone else back then?

edit: And I never realised the population is only 1.5M. That makes their achievements even more impressive.
 
Sorry for the delay guys, had an exam today. I'll go for Didier Drogba. Perfect man to lead the line alone
 
Zoltan Czibor
Jean Marie Pffaf

Fergus'son picks.
 
Thisistheone said:
@anto

Clearly Uruguay had a brilliant team back then & I haven't given them enough credit. Guess I thought that because they've never achieved such heights since, that their success had a lot to do with a lack of world-wide competition and the rest of the world eventually catching up. As a country they haven't changed in the way Hungary or Austria have so what do you think is the reason for not being as strong in the modern day game? Was it just a golden generation? Or being ahead of everyone else back then?

edit: And I never realised the population is only 1.5M. That makes their achievements even more impressive.
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Your last line is the answer (it's 3M now, still under 1/5 of Sao Paulo's population and less than 1/50th of Brazil's). That could be overcome back then when the sport wasn't as popular elsewhere. For every great player we get, Brazil will statistically get 50, and from a social "get out of poverty" motivation probably a few hundred. It becomes an uphill struggle. But as Varela put it in 1950, "on the pitch it is 11 vs. 11, those outside don't matter". That helped balance things out somewhat, ultimately you can only field your best 11.

Then substitutions got introduced, so suddenly their worst sub is someone who would walk straight into your side, while you dread looking at your bench. Sustaining quality over 90 mins gets even harder then. Over years it's even worse, just look at how quickly we are going into freefall the moment Forlán and Lugano go over the hill. Good players yes, but any large population would sustain a ready-made replacement being available. Uruguay's doesn't, we are left to be carried by 1-2 exceptional once in a generation talents and 9-10 O'Sheas.

I always quip that we went downhill the moment the yellow and red card were introduced, but it is a huge disservice to those greats. The change that really tipped the balance (as well as everyone progressively catching up) was the subs. You could argue no red and no subs is handy for brutal football, but that's not what it was (the oppo always finished with 11!). Just watch the short clip from 1924, I would be cumming in my pants if we did that even today. From the 70s onwards money in football, technology/sports science, makes the gap even wider. Our talents leave very young to warm benches, the domestic league is absolutely rubbish, and then you are left to live in hope that some random club will develop your man. Forlán's replacement was meant to be Lodeiro but Ajax completely screwwed that one up.

Uruguay-Argentina is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) international game in football and it got played about four times a year, every year, leading to the creation of the Copa America (the first of the FIFA tournaments). Competition makes you better and the received wisdom (the English-style) gradually changed to incorporate the South American flair. If it had been Argentina going to 1924 they would have won it and theirs would be that story, it was really about football from the River Plate vs. Europe. That's why they went in 1928, they were a bit miffed that we had stolen their thunder, they had just beaten us in the Copa Amércia final in 1927... but we trolloped them again, and again in 1930 :lol: Beauty.
 
Bloody hell Dan is offline again. Just PM your bloody picks guys, it's not like it's so hard to do it at this point!
 
antohan said:
Bloody hell Dan is offline again. Just PM your bloody picks guys, it's not like it's so hard to do it at this point!
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Sorry again, currently in the pub celebrating.

Need a keeper so Petr Cech for me, best keeper in the world at his peak and also he and Drogba were the key reasons for Chelsea winning Europe last year
 
DanNistelrooy said:
Sorry again, currently in the pub celebrating.

Need a keeper so Petr Cech for me, best keeper in the world at his peak and also he and Drogba were the key reasons for Chelsea winning Europe last year
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No worries, I imagined, but also dreaded you leaving your pick until after the celebration, sleep, hangover...
 
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