vs
............................................Team @Jayvin ........................................................................................ Team @ctp ......................
TEAM JAYVIN
TACTICS:
An impenetrable backline combined with strong, hardworking midfielders capable of supporting both
phases of play and a deep lying playmaker with a passing range the envy of many; my team is
tailor made for a counter-attacking style. They will absorb pressure before breaking quickly
through the surging runs of Vieira & Mendieta, or use Alonso's pinpoint passing to quickly
release Overmars and Hazard on the flanks.
Hazard and Overmars are both capable of playing on either side, and have instructions to switch
flanks periodically, with Hazard also able to roam into the center and Mendieta then pushing out
wider. This gives my side an element of unpredictability.
The pace and workrate of Overmars and to a lesser extent Hazard will stretch the play and allow
Romario to exploit the gaps left in cpt's defence, while also limiting the ability of his
fullbacks to get forward.
WHY I WILL WIN:
STRENGTH ON THE FLANKS -- ctp's team has no answer to my pace and power on the flanks, Evra
struggled against pacy players like Overmars, while Carvajal is relatively inexperienced. Without
the support of wingers and with only one 'defensive' player in midfield, they will be exposed
time and again. Alonso's ability to pick out the wide men quickly and accurately will further
expose ctp's defenders.
ENERGETIC, ALL-ACTION MIDFIELD -- With Mendieta and Vieira in midfield, my side certainly has the
upper hand in terms of stamina and work rate. They will buzz around getting in the faces of Xavi
and Guardiola, disrupting their passing game and winning the ball back before laying it off for
Alonso to spray the ball wide or surging forward with the ball themselves.
PENALTY BOX MASTER -- Up front in Romario my side has a masterful penalty box predator, capable
of exploiting even the smallest space (Tim Vickery says a square metre for Romario is like an
acre). With Overmars and Hazard stretching the pitch, Romario is certain to find a gap at some
point - even against top quality defenders like Kohler and Carvalho.
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TEAM ctp
PLAYERS
My team will set up in a slightly asymmetrical 4-4-2 diamond: the goal will be guarded by the best German goalkeeper of the eighties, Toni Schumacher. He was a mainstay in the German nationalteam, winning the Euros and playing in two World Cup finals. His most famous deed is knocking out Battiston in the semis of the 1982 World Cup, proving that he is just the right kind of nutter for my team. In the centre Jürgen Kohler and Ricardo Carvalho will form a great partnership. Kohler is renowned as one of the best ever stoppers in the game, a very physical player and master of the tackle, but he's also an excellent reader of the game, able to battle it out will all-time great strikers like van Basten (or Romario in this game). Carvalho's more cultured approach offers an excellent foil for Kohler - like he did for Terry in that nearly unbeatable Chelsea defence. He is another great reader of the game and has the allround technique to offer very good build-up play from the back.
They will be flanked by Dani Carvajal and Patrice Evra, two full backs whose strength is certainly in attack, but who are no slouches defensively. Paddy doesn't need an introduction on here, but I'd like to remind everyone that he was a key part of the best defence in the world (07-09). Carvajal on the other side is still a young player, but after impressing for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, he has been a starter for the current CL winners, Real Madrid, for over a year.
My midfield diamond is anchored by Pep Guardiola. He will reprise the role he fulfilled brilliantly for Cruyff's dream team, combining silky playmaking with fantastic anticipation and a touch of steel. On the left side of the diamond, Xavi will work his magic. Everyone knows what he can do. He was the heart of one of the greatest club sides and perhaps the best national team ever, notorious for never losing possession and his tireless running in midfield, making him the greatest midfielder of his generation. We shouldn't forget his creativity, at his peak he managed more than 30 assists in a season, and my attackers will love to run onto his through balls. Tomas Brolin will be his counterpart. He will have to display the form he showed at the 94 World Cup for Sweden, adding the industry, excellent passing and dribbling from the right side of midfield, that won him fourth place in the Ballon d'Or.
At the tip of the diamond I have the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner and key player in Milan's CL victory that year, Kakà. A player who proves that nominative determinism is bollocks, Kakà excelled through his speed on the counter attack, his silky touch and his goal threat. He is reunited with his partner in crime, Andriy Shevchenko, another Ballon d'Or winner and one of the best strikers of the noughties. While fast and excellent technically, he shines most inside the box. Sheva is an instinctive goalscorer who will always be first to a loose ball and he will love to get on the end of Xavi and Kakà's passes. The final piece in the puzzle is Grzegorz Lato: the Pole is combines speed with a goal threat that makes him one of the best ever wide forwards. He is famously the key player in the Poland side that came third in 74, finishing the tournament as topscorer as well as scoring nearly one in two throughout his career.
TACTICS
Our style in this game will be quite gung-ho. Off the ball, we will set up in a 4-3-3 pressing system high up the pitch. The strikers will move a bit to the sides with Kakà pushing onto the opposition centre backs. I feel that my team, midfield especially, is better technically and superior in tight spaces, so we will do our best to make it hard for them to keep the ball and hound them relentlessly. Romario is Jayvin's main threat and I want him to see as little of the ball as possible as far away from my goal as possible, and this will accomplish it. My strikers and midfielders are hard workers capable of pulling off this strategy. In defence, Kohler and Carvalho are excellent readers of the game and have the necessary intelligence to cover for my midfield and for each other when Jayvin's team breaks through my pressing.
After winning the ball, we will go for fast transitions whenever possible. Xavi and Pep can set up the counter, Kakà, Sheva and Lato have the deadly pace to turn it into goals. If I can't immediately hit a counter attack and Jayvin's team has time to get into position, my team is also capable of a slower approach. Attacks will go mainly down the right side - I can overload it with Brolin, whose dribbling adds another dimension to my attack, Lato pulling wide, and an attacking full back in Carvajal. On the left, Evra is my main attacking outlet - at United he often had the job to provide width for a striker moving centrally, and he will do something similar here. In the middle, Shevchenko will be lurking around the box, Kakà will hope to hit one of his long range screamers and there are few better at finding a hole in the defence for a through ball than a peak Xavi.
And if I ever get ahead, I can slow down the game - keep the ball in midfield and starve Jayvin of possession. Xavi, Pep, Kakà and Brolin will take care of it.
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