Below is a 23 men squad of the "Bad Boys" of football which if placed into a single team would have made France 2010 World Cup squad look humble. The criteria for inclusion had been mostly talent, as well as, consistency of negative/unfitting behaviour. Please note, the player had to be a consistent trouble maker, distruptive spirit, controversial figure, psycho or even a rebel. Irresponsible and shocking behaviour could occur on and/or off the field. First 11: Formation 3-4-3 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. RENE HIGUITA (GK)- Colombia -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. PEPE (CB)- Portugal 4. MARCO MATERRAZI (CB)- Italy 3. KEVIN MUSCAT (CB)- Australia ------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. VINNIE JONES (DM)- Wales ------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. PAUL GASCOINE (AM)- England 16. STEFAN EFFENBERG (AM)- Germany 10. DIEGO MARADONA (AM)- Argentina- CAPITAN ------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. MARIO BALOTELLI (LW)- Italy 7. ERIC CANTONA (CF)- France 11. CARLOS TEVEZ (RW)- Argentina -------------------------------------------------------------------- BENCH: KAHN/LEHMANN (GK)- Germany, TERRY (CB)- England, PEARCE (CB)- England, KEANE (CM)- Ireland, BARTON (CM)- England, TOTTI (AM)- Italy, QUARESMA (AM)-Portugal, ADRIANO (CF)- Brazil, CASSANO (CF)- Italy, MUTU (CF)-Romania, ANELKA (LW)-France. COACH: JOSE MOURINHO- Portugal.
Paul Gascoigne wasn't a bad boy. He was just an idiot. A little harsh maybe. Lets say he was an easily led fool who happened to be an exceptional footballer.
What was Rene Higuita's 'shocking behavior'? His scorpion kick? No way he deserves to be ahead of Schumacher or Kahn.
Tim Wiese Also good candidates are Romeo Benetti, Graeme Souness, Roy Keane, Patrick Viera, Uli Stielike, Johan Neeskens.
Higuita went to jail for attempting to resolve a kidnapping in Colombia without the police. I would place Chilavert ahead of him though.
Higuita was more of a wild-party guy, similar to Romario or Gascoigne. Chilavert was tougher, more of a fighter (the incident with Roberto Carlos is well-known, but there were others) and definitely a bigger trash-talker.
Terry and Keane should be picked in the starting-11, imo. I also think that Chilavert is a great option as GK, behind him Schumacher and Kahn.
Another goalkeeper 'tackle' from a few years ago For the first time in Bundesliga history a player was sued for a foul and had to pay 60 000 €.
Higuita Is the best friend of every colombian drug godfather so That makes him a pretty darn good candidate imo ...
First your definition of "bad boys" is no clear. 1-Maradona, Cantona and Tevez were certainly not "bad boys' at all ... they were more like "arrogant" and "influential" to the teams by such attitude - that's all. 2- Bad boys are often like Balotelli, Pepe, Higuita, Materazzi, Jones ... got bad attitude and could do ANYTHING to other players ... I think category 2 (above) meant more liek "bad boys" and that should add Zlatan, Rooney (younger years), de Young, Gentille, Roy Keane, ... into that team
I did not include Schumacher (who would have taken 1st place) becasue I looked on players from 1990 on. Speaking of 1990, not sure if you remember what Rene Higuita did during that tournament in the game vs Cameroon? Never seen anything like it, and we will likely never again. The scorpion kick was really a small thing compared to that incident and its magnitute. His good relations with Colombian crime (always wondered why they shot Escobar in 1994 and not Higuita four years earlier....) definately tipped him towards a starting line up. Watch this video from the 90 World Cup. He was doing this all the match, all the time!!! Just asking for trouble. Man, he must have had some good connections back home to get away with that.
I benched Kean and Terry, becasue they actually had alot to offer to the team. They were able to be decent leaders, unlike some of the other characters who made the starting lineup. As for Chilavert I didn't pick him for the exact same reason. He was a bit "loco" ofcourse, but he was an exceptional leader that had so much to offer the team and his defense, even more so than Kahn. I remember him behaviour right after Paragway got knocked out of the 1998 WC by sudden death....it was worthy of the greatest of leaders. The others I think, were a bit more "dodgy" in a negative way....
Well, the word "Bad" can mean many things, to different people. I would certainly put Maradona and Higuita in the same kind of "Bad" category. It doesnt only mean "brutal" like in Jones or Pepe's case.....
While Higuita was buck wild indeed, he was also a very good goalkeeper, for sure the best Colombia had in 1990 and would have also started 94, when at age 27 he was in his prime, except he went to jail for trying to mediate a kidnapping. Watch the Intercontinental final of 89 between Nacional Medellin and AC Milan, at one point Higuita dribbles Van Basten not once but twice in the same play
Well then every player is bad in his own way ... - Inzaghi king of offside - CR7, Suarez king of diving - Romario/Ronaldo so lazy in training - Zidane headbutt plus 2 red cards in 2 WC's - Rivaldo faking act at Wc02 - Terry loves other's player GF LOL - Vieiri and Rooney with their "elbowing" in setpieces ... ....
Stig Tøfting..aka The Lawn Mower. Probably shouldn't be on the list because he wasn't very good. But he was quite dirty, went to jail for assault and seems to have had a rough childhood: "when aged 13, he returned home from school to find the bodies of his parents. His mother had been shot by his father, who shortly thereafter turned the gun on himself."