All time XI's for national teams

Nice work mate! These would be my best/current attempts for your first 4 nations, based on idea about peak versions but a little bit consistency too of course (I've used the same system as you twice - I had previously and most recently I think used the Brazil one, but have switched away from the England one and towards the Italy one today basically lol, while for sure I can see the idea behind the 'two false 9' Argentina formation you went with!)....


Brazil
Goalkeeper: Gilmar
Right back: Cafu
Centre back: Carlos Alberto
Centre back: Domingos Da Guia
Left back: Nilton Santos
Defensive/anchor CM: Zito
Playmaker CM: Didi
Attacking midfielder: Zico
Right forward: Garrincha
Left forward (nominally): Pele
Centre forward: Ronaldo

Subs: Julio Cesar (GK), Aldair, Junior, Falcao, Socrates, Ronaldinho, Romario


Italy
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Sweeper: Gaetano Scirea
Centre back: Alessandro Nesta
Centre back: Franco Baresi
Right wing back: Gianluca Zambrotta
Left wing back: Paolo Maldini
Centre midfielder: Giussepe Giannini
Centre midfielder: Marco Verratti
Inside right: Giussepe Meazza
Inside left: Roberto Baggio
Centre forward: Silvio Piola

Subs: Dino Zoff, Fabio Cannavaro, Giacinto Facchetti, Andrea Pirlo, Roberto Donadoni, Francesco Totti, Paolo Rossi


Argentina
Goalkeeper: Ubaldo Fillol
Right back: Javier Zanetti
Centre back: Oscar Ruggeri
Centre back: Daniel Passarella
Left back: Silvio Marzolini
Central midfielder: Osvaldo Ardiles
Central midfielder: Fernando Redondo
Right wing forward: Lionel Messi
Supporting forward/AM: Alfredo Di Stefano
Left wing forward (nominally): Diego Maradona
Centre forward: Mario Kempes

Subs: Amadeo Carizzo, Roberto Perfumo, Carlos Sosa, Americo Gallego, Jose Manuel Moreno, Claudio Caniggia, Gabriel Batistuta


England
Goalkeeper: Gordon Banks
Right back: Rob Jones
Centre back: Des Walker
Centre back: Bobby Moore
Left back: Stuart Pearce
Right CM/AM: Glenn Hoddle
CM/DM: Duncan Edwards
Left CM/AM: Bobby Charlton
Right wing: Stanley Matthews
Left wing: Tom Finney
Striker: Gary Lineker

Subs: Peter Shilton, Billy Wright, Bryan Robson, Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes, Jimmy Greaves, Alan Shearer


Taffarel was kind of a favourite of mine for a while actually, but I'm feeling like Julio Cesar might be a more reliable and safer pair of hands. I felt like if they have 3 central defenders (although with a libero and another in Baresi who might surge forwards at times too) they don't need a DM, so Verratti can be a footballing partner for Giannini. Maybe the alternative formation for Italy (if thinking in terms of actual line-ups in theory) could be 4-3-2-1 though, with a trio of midfielders, and Verratti playing more like an outright anchor player albeit one that got the ball down and participated in build up. Donadoni could be as much the option to come in as the 3rd midfielder as Pirlo maybe though, since he could play as a CM verging on roaming winger, a little like he did at times in reality, but he'd also be an option for right wing back/midfielder I guess. From what I saw of Gallego in WC1978 in particular I felt he'd be worth a place, particularly with this formation I used for Argentina. The England subs bench does seem a bit stacked towards forwards over defenders but I'm thinking Edwards and Robson would be emergency options in defence, and I thought Greaves might be as much or more of an option with the formation becoming 4-4-2/4-2-4 (probably still with Bobby Charlton as one of the central midfielders though) as in the 4-3-3, and that Shearer might be as good as or a better partner for him than Lineker (but for sure Shearer could be used in a 4-3-3 or with a single playmaker AM behind I think too). If only Barnes's club form was guarenteed lol (although maybe at club level for Liverpool he had many more opportunities so to some extent any slightly wasteful play gets forgetten about while in the England team it stood out more if he didn't do much else due partly to lack of oppportunity - there's no doubt still though that he thrived more in the Liverpool team and/or hit bad form at bad times for International tournaments), he could be just as much an option in a 4-3-3 as Matthews, because Finney could play from the right of course (but Matthews despite not being much of a scorer, even back in the 1930s probably, was such a good provider that I think he'd still be first choice, and Lineker could well benefit from him dribbling down the outside and cutting the ball back low, not only from higher crosses, while Hoddle and Charlton could both score plenty in theory and Charlton certainly did at International level, while Lineker should also benefit from their passing, particularly Hoddle's I'd say).

 

I have normally included Tardelli for Italy myself to be fair though (not using the wing-back system much or at all for previous attempts at this though), and Sastre does seem like a great player from what I read and the little I saw.

I think Verratti has continued to impress me though, and like I say with 5 defenders (or 3 plus two wing-backs) maybe I saw it as an either/or choice, and there are only 7 subs to name too, following your precedence (which seems a reasonable number for sure). Like I say Gallego did strike me as a very good option for a midfielder who can operate from deep and be pretty robust and good defensively, but also with skills and capability to join in a fluid passing game.

 

Oh, yeah, I think I read some of his posts (although I don't look much at that forum now) - he's a Sampdoria fan I think maybe? But yeah, I think it wouldn't be an unusual opinion for an Italian. @La-Máquina might possibly agree (although I think he also respects my (overly?) creative tendencies!), and I think traditionally Italians (and most Italian coaches) like to make sure they have some solidity in the middle of the pitch.

Great work with all your teams anyway, like I said (lots of great players from all eras being included). I'll look at your others of course when they come (whether or not I add any more myself - I guess I did it for quite a few of the teams at one time or another, as like you hint at, several other Big Soccer posters did too).

 

Nice attempts with those again mate.

Maybe I will stick to just the XIs in my original post this time, although I did try a few times with those nations before and others such as Hungary indeed too. I think I'm particularly unsettled/variable on how I'd put together the French midfield and attack, but for sure most of the names would match yours (I think I'd have Kopa ahead of Ribery though, and maybe even consider Fontaine for the team in place of Henry). For the Dutch XI I normally end up with Bergkamp and Cruyff as supporting forwards behind Van Basten, and Gullit placed deeper on the right of a 3 player midfield, but that's definitely an interesting way you've set up the team there and it could be fun to watch a team like that with Cruyff roaming around a lot I'd think!

I did retrospectively question myself about the Italian selection I made though lol (about whether I'd really leave out Gianni Rivera completely and I don't think I would, even though I would say going with that formation doesn't suit him particularly well, even if he did at times at least play as a true midfield player rather than a free-roaming number 10, and in terms of numbers of players ahead of him on the pitch the line-up wouldn't be so different to ones he thrived in if he went in as a playmaker CM - I did feel though somehow Giannini was more suited to the system and players around him overall than an Antognoni for example, and it could be argued even moreso compared to a Rivera I guess). I think what I would do is change the substitutues bench, putting in Tardelli for Pirlo, and Rivera for Totti (any formation change could make Rivera a great introduction, for example something like a 4-2-1-2-1, and for that matter he could be a good option in the supporting forward roles of Meazza and Baggio himself in the main formation too).

 

So I thought for clarity it might be better to re-post my Italy choices since I changed my mind, and I did have a re-think and decide to do the other four Lasha has done so far too (I'd thought otherwise before as sometimes I post too much I think lol, and primarily it's best if this stays as Lasha's thread, albeit I guess it'd be good for as many other posters to add teams too, even if as we've said it's not exactly a new topic overall - a 2022 version is not the same as previous ones though maybe anyway).

Italy
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Sweeper: Gaetano Scirea
Centre back: Alessandro Nesta
Centre back: Franco Baresi
Right wing back: Gianluca Zambrotta
Left wing back: Paolo Maldini
Centre midfielder: Giussepe Giannini
Centre midfielder: Marco Verratti
Inside right: Giussepe Meazza
Inside left: Roberto Baggio
Centre forward: Silvio Piola

Substitutes: Dino Zoff, Fabio Cannavaro, Giacinto Facchetti, Marco Tardelli, Roberto Donadoni, Gianni Rivera, Paolo Rossi


France
Goalkeeper: Joel Bats
Right back: Manuel Amoros
Centre back: Laurent Blanc
Centre back: Marcel Desailly
Left back: Bixente Lizarazu
Centre midfielder: Jean Tigana
Centre midfielder: Patrick Vieira
Attacking midfielder: Michel Platini
Attacking midfielder: Zinedine Zidane
Roaming support forward: Raymond Kopa
Roaming striker: Thierry Henry

Substitutes: Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, Maxime Bossis, N'Golo Kante, Robert Pires, Eric Cantona, Just Fontaine


Netherlands
Goalkeeper: Edwin van der Sar
Right back: Ruud Krol
Centre back: Frank Rijkaard
Centre back: Virgil van Dijk
Left back: Adri van Tiggelen
Right midfielder: Ruud Gullit
Central midfielder: Johan Neeskens
Left midfielder: Wim van Hanegem
Inside/outside right: Dennis Bergkamp
Inside/outside left: Johan Cruyff
Centre forward: Marco van Basten

Substitutes: Jan van Beveren, Ronald Koeman, Aron Winter, Clarence Seedorf, Faas Wilkes, Rob Rensenbrink, Johnny Rep


Germany
Goalkeeper: Sepp Maier
Right back: Berti Vogts
Centre back: Karl-Heinz Forster
Libero: Franz Beckenbauer
Left back: Andreas Brehme
Box to box midfielder: Lothar Matthaus
Playmaker: Gunter Netzer
Box to box midfielder: Paul Breitner
Right side (or left side) supporting forward: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Centre forward: Gerd Muller
Left side (or right side) supporting forward: Pierre Littbarski

Substitutes: Manuel Neuer, Matthias Sammer, Manfred Kaltz, Wolfgang Overath, Thomas Hassler, Fritz Walter, Jurgen Klinsmann


Spain
Goalkeeper: Ricardo Zamora
Right back: Michel Salgado
Centre back: Fernando Hierro
Centre back: Gerard Pique
Left back: Rafael Gordillo
Anchor midfielder: Sergio Busquets
Right midfielder: Xavi
Left midfielder: Andres Iniesta
Attacking midfielder: Luis Suarez Miramontes
Forward: Emilio Butragueno
Forward: Raul

Substitutes: Antoni Ramallets, Pirri, Jose Antonio Camacho, Josep Guardiola, Rafael Martin Vazquez, Francisco Gento, David Villa


For Germany I was the most unsure about the starting line-up (midfield could be for example Hassler-Matthaus-Netzer, or the forward line Rummenigge-Muller-Klinsmann, and Beckenbauer can even be in midfield instead, while some adjustment like that might have seen Seeler make the subs bench for example). For Spain more unsure about the choice of subs (Xabi Alonso vs Guardiola, Michel vs Martin Vazquez, Fernando Torres vs Villa would be examples but others could come into it too quite easily I guess...and again Pirri is meant to be as much a midfield option as a defensive one) but reasonably settled on the starting line-up somehow, given their success with Tiki Taka!

 

I am going to make a revision to Spain even quicker than the one I made to Italy though now (again just the subs though)! Helguera for Guardiola (considering subs are meant to be cover for injuries in theory, and for example if Pique was injured maybe neither Pirri or Camacho are ideal replacements...and like I said Pirri can go into midfield even if he's less of a holder than Busquets), and Amancio for Martin Vazquez (there is enough in the way of creative midfielders without M.Vazquez and Amancio gives more of an option for a right wing forward in a changed system with Gento or perhaps Iniesta on the left for example...even though my Spain 18, like my England one, might now seem skewed towards attackers more than the others)....


Spain
Goalkeeper: Ricardo Zamora
Right back: Michel Salgado
Centre back: Fernando Hierro
Centre back: Gerard Pique
Left back: Rafael Gordillo
Anchor midfielder: Sergio Busquets
Right midfielder: Xavi
Left midfielder: Andres Iniesta
Attacking midfielder: Luis Suarez Miramontes
Forward: Emilio Butragueno
Forward: Raul

Substitutes: Antoni Ramallets, Ivan Helguera, Jose Antonio Camacho, Pirri, Amancio Amaro, Francisco Gento, David Villa

 

I ended up doing a couple more exercises (not necessarily suggesting you do the same Lasha, or anyone else who adds teams eventually, unless you want to of course!)....

a) Nominating the two most likely tactical subs (I ended up with one being a change of system and one just a change of player pretty much although in some cases it would change the way the team played a bit I think) for each of the 8 teams I picked.
b) Numbering the players in the starting line-ups 1-11 and subs 12-18 (I already did it for some reason in my head before this idea) and then ranking each number (according to the role of the player in the team - this means comparing some different roles of course), allocating between 10 points for first down to 1 point for eighth, hence allowing myself to choose where the two gaps would be to reflect a little bit perceived changes in tiers maybe, since I'm not putting any players level or going to half points for anyone)


So the substititions:
England - Greaves for Hoddle (change to 4-1-3-2), Shearer for Lineker
Brazil - Ronaldinho for Garrincha (switching Pele to right of centre supporting forward, and Ronaldinho playing from the left), Junior for Nilton Santos
Argentina - Caniggia for Ardiles (switching to 4-1-4-1 with Di Stefano and Maradona central and Caniggia and Messi playing from wider, potentially swapping sides with each other), Batistuta for Kempes
Italy - Rivera for Scirea (change to 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 type system), Rossi for Piola
France - Pires for Tigana (change to 4-1-4-1 with Pires left side and Kopa right side), Fontaine for Henry
Germany - Hassler for Breitner (switching Matthaus into the most central midfield role, with Hassler lining up to his right), Klinsmann for Littbarski
Netherlands - Rensenbrink for Van Hanegem (putting Cruyff deeper, operating nominally from a left midfield position, with Rensenbrink further forward as left attacker), Wilkes for Bergkamp
Spain - Amancio for Butragueno (switching to a 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-2-1 type system), Pirri for Busquets

And the numbers and points:
1) Banks 10, Buffon 9, Zamora 7, Maier 6, Fillol 5, Gilmar 4, Van der Sar 3, Bats 1
2) Cafu 10, Amoros 9, Krol 8, Zanetti 7, Vogts 6, Zambrotta 5, Salgado 2, Jones 1
3) Maldini 10, N.Santos 9, Lizarazu 8, Brehme 7, Marzolini 6, Van Tiggelen 4, Gordillo 3, Pearce 1
4) Neeskens 10, Vieira 9, Scirea 8, Hierro 6, Zito 5, Walker 4, Forster 3, Ruggeri 1
5) Beckenbauer 10, Redondo 9, Rijkaard 8, Edwards 7, Nesta 5, C.Alberto 4, Blanc 3, Pique 1
6) Baresi 10, Moore 9, Matthaus 8, Passarella 6, Desailly 5, Van Dijk 4, Domingos Da Guia 3, Busquets 1
7) Garrincha 10, Matthews 9, Bergkamp 8, Meazza 7, Tigana 5, Littbarski 4, Butregueno 3, Ardiles 1
8) Platini 10, Kempes 8, Lineker 7, Didi 6, Xavi 5, Van Hanegem 3, Breitner 2, Verratti 1
9) Di Stefano 10, Van Basten 9, Charlton 8, Ronaldo 7, Muller 6, Kopa 4, Iniesta 2, Piola 1
10) Pele 10, Cruyff 9, Maradona 8, Zidane 7, Hoddle 5, Netzer 4, Suarez 3, Giannini 1
11) Messi 10, Zico 9, Baggio 8, Rummenigge 7, Henry 6, Gullit 4, Finney 3, Raul 1
First XI points totals: Brazil 77, Argentina 71, Netherlands 70, France 67, Italy 65, England 64, Germany 63, Spain 34
12) Rivera 10, Shearer 8, Hassler 7, Junior 5, Villa 4, Kante 3, Sosa 2, Winter 1
13) Shilton 10, Zoff 9, Neuer 8, Carizzo 7, Ramallets 4, Julio Cesar 3, Barthez 2, Van Beveren 1
14) Facchetti 10, Aldair 9, Koeman 8, Pirri 6, Kaltz 5, Wright 4, Bossis 3, Perfumo 1
15) Falcao 10, Moreno 9, Gascoigne 8, Cannavaro 6, Seedorf 5, Thuram 4, Overath 3, Camacho 1
16) Socrates 10, Pires 9, Sammer 8, Rep 6, Tardelli 5, Robson 4, Gallego 2, Helguera 1
17) Ronaldinho 10, Cantona 8, Rensenbrink 7, Barnes 6, Walter 5, Caniggia 4, Gento 3, Donadoni 1
18) Romario 10, Klinsmann 9, Fontaine 7, Greaves 6, Batistuta 5, Rossi 4, Wilkes 3, Amancio 1
Substitute points totals: Brazil 57, England 46, Italy 45, Germany 45, France 36, Netherlands 31, Argentina 30, Spain 20
Overall points (maximum 180, minimum 18): Brazil 134, Italy 110, England 110, Germany 108, France 103, Argentina 101, Netherlands 101, Spain 54)

I do think if I tried the same with the next 8 teams and Spain were in that rather than a Hungary or Portugal for example, I might give them comfortable the best scores of the 8 teams. I guess I'm still seeing the top 7 as ahead of the rest and these results show that (even if it's a bit of a weird/random way to make scores!), although maybe Spain's team cohesion would make them rightly the choice to join in a top 8, in a theoretical tournament or something. I think Brazil having the best collection of attacking/overall players (for a first XI, but even moreso going beyond it possibly) seems about right though still.

 

@PDG1978 @Lasha the Idiotic In what exactly do you consider Nilton Santos superior to Roberto Carlos?

 

Interesting question mate. Of course it is difficult to compare directly between eras and with limited footage, and maybe it's easy to favour the 'legend' (although maybe already Roberto Carlos can be considered one too, and at certain points in his career there was a lot of hype and fame about him), but I would say that Nilton Santos seems probably to have been a bit more tidy and reliable, both in terms of defensive actions and concentration, and in possession. Of course, though he could be very good at times it seems entering the attack, he was not as explosive or with such a dangerous shot as Roberto Carlos.

I think by the way that Junior got the place as a sub because of his versatility, and I'm not really sure that as a left wing back, or normal left back even, I'd think of him ahead of Roberto Carlos (but maybe it's a close call - Junior on a great/good day would be better and more useful than Roberto Carlos on an average/bad day of course in that role).

 

Ok cool! Will be interesting to see another version, with some different players aligned to different numbers, and see how it comes out!

 

I'm surprised that both have coincided with Carlos Alberto as centre-back. Of course, he excelled there in his late career, especially with Fluminense, but I'm not so sure how to compare him to the development of the best Brazilian centre-backs and I doubt if his sweeper mold was complementary to the similar one of Domingos.

Brazil has exceptional attacking full-backs, but I agree that in a kind of ideal XI it's best to balance the defense with their best defensive-focus full-backs to give more freedom to their enormous attacking options.

BRAZIL
​

Gilmar

- Domingos ----- Thiago Silva
Djalma Santos ------------------------------------------------------ Nílton Santos

Toninho Cerezo ----- Falcão -----

Garrincha ------------------------- Pelé ---------------------- Ronaldinho

Ronaldo
​

Bench: (GK) Júlio César, (RWB) Dani Alves, (CB) Luís Pereira, (LWB) Roberto Carlos, (DM) Mauro Silva, (CM) Didi, (AM) Zico, (RW) Jairzinho, (SS) Rivaldo, (ST) Romário.

 

Something that always surprised me is that despite the fact that Italy was recognized for his defensive expertise, they didn't have a prominent defensive midfielder, one of the top all-timers (considering Monti as Argentine).

ITALY

Buffon

Bergomi ----- Baresi ------ Maldini
Zambrotta ------------------------------------------------------------ Facchetti
Pirlo
Tardelli ------------------------------------
--------------------------------- Rivera
Meazza ---------------------
--------------- Piola
​

Bench: (GK) Zoff, (CB) Nesta, (SW) Scirea, (CB) Cannavaro, (DM) Andreolo, (CM) Benetti, (AM) Totti, (WF) Conti, (SS) Baggio, (ST) Riva.

 

Bergomi, when you have Cannavaro or most likely Nesta on the bench... ?
Bergomi played RB in a 5-man defense during the World cup Final. Nesta could do anything, played FB in the beginnings if that's the thing (covering this area). Nesta is not so much of a libero that it would be a problem with Baresi imo.
The biggest problem in your team (apart from picking Bergomi) is the gap in the Facchetti-Pirlo-Rivera zone, Pirlo and most importantly Rivera being not really defensive. A kind of Seedorf would fit instead of Rivera probably though, for what remains a fantasy team (is that Benetti?).
Given some tactical thoughts have been putted into it. Otherwise, as completely a "Dream Team", no problem of course (apart from picking Bergomi seriously).

Realistically, you can have 5 men at the back, the problem remains the pairing of Baresi and Facchetti (without forgetting the problem of the left area of the midfield; Facchetti will not play LWB and DM at the same time). It's one or the other, or Scirea, in a more restricted role as he could do, although in Italy, they also thought that these two could not play together.
Rivera and Mazzola then, that's another question but at the back it's very important.

More defenders doesn't mean a better defense.

I'd just go full "dream team" for my part or with these intermediate solutions you finish with a midfield Falcao-Cerezo for Brazil, which in reality, in the last rounds of a tournament shown its limits.

But that's interesting attempts though as it shows the weaknesses of each nations : France has not the pivotal CF that could be useful to work with the three number 10's (Giroud, Lacombe... Rocheteau by the end, in '85-86, but he got injured before the semi-finals).
Italy has not so much DM's as you PeruFC says (but it is a problem if the team is well-organized?) like France has. Here, Brazil has Mauro Silva that can be useful with a 4-man defense... but I think that reallistically, if Brazil or Argentina can win a World Cup again it will be with a '5-3-2' something like that (remember 2002).

I'm with the ones who pick C. Alberto at CB in a 4-man defense for a Brazil dream team btw when the other is T. Silva with his psychological problems when playing for Brazil or Domingos Da Guia who did rugby tackles. As a RB, I think he helped Brito (was it Brito?) a lot in '70 already. Juan is underrated btw I think, compared to oldies like Domingos or later, Mauro Ramos. It's really not Brazil's force, it is well-known. The 2002 team was well organized defensively with complementarities... and for sure, having Cafu and R. Carlos to play this system is the best thing ever. Even in a 4-man defense, having them behind oldies like the two Santos is a bit disrespectful for modern players of their caliber, I think. Of course they were not always perfect defensively, to say the least, but so were the two Santos. They're just equal given their respective eras imo (plus the two Santos had less direct concurrency worldwide to be compared with. There was other very good FB but not with the quality+palmares of Maldini and... Thuram, well). Thus, I think that Djalma and Nilton were a bit the choice by default in the World's best XI's that could appear here and there during those years (surely deserved but it can be relativized to some extent).

Not an easy task for sure.

Spain is another dilemma, between the players who could not reach a semi-final or anything and the actual team with its few variations that won everything.

Whereas, with Holland, we have an impression of total flexibility - and compability between eras.

A Portugal XI must not be a big challenge apparently, although many contemporary players can be in the equation at the back since some years. The level of difficulty/ interest to build their all-time XI must be about the same as for France since there's like a front-4 that is almost non debatable.
Right behind it, Coluna is often an automatic choice but it is reallly a clear cut (there's Oceano who's perhaps stronger defensively? There's Maniche and what about Deco, where he could fit?).

Uruguay is interesting too with plenty of players who just succeed to the others in quite similar fashion and or similar level. Btw, as a "pure CF", is Petrone still an automatic choice over Cavani?

 

I thought after all why not expand my own selections to factor in 8 more teams (but this time for the shirt number points scoring I will try with also Spain again in there, so 9 teams, and just one points position not used this time). I think if it was nations as they are today then maybe I would have chosen Belgium and Poland (with Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia then in doubt, not so much Yugoslavia because I use all the old players who played for Yugoslavia anyway and most of the best teams came from those times...although a few of the players did have relative success with Croatia of course)....

Hungary
Goalkeeper: Gyula Grosics
Right back: Jeno Buzanszky
Centre back/sweeper: Sandor Matrai
Centre back/DM: Kalmon Meszoly
Left back: Sandor Biro (I prefer to know the players well enough from footage so I doubted this choice, as there are options from the 50s to the 80s that come to mind but it seems like his calibre was high enough to be in probably)
Deep-lying playmaker/DM: Jozsef Bozsik
Box to box player/DM: Gyorgy Sarosi
Deep-lying centre-forward/AM: Nandor Hidegkuti
Right side supporting forward: Florian Albert
Left side supporting forward: Ferenc Puskas
Central forward: Sandor Kocsis

Subs: Antal Szabo, Gyula Lorant, Mihaly Lantos, Jozsef Zakarias, Lajos Detari, Zoltan Czibor, Ferenc Bene


Portugal
Goalkeeper: Costa Pereira
Right back: Joao Domingos Pinto
Centre back: Humberto Coelho
Centre back: Ricardo Carvalho
Left back: Dimas
Right CM/AM: Luis Figo
Central/anchor midfielder: Mario Coluna
Left CM/AM: Rui Costa
Right(left) wing forward: Cristiano Ronaldo
Left(right) wing forward: Paulo Futre
Main striker: Eusebio

Subs: Rui Patricio, Germano, Fabio Coentrao, Paulo Sousa, Maniche, Jose Augusto, Nuno Gomes


Uruguay
Goalkeeper: Ladislao Mazurkiewicz
Right back: Victor Rodriguez Andrade
Centre back/sweeper: Jose Nasazzi
Centre back: Jose Santamaria
Left back: Ricardo Pavoni
Right DM/CM: Jose Leandro Andrade
Left DM/CM: Obdulio Varela
Right AM: Juan Schiaffino
Left AM: Enzo Francescoli
Support striker: Hector Scarone
Striker: Fernando Morena

Subs: Roque Maspoli, Diego Godin, Paolo Montero, Pedro Rocha, Luis Cubilla, Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan


Denmark
Goalkeeper: Peter Schmeichel
Right back: John Sivebaek
Centre back: Andreas Christensen
Centre back/sweeper: Morten Olsen
Left back: Jan Heintze
Anchor/bos to box midfielder: Soren Lerby
Right/central midfielder: Frank Arnesen
Left/attacking midfielder: Michael Laudrup
Roaming right winger: Brian Laudrup
Roaming left winger: Allan Simonsen
Striker: Preben Elkjaer

Subs: Thomas Sorensen, Jakob Kjeldbjerg, Daniel Agger, Joachim Maehle, Thomas Gravesen, Karl Aage Praest, John Hansen


....to be continued with Soviet Union,. Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia

 

Suggested most likely tactical substitutions for these:

Hungary - Czibor for Buzanszky (Matrai to right back, Sarosi to centre back, two wide players with Czibor on the left, Puskas partnering Kocsis), Bene for Albert

Portugal - Sousa for Futre (changing to 4-2-2-2 magic square but with more tendency to width from Figo and Rui Costa than for example the French version), Coentrao for Dimas

Uruguay - Suarez for Francescoli (changing to 4-2-1-2-1), Forlan for Morena

Denmark - Gravesen for Arnesen (changing to 4-2-3-1 with Gravesen-Lerby as CMs and M.Laudrup as central AM), Maehle for Heintze

 

Soviet Union
Goalkeeper: Lev Yashin
Sweeper: Albert Shesternyov
Right back: Vladimir Bessonov
Centre back: Oleg Kuznetsov
Left back: Vasily Rats
Right CM/DM: Valery Voronin
Left CM/DM: Igor Netto
Attacking midfield: Valentin Ivanov
Right wing forward: Igor Chislenko
Centre forward: Andriy Shevchenko
Left wing forward: Oleg Blokhin

Subs: Rinat Dasaev, Vadiz Khidiyatulin, Anatoliy Demienenko, Vladimir Muntyan, Aleksandr Zavarov, Igor Belanov, Nikita Simonyan


Sweden
Goalkeeper: Ronnie Hellstrom
Right back: Roland Nilsson
Centre back: Jan Eriksson
Centre back: Patrick Andersson
Left back: Erik Nilsson
Anchor midfielder: Stefan Schwarz
Right wing: Kurt Hamrin
Right CM/AM playmaker: Gunnar Gren
Left CM/AM playmaker: Nils Liedholm
Left wing: Lennart Skoglund
Striker: Gunnar Nordahl

Subs: Thomas Ravelli, Bengt Gustavsson, Orvar Bergmark, Jonas Thern, Tomas Brolin, Henrik Larsson, Torbjorn Nilsson


Czechoslovakia
Goalkeeper: Ivo Viktor
Sweeper: Anton Ondrus
Right back: Zdenek Grygera
Centre back: Jan Popluhar
Left back: Marek Jankulovski
Central midfielder: Antonin Panenka
Central midfielder: Josef Masopust
Attacking midfielder: Tomas Rosicky
Attacking midfielder: Pavel Nedved
Forward: Ladislav Kubala (considering him to be eligible but Josef Bican not because he played for Austria first and was born there too)
Forward: Antonin Puc

Subs: Petr Cech, Thomas Ujfalusi, Karol Dobias, Tomas Galasek, Patrik Berger, Marian Masny, Oldrich Nejedly


Yugoslavia
Goalkeeper: Vladimir Beara
Right back: Branko Stankovic
Centre back: Josip Katalinski
Centre back: Branko Zebec
Left back: Robert Jarni
Right CM/AM: Dragan Stojkovic
Anchor/box to box midfielder: Ivan Gudelj
Left CM/AM: Safet Susic
Right winger/supporting forward: Dejan Savicevic
Left winger/supporting forward: Dragan Dzajic
Striker: Davor Suker

Subs: Samir Handanovic, Velibor Vasovic, Dragan Holcer, Vladimir Jugovic, Zvonimir Boban, Bernard Vukas, Stjepan Bobek