Here's a little challenge for those of you who are sick of seeing the same names over and over again in all time xi's. Create a best xi of all time outside of those who have appeared in a WC or EC final So, obviously those players who got knocked out in the Semi's and contested for bronze can be picked from but those players with a Silver or Gold cannot. This still offers up a myriad of fantastic talent to pool from and it gives some of those who are always forgotten a chance it also adds some diversity to a very tired original format. So remember..no Pele's, Maradona's, Cruyff's, Platini's, Beckenbauer's or Van Basten's, etc please... This should really rack the brains of those who post up and should give out a huge variety of greats instead of the usual and very familiar pool of 16 or so players we always see. I'll be surprised to see the team that doesn't include Di Stefano and/or Zico however P.S you can have as many goes at this as you like! I've got a few teams to put down that would challenge any all time xi that appeared in the afformentioned finals.
First attempt: ----------Goycachea ------D.DaGuia---Figueroa -Gerets----------------Marzolini ------------Coluna -----Kopa-----------Finney -------------Zico ---------------Di Stefano ---------Eusebio Right backs are going to be a real problem for me
How do you account for the 1950 World Cup, where the winner was decided through group play? Are we to assume that Uruguay-Brazil was the final for all intents and purposes?
Excuse the slight English bias. ---------------------------Ricardo Zamorra Jimmy Armfield ---- Robert Jonquet - Domingos Da Guia - Roger Byrne Stanley Matthews - Enrst Ocwirk ------ Zico ------------Tom Finney -----------------------Eusebio - Alfredo Di Stefano Plenty of other players who could easily have made this team.
Attempt 1b ,lol -----------Zamora ------D.DaGuia---Figueroa -Gerets----------------Marzolini ------------Coluna -----Kopa-----------Finney -------------Zico ---------------Di Stefano ---------Eusebio
----------------------------------Zamorra Zanetti----------Hansen(lol)-----------------Hierro------------Marzoloni ----------------------------------Falcoa -----------Mathews---------------Zico----------------------Best ---------------------Di Stafeno----------------Eusabio Not the best but shakes things up a bit
Ok, I am not sure about the lineups for the early days EU championships, so I basically guessed about some players from that era, and eliminated them if I thought they might have played in the final. The one I am not sure about is Luis Suarez. I suppose I could have looked them up, but it is more fun to do this with the names that first come to mind, without doing research. That way we can forget some obvious choices and then we can argue about it. Here is my 'A' team. I will try to come up with a 'B' team later, which will probably be more interesting. ......Zamora ....Happel....Da Ghia Geretz.............Marzolini .........Suarez .....Di Stefano....Zico Best....Eusebio
Ok, here is my B team, with a bunch of non-Brazilian South Americans and some real old-timers. ....Amadeo Carrizo Szimanowski..Chumpitaz...Figueroa...Hapgood Sivori...Roy Keane...Franchescoli Stanley Mathews....Arsenio Erico...Friedenreich
You guys always forget about Garrincha. In Brazil there's a strong belief within the oldies and more romantic that he was even better than Pelé.
Ok. And on top of that, my team has only 10 men. Other than that it is a great 'A' team. Let me try again: ........Zamora ..Happel...Da Ghia Geretz...........Marzolini Zico...Roy Keane...Di Stefano Best....Fontaine...Eusebio
Have you read the rules? The nice thing about this premise is that it eliminates a lot of the brazilians.
Would this be the same Garrincha who played in the 1958 and 1962 finals and thus is not elligble in this case?
Since I moved Roy Keane to the A team, and I think I need a player of those characteristics, I will indulge myself and put a favorite of mine in that spot: Antonio Rattin. Now my B team has three Argentines, one Brazilian, one Peruvian, one Chilean, one Paraguayan, and one Uruguayan. Plus, a couple of Englishmen and a Polish to balance things out. I think it is a fair 'B' team, although some of you will surely come up with other worthy choices.
Team A: --------------Gadocha------Eusébio------Julinho -------------Zico---------di Stéfano-------Socrates -------Junior-------Hulshoff--------Trésor------Szymanovski ------------------------Mazurkiewicz
Team B ---------------Blokhin----Cubillas-----Lato --------Keegan----------Bremner---------Kasperczak ------Marzolini------Gorgon-----Katalinski-----Ubinas --------------------------Shilton
You're not going to like this, but Eric Gerets played in the 1980 European Championship final against Germany.