.......................... TEAM INDNYC ................................................... TEAM CHARLY .........................
TEAM INDNYC
GoalKeeper
Rene "El Loco" Higuita : - One of Columbia's greatest players, he was the epitome of a ball playing goalkeeper. He was incredibly consistent and part of the best Columbian teams of the 1980's and 1990's
The Defense
Full Backs: Ruud Krol and Lilian Thuram
Rudd Krol and Lilian Thuram are perfect players to have when dealing with 2 great wingers in Hamrin and Dzajic. Both full backs have strong defensive pedigree and will deal with the wingers from the opposition. This is where my opposition is strongest and will go up against two of my best players
Krol is given a bit more license to join the attack to overlap with Pedernera though it doesn't mean he is going to be constantly attacking and not defending.
Central Defenders
Domingos da Guia is regarded as one of the best Brazilian defenders of all time. He was a lynchpin in Brazil's defence during their World Cup showing in 1938, as he helped his nation finish third at the tournament hosted in France. He was voted the best player in the 1945 Copa America. He was comfortable on the ball and will be my ball playing defender
Billy Wright here is playing the role of a stopper and will complement Da Guia perfectly. As a pure stopper there are few who are unquestionably better than him. Wright was came second in a Ballon D'or vote. He was dominant in air with a prodigious leap and faced some of the all time greatest header in his career with consistently playing and holding his own against the likes of Lofthouse, Lowtawn & Charles.
Midfield
Zito - A strong, commanding and influential midfielder, known for his leadership, Zito serving as a defensive foil to his more offensive minded teammates. An intelligent and highly organised player, he was known for his ability to win back possession with his tackling, and subsequently set the tempo in midfield through his movement off the ball and precise passing. He was the one man engine in the great Brazil team of 1958 and 62, allowing his well known attacking teammates to shine. He's also very good technically, especially in his short passing game and could retain possession very well and participate in the build up play.
Graeme Souness – The greatest midfielder to play for Liverpool and arguably the most important cog in their glory years. He is the perfect foil for Zito in this midfield and together they will shield the defense and link midfield to attack. Souness will be playing a B2B role similar to what he played for Liverpool. He'll have some more license to join the attack and link up with my attacking players
Attack
Jan Ceulemans – Pace, power, technical ability and goals, should make a stunning partnership with Fontaine and Pedernera. He is arguably Belgium’s greatest player of all time and fired them to the 1980 Euro Finals.
Adolfo Pedernera – “El Maestro” was widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers in the world in the 1940’s. He played as an inside forward and was one of the early pioneers of the false nine. His partnership with Loustau on the outside left wing was devastating for the greatest River Plate team known as “la Manquina”. Prolific goal scorer and creator, he will orchestrate my attacks along with Ceulemans and drag opposition players out of position
Varela said:
Sir Tom Finney: Right winger position is occupied by Legendary Sir Tom Finney. One of England's greatest player ever and a gem of a winger who can play in all attacking positions,Sir Finney was a great dribbler. He'd be playing as an orthodox winger on the right side, providing width and crossing
Just Fontaine - Just Fontaine was the most prolific scorer in the Europe in the late 1950s. He was a classic forward with ability to score from any angle, with both feet and his head. He leads the line here and with support from Pedernera, Ceulemans, and crosses from Sir Tom Finney i expect him to get a lot of chances to score
View on Opposition
Very strong team with Djazic, Hamrin, Koscis giving my defense a run for their money. I do feel my defense is as strong and capable of handling that attack. Would be interesting to see how the team fits with Mazzola and Sivori together.
TEAM CHARLY:
I am playing similar to the last round, my squad is setup in a 4-2-3-1 formation with focus on wing play and direct attacking. I am not too fussed about the possession and try to move ball quickly with a quick counter attacking threat as well.
The attacking quartret of Dzajic - Kocsis - Sivori - Hamrin is one of the best in the draft. Dzajic-Hamrin is a blistering wing partnership that can put crosses to meet the "golden head" Kocsis as well as play intricate 1-2s with Sivori and score on their own.
In center we have the legendary valentino Mazzola as the main playmaker of the team. I feel his positioning is probabaly going to cause some debate so I would try and address it here. For a player which I never seen play or find any videos I am going to try and put as many sources as possible.
Mazzola -
First off, he is replacing Van Hanegem who is a very similar player to Mazzola. He played deeper in national team to accomodate Cruyff but in his club career he was playing the same positions as Cruyff that is of an advanced playmaker. He was more tenacious and possessed good tackling and work rate (All of which is true for Mazzola as well) which allowed him to ply his trade deeper.
Secondly by all accounts Mazzola was a uniquely versatile player adapt in playing in all positions in a football field. He was hard working, a good tackler but most of all a playmaker.
"He alone is half the squad. The other half is made by the rest of us together.” - Mario Rigamonti
"Already a fine midfielder, Mazzola was blooming into what we might call today a box-to-box midfielder, with the ability to also play in the centre-forward position. So versatile was his game that he could virtually play in any position on the field, even goalkeeper." - thesefootballtimes
"Not only that but Mazzola could also be considered to be one of the most complete football players of all time. Rarely has a player combined such finesse, determination, spirit and magnificent footballing ability to the effect that the Torino captain did" - forzaitalianfootball.com
"he was a player who could carry the whole team and was the greatest Italian player of all time" - World Cup winning coach Enzo Bearzo
Finally the role that I want him to play is not overly defensive, while as a midfielder he'll do his duty but his job as my playmaker is to get the balls to attackers either by passing or dribbling himself. A sort of David Silva role for Man City or Pogba role for us. I feel V. Mazzola is quite perfect for the role.
His defensive partner Nestor Rossi is instructed to stay back all the time and be disciplined and focus on breaking up the play.
My fullbacks are playing in a support role, not overly attacking and responsible to run the wing by themselve as they have great wingers in front of them, but still responsible to provide overlaps when there is a chance.
I like my defensive partnership of Nesta-Silva which is proven and taken at the peak level is quite world class and ofcourse Dasayev is an absolute beast of a goalkeeper behind them, I think my defense is pretty secure.
Overall I would acknowledge that my tactic is quite attacking and I am not hoping to win by defending the lead. The quality and variety in my attacking options is what I am hoping to get me to the win. The wingplay + heading combination of Dzajic-Hamrin-Kocsis or Creativity & flair of Sivori along with the playmaking and determination of V. Mazzola, I feel one way or another my attack would get to the opposition defense.
