Lets look at the best possible All-Star Lineup of the 2000's: Years in consideration: 2001-2010. Note: Some players such as Ronaldo (9) and Figo have been included in the 1990's category, since they already reached star-status in the late 90's. On the other hand, Zidane and R. Carlos have been included in the 2000's decade, as well as, in the 1990's. This is because they were both ahead of the competition until the mid-2000's. Lets look at some of the best possible players/team of the 2000's. Formation used: 3-4-3 1. GIANLUIGI BUFFON (Goalkeeper) (Best Years: 2001-2007) ------------------------------------------- 3. ROBERTO CARLOS (Left back) (Best Years: 2001-2004) 5. FABIO CANNAVARO (Center back) (Best Years: 2005-2008) 4. JAVIER ZANETTI (Right back) (Best Years: 2006-2010) --------------------------------------------- 14. CLAUDE MAKELELE (Defensive Midfield) (Best Years: 2001-2006) --------------------------------------------- 6. XAVI (Center Midfield) (Best Years: 2007-2010) ---------------------------------------------- 11. RONALDINIO (Attacking Midfield) (Best Years: 2003-2006) 21. ZIDANE (Attacking Midfield) (Best Years: 2001-2006) -------------------------------------------------------------- 7. CRISTIANO RONALDO (Left Wing) (Best Years: 2006-2010) 9. ANDREY SHEVCHENKO (Center Forward) (Best Years: 2003-2007) 10. LIONEL MESSI (Right Wing) (Best Years: 2007-2010) --------------------------------------------------------- BENCH: Iker Casillas (G), Carlos Puyol (CB), Maicon (LB), Kaka (CM), Pavel Nedved (AM), Raul (ATT), Thierry Henry (ATT).
Well some of these player's went right through the early to mid 2000's, so they shouldn't be automatic ommision's.
I get your point. In that case, R. Carlos (instead of Maicon) could be in the line up for another decade. Maybe also Zidane (instead of Nedved or Ronaldinio...???) I don't see others making the line up....
i think its better to do a 95-2005 as the best players in recent memory happened to blossom consistently during this time. just because its not the start of a new decade technically doesnt mean anything. [LINEUP-4-4-2]ronaldo, batistuta, giggs, zidane, makalele, figo, carlos, maldini, nesta, cafu, kahn[/LINEUP-4-4-2] bench: shearer raul rivaldo overmars davids hierro schmeichel honourable mentions: van nistelrooy trezeguet shevchenko vieri owen bergkamp kluivert del pierro saviola nedved mendieta seedorf luis enrique redondo viera thuram desailly barthez
Not as rich in choices as the preceeding decade of the 90s. Here is my all-star 2000's team: Casillas (much better than Buffon or Cech) Zanetti (no new dominant right-back other than Alves appeared this decade) Puyol Cannavaro Roberto Carlos (likewise, no new great left-backs appeared in the scene this decade) Essien Xavi Riquelme Ronaldinho Messi C Ronaldo
Agree with Pipiolo, not as abundant as in the 90's. Sub's are in bracket's. GK- Gigi Buffon (Casillas) LB- Roberto Carlos (Maicon) CB- Lucio (R.Ferdinand) CB- Puyol (Canavaro) RB- Zanetti (Lahm) DM- Makelele (Essien) CM- Xavi (Ballack) AM- Zidane (Riquelme) AM- Ronaldinho (Ribery) FW- Messi (Kaka) ST- C.Ronaldo (Eto'o)
Since 2006 Started a new era (team work without a pure striker) as 2000s era was still a "playmaker + Striker" team, I have to divide in two teams: Best XI of 2000-06: --------------------- Ronaldo ----------- ----- Henry ----------------------------- -------------- Ronaldinho ---------------- --- Zidane ------------------ Figo ------- ----------Vieira -----Deco ------------ ---R.Carlos---- Nesta ------ Thuram ---- -------------- Buffon ------------------ Subs: Kahn, Sheva, Nistelrooy, Kaka, Raul, Nedved, Giggs, Totti, Ballack, Makelele, Desailly, Canavaro, Zanetti ==================================================== Best XI 2007-now: --------------- Eto'o ------------- ---- C.R7 --------------- Messi ---- ----- Iniesta ---------- Xavi ------- ---------------Tourre -------------- Zambrotta ------------------ Maicon --------- Puyol --- Cavarlho-------- --------------- Cassillas ------------ SUBS: V.D. Saar, Terry, Lucio, A.Cole, D.Alves, Sneijder, D.Villa, Xabi Alonso, Rooney, Robben, Robinho, Schweinteiger
If it's about the 2000's we should start from 2000, not 2001. I think there are too many players to consider. I agree that the decade should be split in two halves, as there were players from the previous decade (the 90s) that were still on top of their game in the early 2000s. Then in the second part of the decade new stars emerged. Also there were some great players in the middle of the period that had short peaks but were great players. GKs: Buffon, Casillas, Van Der Saar, Kahn DEFs: Thuram, Cannavaro, Nesta, Puyol, Carvalho, R.Ferdinand, Zambrotta, Zanetti, D.Alves, Maicon, A.Cole, R.Carlos, Cafu, Lahm, Sagnol MIDs: Viera, Makelele, Pirlo, Xavi, Riquelme, Deco, Ronaldinho, Nedved, Zidane, Giggs, Figo, Scholes, Kaka, Gattuso, Ballack, Gerard, Iniesta FWDs: Shevtchenko, Henry, Ronaldo, Eto'o, Messi, CR7, Totti, Inzaghi, Raul, Van Nistelroy, Crespo, Bergkamp, Adriano We can really make two (even three) very strong teams from that pool of players.
Yes there are a lot of great players. And it's difficult to omit the legends who played their best football at the turn of the century (Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Thuram, Figo, Stam, Davids) If we look at what was done within the 2000 decade the lineup is something like this... Striker : van Nistelrooy by a wide margin. The other candidates could be Shevchenko, Ronaldo, or Eto'o Support Striker : Again Henry wins in a landslide, maybe the top player in the decade when everything is taken into account. Rivaldo is well behind and Messi wasn't around for long enough. Advanced PM : It's either Ronaldinho or Totti. Dinho's peak was unreal but Totti was more consistent. Riquelme was good for a while too and of course Zidane still had a few years at the top. Winger : I think I would go with Nedved. C.Ronaldo had some amazing years at the end of the decade, and Figo at the start. But Nedved was more well rounded. CenterMid : Xavi or Pirlo, both had time at the top. Scholes never really reached their heights although he had the talent to do so. Gerrard and Lamps also spent time carrying their teams. DefensiveMid : Viera wins here for me. He won trophy after trophy but so did his countymen Makelele. Viera is just a little more versitle for me. Gattuso and Essien are honerable mentions. Rightback : Zanetti with solid displays for 10 years. Zambrotta, Cafu, and Thuram are close. Leftback : R. Carlos by a margin, if you consider Maldini was as much a CB in the later half of the decade. Centerback : Cannavaro and Nesta, done. GK: Buffon, but Kahn had his time.
Pretty good summary, I must say. Why? His analysis is pretty good and not that much different from what you posted. Kahn and Buffon were better than Casillas. Essien? What has he done better than Vieira? I would pick Pirlo over Xavi in that decade. Nedved over Riquelme for me. Henry, Van Nistelroy and Sheva over CR7 and Messi too. Puyol or Nesta - it's fine either way. This is what I would pick for the 2000's: Kahn/Buffon Zanetti R.Carlos Puyol/Nesta Cannavaro Viera Pirlo Nedved Ronaldinho Henry Van Nistelroy subs: Buffon/Kahn, Zambrotta, Nesta/Puyol, Makelele, Seedorf (I can't believe everyone forgot him, even me), Sheva, Eto'o.
I know you hate Real Madrid, but Casillas wipes the floor with Buffon or Kahh. Henry and Shevchenko have more years playing during the decasde, but their level is not even close to Messi or C Ronaldo for the last 3 and 4 years of that decade respectively. Pirlo and Xavi is close, but the latter has had more consistency. Did you see Nedved at the WC? Riquelme over him anytime.
It's a question of "principle" or "criteria" in rating players! Unless you don't have one! In pure skills, yeah Messi and CR7 might have edged out both Henry and Sheva (who I rated less than Henry) but they had longer career especially Henry. Henry in last decade won 4xEPL topscorer, 2x UEFA Goldenboot, 6xUEFA team of year, 5xFrench player of year, and MVp+topscorer confedcup 2003 besides his Euro00, WC98 and WC06 final. Now adding up his NT performance and achievement in to his great club career at Arsenal, what made Messi and CR7 surpassing him? Clearly, Henry did perform BETTER in French shirt than both Messi and CR7 did for their NT! While his club level > CR7 and very similar to Messi!
Smoking crack? Haha...Lets take a look. Henry - within the decade 275 goals and 118 assists for club. 48 and 28 for country Ballon d'Or top 4, 5 times in decade. Top 10, 7 times in a row. EURO Champion WC Finalist Champions League winner Premier League x2 FA Cup x3 La Liga x2 Copa del Rey Messi - within the decade 127 goals and 49 assists for club. 13 and 8 for country 1 Ballon d'Or win. Top 3, 3 times in a row. 1 Olympic Gold La Liga x3 Copa del Rey No contest. C. Ronaldo very might be the winger of the decade as is. When he actually played the wing for a time. But he is still well behind Henry with 179 goals for club and country. 1 Ballon d'Or win, 3 times in a row top 3 1 EURO runner-up Champions League Premier League x3 FA Cup Again no contest to Henry -------------------------------------- Pirlo and Xavi there is not much to choose from, I guess it depends on who you surround them with. -------------------------------------- I remember seeing Nedved at the World Cup, yes. I thought he performed well considering the injuries the Czech team suffered. He certainly wasn't as immense as he was during Euro2004. But I don't really see what you're getting at. Riquelme could be brilliant and at his peak he could control and dominate a game in a Zidane sort of way. But Pavel was much more versitile and consistent. And Nedved could play the wing, Riquelme only as an advanced playmaker. ----------------------------------------- Goalkeepers, what can I say. I don't think Casillas holds a candle to Buffon or Kahn at their best or for as long.
If anyone is interested here is the link to the 2000s draft on here a few years ago. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1028127
Henry joined Barca right after reaching the final of WC06, and immediately became Messi's manservant at the team. Also, I rank Messi's WC10 equal to Henry's WC 06, and Messi in WC06, even as a sub, was better than Henry at WC02. So in NT it's about even, while Messi shoots him off the water at club level. Goals are highly correlated with position, and club success with longevity, Henry had all ten years of the decase versus six for C Ronaldo and four for Messi. How about Balon D'Ors, how many does Henry have in that decade compared to Messi or C Ronaldo?
Henry was past his best during his time in Barcelona. In addition he was used as a left winger. If you compare early 00's Henry with late 00's Messi, then it's much closer. Tell me how many goals Messi scored in 2010 and how many chances he actually created... Plus tell me how many trophies he won with NT. Henry wins easily here. There's no debate.
Henry had Zidane and Viera at the NT, whenever these two were absent or out of form (as Viera was in WC02), Henry was nowhere to be seen.
My hate for Real M has nothing to do with this. Kahn and Buffon have always been better than Casillas. Gigi is my personal favorite, but I'm actually more willing to admit that Kahn was the GK of that decade. His WC 2002 performance alone is reason enough. He was also great for Bayern M. Casillas is not far away from these two, but he is behind them nevertheless. If you must know, aerial ability is one of his obvious weaknesses compared to Buffon and Kahn. Even though I'm one of Messi's biggest fans (it should be obvious to everyone by now), I have to be objective here. Messi and CR7 were great in the last two years of the 2000's (2008 and 2009), but Henry and Sheva were great in the early years of the decade and for more years. Pirlo and Xavi is a close call, I agree. But I give the edge to the Italian because: 1) He was better for a longer part of the decade (Xavi didn't reach that same level until 2007-08 season even though he was very good a little earlier than that, but not great as Pirlo) 2) Pirlo was great in a position that wasn't natural to him. He started as #10 in AM position. Ancelotti is the one who converted him into deep-lying playmaker and Andrea achieved great success as key player for both Milan and Italy. Nedved vs Riquelme.....uh, Nedved won Ballon D'or, Riquelme didn't. Plus Ronaldinho was a better playmaker during the decade. I'm waiting to hear from you why you chose Essien instead of someone like Vieira or Makelele for example. BTW, I think of the 2000's as in from 2000 to 2009....just in case there is any confusion.
Riquelme won South American player of the year two times, and he is a greater talent than Nedved. Likewise with Essien, just a greater player than Makele or even Vieira. As for Messi and C Ronaldo, it's true that they played less during the decase, since their careers began around the middle of the decade, but their peak and influence was far higher than those of Henry or Shevchenko. It's like Ronaldo in the nineties, he played less but at a highe peak than someone like Klinsmann.
So ? I've never said Henry's carreer with NT was perfect. He had ups and downs. But at that point what he did remains way better than everything Messi has done with Argentina, both in terms of individual and collective achievements.
The problem I had win Henry, as compared to the other strikers, was that there was always something missing in him.... I don't know. He was fantastic...one of the best, but never the best. In HUGE games and in critical moments he could not win a match for his team. Example: WC Final Champions Leauge Final 2006. No wonder he never won the Golden Ball, but was always second....