The attackers got all the glories. So it's time to discuss the defenders. It is still obvious and easy to name the single greatest ever defender of any given country. So I am going with top 5. Including some defensive midfielders, but excluding keepers Argentina: Passarella, Monti, Marzolini, Redondo(?), Javier Zanetti. Brazil: Djalma Santos, N.Santos, Dunga, Carlos Alberto, Roberto Carlos Uruguay: Nasazzi, Obdulio Varela, José Santamaría, Montero(?) Europe Belgium: Gerets, van Moer Denmark: Olsen England: Moore, Edwards, Wright, Stiles, Sansom France: Desailly, Tigana, Jonquet , Amoros, Trésor, Makélélé(6th) Germany: Beckenbauer, Matthaus, Sammer, Breitner, Vogts Ireland: Keane, Paul McGrath, Denis Irwin, Whelan, Mark Lawrenson Italy: Maldini, Barsei, Gentile, Scirea, Cabrini Netherlands: Koeman, Krol, Haan, Suurbier, Stam.
Fernando? If so he was an outright midfield player. I would also consider Oscar Ruggeri as an option. Thinking about though Oscar probably would fall into the 6 to 15 range.
By virtue of scoring an own gol for Germany no I don't. He ranks highly for some but just not for me.
beckenbauer should not be classed as a defensive player at all. Playing libero was hardly defensive. And for half his germany career he was an attacking midfielder. Sammer was a midfielder turned libero. Similar to beckenbauer Breitner played more than half his career as a central midfielder...mostly attacking. Even as a left-back he was at least as attacking as lahm. matthaeus was a box to box attacking midfielder for 80% of his career! I would put the top 5 as : hans-hubert vogts karlheinz foerster manfred kaltz karlheinz schnellinger juergen kohler
Joncquet is a good pick. If you base your judgement only on defensive abilities then Catel is right -Desailly should certainly be picked. However I personally think Tigana and Vieira were better, more skilled players. That's why I picked them. Bossis would also be a good choice.
Absolutely impossible to talk Brazil & not mention Domingos da Guia & Luís Pereira. Dunga & R. Carlos will have to 'warm a bench' there. D. Santos-C. Alberto-Domingos da Guia-Luís Pereira-N. Santos would simply form an inexpugnable wall. And would still propitiate many, many goals.
Nope. I don't see any English defenders from the Premiership era that to my knowledge are better players than these. Rio came close but that's it. Got to bear in mind that for the most part we are making assumptions about some players based on recorded history and reputation - in this instance Neil Franklin. But the plaudits that he received were outstanding.
Zito & Bauer - although on and off had defensive tasks - were typical midfielders. I'd add in their places Carlos Alberto & Luís Pereira. We could play with all of them together: Djalma Santos, Carlos Alberto, Domingos da Guia, Luís Pereira & Nilton Santos. I'd call it ...The Wall.
Agreed that Gilmar (GK) and De Guia were both often UNDERATED! My Brazil " defensive team" here could very well beat any best teams in the world in a 5 3 2 formation at defense and turning in 3 5 2 attacking --------------------------1 Gilmar -------------------------- ---------- 3 D.Santos -----4-DeGuia ------5 L.Pereira --------- 2 C.Alberto ------------------------------------------6 N.Santos --------7 Gerson ----------8 Didi -----------9 Falcao ----------- ------------11 Garrincha -------------10 Pele ------------------- subs: Zico -> Garrincha Ronaldo -> Pele Rivelino -> Gerson Dunga -> Didi Socrates -> Falcao Carlos -> N.Santos Cafu -> C.Alberto (middle 3 men are UNCHOUCBALE)