vs
TEAM ZLATAN
I struggled with this draft, amazed I even managed to put some kind of team together.
mcoist was a quality striker though so think he’d be able to score a few goals, especially with Socrates behind him, also di Maria and queresma no slouches when it comes to creativity whether scoring goals or creating beautiful asssits. Deschamps and a young kovacic providing a sturdy base.
attacking full backs either side of two sturdy centre backs and Tarzan in goals
TEAM MICHAELF
My team will play a 4-3-3 formation with Deco playing as a midfield playmaker and Moreno as an attacking box to box midfielder. I will now provide information about my players.
Toni Schumacher (Fenerbache): Spent 3 seasons at Fenerbache (88/89-90/91) when aged 34-37. In 1988 and 1989 he shared the Footballer of the Year Award in Turkey as well as winning the Most Successful Foreign Athlete of the Year in Turkey award. After originally retiring aftwe leaving Fenerbache, he was signed by Bayern Munich in October 1991 to play in goal when their top 2 goalkeepers were both injured.
Francisco Arce (Palmeiras): Arce was at Palmeiras for 5 seasons between 1998 and 2002. During those 5 seasons Arce was always included in the ideal team of the America's (finishing joint 2nd in the South American Footballer of the Year in 1999) and won the Bola de Prata as the best RB in the Brazilian top flight in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Arce's strengths were his crossing and free kicks.
Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur): Campbell was at Tottenham between 1992 and 2001 being included in the PFA Team of the Year for 1998/99 and winning 40 England caps between 1996 and 2001 while at Spurs. When he left Tottenham, both Barcelona and AC Milan were interested in him before he signed for Arsenal. Campbell's strengths included pace, strength and aerial ability.
Anatoli Bashashkin (CSKA Moscow): Bashashkin spent two spells at CSKA Moscow from 1947-1952 and from 1954-1958. He played for Spartak Moscow after CSKA Moscow was dissolved by Stalin and Beria following the USSR's defeat to Yugoslavia at the 1952 Olympics with Bashashkin also losing the National Team Captaincy. While at CSKA Moscow, he was chosen by the National Coaches Council as the best player in his position 4 times (1950, 1951, 1955 and 1956) with Bashashkin also finishing 1st in 1953 while at Spartak Moscow and the list not being chosen in 1954. In 1952 no CSKA players were chosen as the best 3 in their position, despite 5 players being in the Olympics squad (including 4 who played in a majority of the USSR's matches) and having 8 1st's, 1 2nd and 1 3rd in the previous years award which suggests that the National Coaches Council were not willing to risk Stalin's anger given his reaction to the Olympics defeat mentioned earlier. In 2003, Valentin Babukin who played for the USSR national team and played at club level for Lokomotiv Moscow during Bashashkin's era, opined that he thought that Bashashkin would still be one of the best CB's in European Football today (in 2003) (Source). Former club and national teammate (as well as future CSKA and USSR National Team Manager) Valentin Nikolayev said that Beckenbauer reminded him of Bashashkin in the following way:
Babukin also described Bashashkin's on ball abilities as follows:
Tommy Gemmell (Celtic): In my opinion the greatest ever Scottish LB (with only Andy Robertson as a rival), Tommy Gemmell made 247 league appearances for Celtic in 10 years from 1961 to 1971 winning league titles in his last 6 seasons at the club in addition to 18 caps for Scotland and winning the 1967 European Cup (scoring in both that final and defeat in the 1970 final). Gemmell was 2 footed and capable of playing on either side was a good tackler and had a powerful shot. Gemmell finished 6th in the 1967 Ballon d'Or.
Zlatko Čajkovski (Partizan Belgrade): Cajkovski spent 10 years at Partizan between 1945 and 1955 during which time he won 2 league titles (never finishing lower than 6th) and 3 cup titles while winning 55 Yugoslavia caps. Cajkovski had high levels of stamina and tenacity as well as great marking skills and metronomic passing. His zigzag dribbling style also made him difficult to predict when he chose to run with the ball. Here are some quotes from this @Enigma_87 post with more details on Cajkovski:
José Manuel Moreno (River Plate): Moreno played for 13 seasons in 2 spells at River 1935-1944 and 1946-1948 winning 6 league titles (interesting trivia: Moreno was the first player to win top flight league titles in 4 different countries). In 1999 IFFHS chose him as one of the 25 best footballers of the 20th century and in 1980 was given the Konex Platinum Award as the best player in the history of Argentine Football. In 4 seasons, between 1936 and 1939 in the Argentine league scored 24 in 33, 32 in 31, 24 in 31, and 20 in 24. In this post from 2005 at bigsoccer argentine soccer fan describes Moreno as follows:
Ove Kindvall (Feyenoord): During his 5 seasons at Feyenoord Ove Kindvall finished as the top goalscorer in the Dutch league 3 times (67/68, 68/69 and 70/71) scoring 129 league goals in 144 league games for Feyenoord overall and finishing 4= (with Cruyff) in the 1969 Ballon d'Or. In this post at PES Miti del Calcio JeanMarc describes Kindvall as follows:
TEAM ZLATAN
I struggled with this draft, amazed I even managed to put some kind of team together.
mcoist was a quality striker though so think he’d be able to score a few goals, especially with Socrates behind him, also di Maria and queresma no slouches when it comes to creativity whether scoring goals or creating beautiful asssits. Deschamps and a young kovacic providing a sturdy base.
attacking full backs either side of two sturdy centre backs and Tarzan in goals
TEAM MICHAELF
My team will play a 4-3-3 formation with Deco playing as a midfield playmaker and Moreno as an attacking box to box midfielder. I will now provide information about my players.
Toni Schumacher (Fenerbache): Spent 3 seasons at Fenerbache (88/89-90/91) when aged 34-37. In 1988 and 1989 he shared the Footballer of the Year Award in Turkey as well as winning the Most Successful Foreign Athlete of the Year in Turkey award. After originally retiring aftwe leaving Fenerbache, he was signed by Bayern Munich in October 1991 to play in goal when their top 2 goalkeepers were both injured.
Francisco Arce (Palmeiras): Arce was at Palmeiras for 5 seasons between 1998 and 2002. During those 5 seasons Arce was always included in the ideal team of the America's (finishing joint 2nd in the South American Footballer of the Year in 1999) and won the Bola de Prata as the best RB in the Brazilian top flight in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Arce's strengths were his crossing and free kicks.
Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur): Campbell was at Tottenham between 1992 and 2001 being included in the PFA Team of the Year for 1998/99 and winning 40 England caps between 1996 and 2001 while at Spurs. When he left Tottenham, both Barcelona and AC Milan were interested in him before he signed for Arsenal. Campbell's strengths included pace, strength and aerial ability.
Anatoli Bashashkin (CSKA Moscow): Bashashkin spent two spells at CSKA Moscow from 1947-1952 and from 1954-1958. He played for Spartak Moscow after CSKA Moscow was dissolved by Stalin and Beria following the USSR's defeat to Yugoslavia at the 1952 Olympics with Bashashkin also losing the National Team Captaincy. While at CSKA Moscow, he was chosen by the National Coaches Council as the best player in his position 4 times (1950, 1951, 1955 and 1956) with Bashashkin also finishing 1st in 1953 while at Spartak Moscow and the list not being chosen in 1954. In 1952 no CSKA players were chosen as the best 3 in their position, despite 5 players being in the Olympics squad (including 4 who played in a majority of the USSR's matches) and having 8 1st's, 1 2nd and 1 3rd in the previous years award which suggests that the National Coaches Council were not willing to risk Stalin's anger given his reaction to the Olympics defeat mentioned earlier. In 2003, Valentin Babukin who played for the USSR national team and played at club level for Lokomotiv Moscow during Bashashkin's era, opined that he thought that Bashashkin would still be one of the best CB's in European Football today (in 2003) (Source). Former club and national teammate (as well as future CSKA and USSR National Team Manager) Valentin Nikolayev said that Beckenbauer reminded him of Bashashkin in the following way:
(Source)
Babukin also described Bashashkin's on ball abilities as follows:
(Source)
Tommy Gemmell (Celtic): In my opinion the greatest ever Scottish LB (with only Andy Robertson as a rival), Tommy Gemmell made 247 league appearances for Celtic in 10 years from 1961 to 1971 winning league titles in his last 6 seasons at the club in addition to 18 caps for Scotland and winning the 1967 European Cup (scoring in both that final and defeat in the 1970 final). Gemmell was 2 footed and capable of playing on either side was a good tackler and had a powerful shot. Gemmell finished 6th in the 1967 Ballon d'Or.
Zlatko Čajkovski (Partizan Belgrade): Cajkovski spent 10 years at Partizan between 1945 and 1955 during which time he won 2 league titles (never finishing lower than 6th) and 3 cup titles while winning 55 Yugoslavia caps. Cajkovski had high levels of stamina and tenacity as well as great marking skills and metronomic passing. His zigzag dribbling style also made him difficult to predict when he chose to run with the ball. Here are some quotes from this @Enigma_87 post with more details on Cajkovski:
Deco (Porto): Deco made 148 league appearances for Porto in 5 seasons between 1999 and 2004. He finished 2nd in the 2004 Ballon d'Or as winning the Portuguese League Footballer of the Year Award in the 2003/2004 season. Deco was hard-working, tactically intelligent, and had great ball control, dribbling and passing skills which helped him create chances often through passing lanes that no one else had spotted.
José Manuel Moreno (River Plate): Moreno played for 13 seasons in 2 spells at River 1935-1944 and 1946-1948 winning 6 league titles (interesting trivia: Moreno was the first player to win top flight league titles in 4 different countries). In 1999 IFFHS chose him as one of the 25 best footballers of the 20th century and in 1980 was given the Konex Platinum Award as the best player in the history of Argentine Football. In 4 seasons, between 1936 and 1939 in the Argentine league scored 24 in 33, 32 in 31, 24 in 31, and 20 in 24. In this post from 2005 at bigsoccer argentine soccer fan describes Moreno as follows:
In this post @Pat_Mustard posted a profile which described Moreno as follows:
Dimitris Saravakos (Panathinaikos): In his 10 seasons at Panathinaikos Saravakos scored 125 league goals in 252 league games winning 3 Greek Leagues and 6 Greek Cups. He is the all-time top scorer in the Panathinaikos-Olympiakos Derby with 16 goals (also scoring 9 goals in games with AEK Athens) and was the top scorer in the Greek League in the 1990/91 season with 23 goals (he scored 24 the following season). Juventus were interested in signing him after he scored against Juventus in both legs of a 1987/88 UEFA Cup clash. In 1988 Olympiakos tried to sign him for 600,000,000 Drachma (equivalant to more than 2 million pounds) but the bid was rejected. In 2021 the IFFHS chose him in their All-Time Greek XI. Saravakos's strengths were his finishing, intelligence and technique.
Ove Kindvall (Feyenoord): During his 5 seasons at Feyenoord Ove Kindvall finished as the top goalscorer in the Dutch league 3 times (67/68, 68/69 and 70/71) scoring 129 league goals in 144 league games for Feyenoord overall and finishing 4= (with Cruyff) in the 1969 Ballon d'Or. In this post at PES Miti del Calcio JeanMarc describes Kindvall as follows:
Kylian Mbappe (PSG): Kylian Mbappe has spent 6 seasons so far at PSG scoring 148 league goals in 176 league appearances. Mbappe has been the Ligue 1 top goalscorer for each of the last 5 seasons. Excluding the 19/20 season where awards weren't given, during his time at PSG Mbappe has always been in the Ligue 1 team of the season and has been the Ligue 1 Player of the Year 4 out of 5 times.
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