Loco XI 1 El loco Gatti 2 Locó(Angola) 3 El loco Vargas 4 El loco Higuita (best alternative?) 5 El loco Bielsa 6 El loco Bonvallet 7 El loco Houseman 8 El loco Salinas 9 El loco Palermo 10 El loquito Garcia 11 El loco Loustau
What a way to die! For those who don't know, Re Cecconi was shot while pretending to rob his friend's jewellery store as a practical joke...
A very very tragic way of dying! There's also John White, the 1950s/60s Scottish international Spurs forward who died at the age of 27 seeking shelter from lightning by hiding under a tree!
Nicola Berti his XI is also worth showing, with the circumstances mentioned in the introduction (was there during the 'golden era'; started and completed the 1994 WC final; one of the very few Italians of that level to get experiences abroad).
Two Surnames-XI: Barros Schelloto, Guillermo - Argentina Benítez Cáceres, Delfín - Paraguay Bertrand-Demanes, Jean-Paul - France Eljkaer Larsen, Preben - Denmark Fleitas Solich, Manuel - Paraguay García-Aspe, Alberto - México López Ufarte, Roberto - Spain Montero Castillo, Julio - Uruguay Ramos Delgado, José - Argentina Rodríguez Andrade, Víctor - Uruguay Wright-Phillips, Shaun - England + Gómez Sánchez, Oscar - Perú ------------------------------------ Bertrand-Demanes López-Rekarte ---- Ramos Delgado ---- Montero Castillo ---- Rodríguez Andrade ------------------ Fleitas Solich --------------------------- García-Aspe Wright-Phillips -------------- Benítez Cáceres --------------- Barros Schelotto ----------------------------------------------- Elkjaer Larsen
I also thought that, but I doubt it now. His father is Bjarne Tomasson and his mother is Leila Dahl Petersen. Dahl is a common Scandinavian surname.
[GK] Eddy Pieters Graafland (Netherlands) [GK] Carlos Navarro Montoya (Colombia/Argentina) [DM] Egidio Arévalo Ríos (Uruguay) [FW] Alejandro Morera Soto (Costa Rica)
Jamaican/Jamaica diaspora 4-2-1-3 GK: David James RB: Viv Anderson CB: Sol Campbell CB: Des Walker LB: Ricardo Gardner DM:Frank Sinclair CM: Fitzroy Simpson AM: Theodoro Whitmore LW: John Barnes RW/FW: Lindy Delapenha ST: Alberto Spencer I have a team of 23 players on my blog. It included Ian Wrights, Wes Morgan, Jonathan De Guzman, Theo Walcott, Laurie Cunningham, etc. http://soccerfootballwhatever.blogspot.hk/2017/11/jamaican-jamaican-diaspora.html
United Kingdom 1970 I might have posted this. If United Kingdom went to the WC Finals in 1970, George Best, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Gordan Banks, etc would be playing together in their prime. England narrowly lost to Brazil in the real WC Finals. With the addition of Best and Bremner..... let's imagine. Billy Bremner was the FWA Player of the Year in 1970, btw. 4-4-2 ---------------------------G.Banks-------------- Tommy Wright----- Moore--------B.McNeill---- T. Gemmell. J.Johnstone-----Charlton------Bremner------G.Best---- ------------------------F.Lee----- G.Hurst-------- Denis Law was injured the season before. So he did not get to start. I have a full 23 member squad. Pat Jennings, Colin Bell, Peter Osgood,Norman Hunter, etc were on my team. http://soccerfootballwhatever.blogspot.hk/2015/11/united-kingdom-1970.html ----------------- United Kingdom 1982 Scotland, England and Northern Ireland qualified for the WC Finals of 1982. Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, Pat Jennings, Bryan Robson, Kevin Keegan and Peter Shilton were at their peak. Ian Rush was a young star in 1982. They were among the greatest ever players to emerge from the United Kingdom. 4-3-3 ---------------Peter Shilton---------- D.McGrain-----Butcher------Hansen------Sansom --------------------R.Wilkins---------------- Souness----------------------Robson-------- Archibald---------Keegan--------------Dalglish I imagined Keegan without his injury. In the real WC Finals, England was undefeated. They drew West Germany and Spain, and beat France. Scotland was in same group with USSR and Brazil. North Ireland was the surprise team of the tournament. I am excluded most of Northern Ireland's heros in Spain. Most of them were lower division players. They had no chance for selection before the WC Finals against the likes of Mick Mills, Steve Coppell, Trevor Francis, Paul Mariner, Willie Miller and Alan Brazil. All of the players mentioned did not get selected. Mills were actually England's co-captain in Spain, but I took Phil Neal and Danny McGrain. I was an Ipswich fan in 1982. http://soccerfootballwhatever.blogspot.hk/2016/12/if-united-kingdom-went-to-spain-1982.html
AC Milan's Brazilians GK: Dida RB: Cafu CB: Thiago Silva CB: Roque Junior LB: Serginho CM: Leonardo DM: Emerson AM: Kaka ST: Jose Altafini ST: Ronaldo
There's only ten players. Presumably you forgot Ronaldinho. Also, I might replace Roque Junior with Alex.
The 'INHO' XI... 1. Edinho ( pele's son) 2. Jorginho 3. Luizinho 4. Fernandinho 5. Edinho ( Nazareth) 6. Marinho 7. Mazinho 8. Juninho ( paulista) 9. Jairzinho 10. Ronaldinho 11. Robinho
If you ask to Henry I think that he'll insist that, no, Zidane is French and that what he did was French. (1:25) And how to prove him wrong? I agree with him btw.
This was going to be my future blog post, I have not finished it. It's Miller time. The surname Muller/Miller can also be the result of anglicization of: surnames of German origin as Müller, "Mueller", "Moeller", "Muller" and "Mahler", all of which are cognates of Miller surnames from other European languages, for example: French - Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins and Moulin, Dutch - Molenaar, Mulder and Smulders, Danish - Møller, Italian - Molinaro, Spanish - Molinero, Romanian - Morariu, Hungarian - Molnár, Slavic - Mlinar, etc 4-3-3 GK: Jan Moller(Sweden 1978 WC) RB: Danny Mills (England WC 2002) or Keje Molenaar (capped twice for Holland) CB: Patrick Müller (Swizterland WC 2006) CB: Willie Miller (Scotland WC 1982, 1986, all-time at Aberdeen) LB: Mick Mills (England WC 1982) RM: James Milner (England) CM: Lucien Muller (France WC 1966 and Real Madrid) AM: Andy Moller (Germany 1990's) FW: Thomas Muller (Germany current) ST: Gerd Muller (no need introduction) ST: Roger Milla (Cameroon) The rest of my 23 member squad GK: Dwayne Miller GK: Alan Miller GK: Markus Miller CB: Alex Miller (Scotland) CB/LB: Roy Miller (Costa Rica) CM: Hansi Muller (West Germany 1980's) RW: Nicolai Muller (Germany current) ST: Youri Mulder (Holland) ST: Frank Mill (West Germany 1990's) ST: Jan Mulder (Holland) ST: Muller (Brazil WC 1990 and 1994) ST: Peter Moller (Denmark WC 1998)
I recently discovered that Lee Sharpe once played for an Icelandic club. I got curious to see if I can come up with a strong (on paper, at least) lineup/squad consisting of foreign footballers who have played in Iceland. It was obviously quite a challenge, but this is the best I could do. Note that my emphasis on "on paper" means that they might not necessarily have been at their best in Iceland, just that they played there at some point in their career. ICELAND XI - Best foreigners (on paper, at least) David James (England): Without a doubt, the biggest name in the team. Played in Iceland towards the very end of his long career. Carl Dickinson (England): English left-back with League Championship experience. Still active, but at a lower level. Rhys Weston (Wales): Yet another Brit. He was part of the Arsenal Academy in the late 90s, but had an unremarkable career afterwards. Capped 7 times for Wales. Andrew Mwesigwa (Uganda): Other than representing his NT 69 times, not much else to say about him. Did I mention how challenging making this lineup is, lol? Richard Keogh (Ireland): Currently active at Derby. Usually a CB, but can play RB too. Was part of the Irish squad as recently as the Euro 2016. Nigel Quashie (Scotland): Midfielder with enough PL experience to be an guaranteed starter here. Jim Bett (Scotland): One of Sir Alex Ferguson's last signings at Aberdeen. Had a decent career at SPL & in Belgium (alongside Elkjær). Was part of two consecutive World Cup squads. Lee Sharpe (England): While his overall career wasn't anywhere near someone like Giggs, the left winger is one of the biggest stars in this team, with nearly 200 league games for Man Utd. Mark Ward (England): On the opposite wing, we have another player with many appearances in PL (or its pre-1992 equivalent). Mainly played in right wing. Steve Slade (England): The best I could come up with for one of the forward positions. Started as a Tottenham youth in the mid-1990s. Alexander Søderlund (Norway): Curiously, the only Nordic player in the team. Currently active at Rosenborg, with 32 caps and 2 goals to his name. Bench: Not much to choose from, really. The Faroe Islands keeper Gunnar Nielsen could be James' back-up. Søderlund - Slade Sharpe - Bett - Quashie - Ward Dickinson - Weston - Mwesigwa - Keogh James (c) NEXT UP: FINLAND
While Iceland is clearly the superior nation at the moment in terms of national teams, Finland has arguably the better league, so I would expect a stronger XI this time. But we'll see... FINLAND XI - Best foreigners (on paper, at least) Mart Poom (Estonia): One of the greatest Estonian players of all time. The keeper has lots of PL experience, especially with Derby County. Taye Taiwo (Nigeria): The left-back didn't have a successful time at Milan, but before that, he was a regular starter for the Ligue 1 top club Marseille. Has two tournament medals for his national team. Abdoulaye Méïté (Ivory Coast): Another West African defender with lots of OM appearances. Played 48 games for his country. Darren Purse (England): The weakest link in the defence? Still, much better centre-back than most alternatives due to his many Premier League games. Christian Gyan (Ghana): The highlight of his career came when he started in the 2002 UEFA Cup final, when his team Feyenoord beat Dortmund. He was the right-back that day, so that's the position he'll be given here as well. Anthony Annan (Ghana): Defensive midfielder who is actually playing in Finland right now. Didn't turn out as good as people had expected, but is relatively speaking one of the best options for this position. Like Taiwo, won 2 medals for his national team. Reuben Gabriel (Nigeria): 2nd-best central midfielder I can think of, besides Annan. Won the ACN with Nigeria in 2013, but didn't get any playing time. Julien Faubert (France): Real Madrid legend (lol) who is most comfortable on the right flank. Has a good career CV, even though the Spanish giants were obviously way out of his league. Freddy Adu (USA): It says a lot about the quality of the Finnish footballing imports when Adu makes the cut. To be fair, his trophy cabinet is filled with 3 medals at international level. Hans Gillhaus (Netherlands): While his Eredivisie goal stats weren't enough to gain more than 9 caps for the Oranje, they certainly are good enough to easily get a place in this lineup. Marlon Harewood (England): Represented God knows how many teams in both the Premier League and League Championship. His prime saw him score 14 times for West Ham in the 2005-06 season. Bench: The Croatian Lazio GK back-up Ivan Vargić was in Euro 2016. The former Real Betis keeper Toni Doblas is another option. Albania's team captain Ansi Agolli is Taiwo's substitute. The Nigerian forward Nnamdi Oduamadi, who scored a hattrick at the Confederations Cup, surprisingly still belongs to Milan. Gillhaus - Harewood Adu Annan - Gabriel - Faubert Taiwo (c) - Méïté - Purse - Gyan PoomNEXT UP: NORWAY
Alright, it's time to kick it up a notch. While Finland's team was much better than the Icelandic one, Norway will probably have more competition for each spot. NORWAY XI - Best foreigners (on paper, at least) Ali Al-Habsi (Oman): There were a few good candidates here, but ultimately I came to the conclusion that there is n(o man) better for the job than the keeper with over 100 appearances for both PL teams as well as his nation. Arthur Albiston (Scotland): Don't know if people remember him today, but the left-back played an enormous amount of games for Man Utd. Granted, the Red Devils weren't as great during the 70s & 80s as before/after, but 5 cup trophies for Albiston during this time should speak for itself. Joachim Björklund (Sweden): Was part of the Valencia team that reached the CL final twice in a row. Was a regular in central defense when Sweden won the World Cup bronze in 1994. Ragnar Klavan (Estonia): Has, slowly but steadily, worked his way up to rotation player at Liverpool under Klopp. Before that, he played in Eredivisie & Bundesliga. Mikael Lustig (Sweden): Never really properly tested himself in a league stronger than the Scottish Premier League. However, he has been an integral part of his club and national team for years now, so he is the superior choice here. Matías Almeyda (Argentina): I don't blame you if you go "huh, Almeyda played in Norway??" because it was only for a brief period of time. With clubs like Sevilla, Lazio, Parma & Inter on his resumé, the Argentine international can't be left out from this team. John Obi Mikel (Nigeria): Rare in the sense that he played in Norway before hitting the prime of his career at Chelsea, rather than as a declining has-been. Originally a more creative midfield outlet, he became more defensive-minded during his long stay at the London club. Paul Davis (England): Never an England international, you can't help being impressed by his contributions for Arsenal for approximately 15 years. Left-footed, so I'll put him on the left on the midfield. Christian Wilhelmsson (Sweden): Tried his luck in many different leagues without really succeeding to the degree that most of us Swedes would have hoped. For the NT, he was one of our most creative players as a winger. Eiður Guðjohnsen (Iceland): Wasn't prolific enough to be described as a notorious goal scorer, but he had other qualities that made teams like Chelsea & Barcelona value his contributions. Lee Chapman (England): One who did find the net often was Lee Chapman. Case in point: When Leeds won the last league before the inaugural Premier League season, Chapman scored 16 goals. Just like Davis, he was completely ignored by the NT. Bench: GK: Anders Lindegaard (Denmark) & Hannes Halldórsson (Iceland) LB: Jérémy Berthod (France) CB: Paul Scharner (Austria) & Giancarlo Gonzalez (Costa Rica) RB: Cristian Gamboa (Costa Rica) MF: Tobias Linderoth (Sweden), Sebastian Eguren (Uruguay), Celso Borges (Costa Rica), & Emil Hallfreðsson (Iceland) FW: Lord Bendtner (Denmark) & Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal) Guðjohnsen (c) - Chapman Davis - Almeyda - Mikel - Wilhelmsson Albiston - Klavan - Björklund - Lustig Al-HabsiNEXT: DENMARK
Fairly happy with the Norway team. My hope is that Denmark also has enough players to choose from to form a 23-man squad. DENMARK XI - Best foreigners (on paper, at least) Roy Carroll (Northern Ireland): One of those less-than-great goalkeepers that Man Utd fielded in the mid-2000s before they struck g(old) in 35-year-old Edwin van der Sar. For Team Denmark, though, Carroll outcompetes his rivals. Stig Inge Bjørnebye (Norway): Norway was truly blessed when it comes to left-backs in the 90s up until Riise's retirement. Bjørnebye was a Liverpool regular for a number of seasons. Not to mention his importance to the national team. Olof Mellberg (Sweden): Without a doubt the best Swedish defender of the past 20 years along with Patrik Andersson. He was consistently good for an Aston Villa, and was even rewarded with a transfer to Juventus at a time when they needed to rebuild after Calciopoli. Khalid Boulahrouz (Netherlands): Was one of the many new faces that van Basten introduced to the NT in the mid-2000s. Didn't succeed in either Chelsea & Sevilla, but was a solid Bundesliga player. Won a silver medal at the 2010 World Cup. André Bergdølmo (Norway): Could play on anywhere in the defense. Won the league with Ajax, and also played for Dortmund. Tobias Linderoth (Sweden): Lots of Scandinavians here. The defensive midfielder didn't make the eleven in my Team Norway, but the midfield competition is lesser here. Club career was ok, never truly excelled in Premier League. On the other hand, his performances for Sweden were good. Atiba Hutchinson (Canada): Not exactly a household name but it's not a coincidence that he, despite his age, has been a pivotal part of the Besiktas team thats won two Turkish league titles in a row. Did good in Eredivisie before that too. Similar playing type as Linderoth. Rafael van der Vaart (Netherlands): One of the most famous footballers to ever ply his trade in a Nordic country. Isn't getting much playing time at the moment, though. While he didn't have as great a career as many of his contemporary Dutch stars (Robben, Sneijder, etc.), he has accomplished more than what most players will ever do. Sibusiso Zuma (South Africa): "Nearly 70" can be applied to both the number of BL and NT appearances. But actually, his prime was spent in FC Copenhagen, Denmark. Attacking midfielder. Johan Elmander (Sweden): A hard-working forward who wasn't a great goal scorer. Still, did just about enough wherever he went. Same can be said about the national team. Mohamed Zidan (Egypt): The Egyptian striker was no Zidane, but 47 goals in total in Bundesliga is not too shabby. Bench: GK: Thomas Myhre (Norway) & Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Japan) LB: - CB: Petri Pasanen (Finland), Brede Hangeland (Norway) & Uche Okechukwu (Nigeria) RB: Mikael Nilsson (Sweden) MF: Eric Djemba-Djemba (Cameroon), Ståle Solbakken (Norway), Erik Mykland (Norway) & Libor Sionko (Czech Rep.) FW: Marcus Allbäck (Sweden) & Jörgen Pettersson (Sweden) Zidan - Elmander van der Vaart - Linderoth - Hutchinson - Zuma Bjørnebye - Boulahrouz - Mellberg (c) - Bergdølmo Carroll NEXT UP: SWEDEN
@PDG1978 I've been looking into the English archives recently how he was seen in his veteran years (including critical comments, which I'll post too), so you can expect that soon, but this might be of interest. I had this magazine myself, FourFourTwo February 2005 (the "100 greatest nutters" edition). (click to enlarge) Obviously he picked players that he knows well, which includes Maldini since he played 6 times 'against' him in his career (three goals) - as well as a couple exhibition games with him I think.
Thanks, yes, I never saw that one before and it's certainly interesting and insightful. Interesting indeed that it is 'players he knew' (well, as you say), as opposed to the normal 'players played with' or 'players played with/against'. Perhaps a clue as to how he'd see the front of an all-time Dutch XI! I have the same 3 in mind for my selection but maybe with Cruyff deepest, or both him and Bergkamp in support of Van Basten in a Christmas Tree. I know you've said Cruyff isn't always a fan of using a number 10 (although he did vary his line-ups quite a bit at Barcelona), but anyway we can't check now how he'd line things up himself if indeed he didn't pick an All-Time Dutch XI recently or at all (I guess Keizer and Wilkes would tempt him too). If he put Dennis in, maybe he'd be ok with him 'in the hole' as he generally was an efficient provider who didn't dribble a lot, even though he was certainly quick when a young player. Dennis calls himself arrogant and selfish lol, which are not typical descriptions of him I think (less so than Cantona or Totti I guess - of course he sort of picks himself, and suggests in current guise too, over Totti, although I suppose he didn't play against him a lot or have particular reasons to 'know him' or use that description to pick him - only Hoddle and Cruyff he didn't play with/against I suppose (except Cruyff in training maybe!).