England easily has the most depth. I'd say Brazil, but their defenders are horrible os that doesn't really count for depth whereas for every position in the England squad, they have an apt replacement who doesn't fall off much in terms of quality from the starter. Terry, Rio, Sol, Ashely Cole, King, Carragher, Neville, Bridge, anyone can start Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright Phillips, Jenas, Hargreaves Rooney, Owen, Defoe, Bent any player can start
Wait a second...are you actually saying here that England has depth?? Please, review what you wrote and count how many players you have.. 19!! Guess what, this does not even cover the number of players you need at a World Cup...much less consider it deep.. Brazil has about 5 more teams besides the starting team of top level players and at least 2 teams, besides the starting team that are quite excelent players like Juninho Pernambucano, Fred, Robinho, Edu, Gilberto Silva, Dudu, Vagner Love, Julio Batista, Elano, Renato, Alex (PSV), Alex (Fenerbache), and much more...
No we don't, we have a great starting eleven but we don't have that many replacements after that, We are deep in the defencive position but if one of our strikers or our goalkeeper gets injured than it aint so good. Brazil, Argentina and Italy seem to be the most depth squad heading to the world cup.
how can you guys say Brazil has more depth if they can't even field a proper defensive line? Sure, I'm not saying they don't have depth at midfield or striker positions because they have tonnes...but you guys asked for depth and correct me if I'm wrong, but depth means you have to be strong at every position and have adequate backup...something Brazil has in the attacking realm of their squad but their defence is lacking hard....Roque Junior? haha please. I'm not an England supporter by any means...I just call as I see it. I enjoy watching them play as I do with any team, but i just think England can field a strong b team where Brazil can field strong b team, but even in the a team, defending will always be a question mark.
Realistically, you need about 22 players for a competitive WC squad, two complete teams. It would be good to have a third netminder, but it isn't essential. England has the necessary components. As far as forwards are concerned, they have Owen, Rooney, Defoe, Bent, and Crouch to pick from. Vassell's stock may rise in the next months. Midfield has Gerrard, Lampard, J Cole, SWP, Beckham, Hargreaves, Jenas, Ledley King and Downing, plus Michael Carrick and Kieron Richardson, who are fringe players IMO On the backline: A Cole, Terry, R. Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher, Neville, Woodgate (but he's never fit), Bridge, and Luke Young, plus Paul Konchesky and Matthew Upson. Goaltenders are Robinson, James, Kirkland and Carson. Interesting that 3 are Liverpool alumni.
You have got to be kidding. England has a great starting 11 but with injuries they're screwed. Italy will not advance out of the group stage.
I never thought that Italy will advance to the second round, naturaly Mighty USA is in our group so we stand no chance!!!
Brazil's defensive line is fine. It does its job. It's better than what we've had in the past. Roque Junior is really the only atrocious defender we have on the team, and he doesnt even start anymore. Our depth at defense is fine too. There really isnt that much difference between say Juan, one of our starting central defenders and some of our backups, like Cris or Luisao. But yeah, we still have an average defense, but for the most part we have adequate backup. And, we are set for the future at the wings with Cicinho/Rafinha for Cafu and Gustavo Nery for Roberto Carlos.
Argentina could field 10 brilliant midfielders and Pato Abbondanzieri and perhaps win a World Cup. But they have little depth up front, little depth in defense, and after Pato they fall off a 1,000-foot cliff at the keeper position. I don't define that as depth.
it was nice to see Pato redeem himself from that horrid Copa America. After seeing that game, I was convinced he should never be a goalie again. Proved me wrong with Boca at the Sudamericana.
i dont think argentina and brazil deserve the limelight here. they lack in defensive qualities. all their flair is in the midfield and attack. thank god brazil have dida now, without him theyd be in trouble. I don't think that either team will perform as well because all the players will be tired from all the other games they have to participate in at the club levels. Coaches won't be as willing at the to give youngsters at the higher clubs an opportunity to shine. If they have not performed already then it is doubtful that their benches will have any significant impact.
Brazil #1 Dida (Milan - ITA) Cafu (Milan - ITA) Juan (Leverkusen - GER) Lucio (Munichen - GER) R. Carlos (Madrid - SPA) Emerson (Juventus - ITA) Zé Roberto (Munichen - GER) Kaka (Milan - ITA) Ronaldinho (Barcelona - SPA) Ronaldo (Madrid - SPA) Adriano (Inter - ITA) Brazil #2 Julio Cesar (Inter - ITA) Cicinho (São Paulo - BRA) Cris (Lyon - FRA) Alex (PSV - NED) Serginho (Milan - ITA) Gilberto (Arsenal - ENG) Edu (Valencia - SPA) Juninho (Lyon - FRA) Alex (Fenerbahçe - TUR) Robinho (Madrid - SPA) R. Oliveira (Betis - SPA) Brazil #3 Rogerio (São Paulo - BRA) Mancini (Roma - ITA) Roque Junior (Leverkusen - GER) Luisão (Benfica - POR) Gilberto (Hertha Berlin - GER) Renato (Sevilla - SPA) Motta (Barcelona - SPA) J. Baptista (Madrid - SPA) Lincoln (Schalke - GER) Fred (Lyon - FRA) Vagner Love (CSKA - RUS) Brazil #4 Marcos (Palmeiras - BRA) Belletti (Barcelona - SPA) Edmílson (Barcelona - SPA) Caçapa (Lyon - FRA) G. Nery (Corinthians - BRA) Assunção (Betis - SPA) Simplício (Parma - ITA) Ricardinho (Santos - BRA) Diego (Porto - POR) R. Sóbis (Internacional - BRA) Marcelinho (Hertha Berlin - GER) Brazil #5 Gomes (PSV - NED) Maicon (Monaco - FRA) Anderson (Benfica - POR) Bordon (Schalke - GER) Léo (Benfica - POR) Rogério (Sporting - POR) Elano (Shaktar - UKR) Carvalho (CSKA - RUS) Fernandão (Internacional - BRA) Liédson (Sporting - POR) Grafite (São Paulo - BRA) Good players but out of Brazil top 55: Gabriel (Fluminense), Rafinha (Schalke 04), Junior (Sao Paulo), Fabio Aurélio (Valencia), Sylvinho (Barcelona), Dedé (Dortmund), Roger (Corinthians), Deivid (Sporting), Dudu Cearense (?), Rivaldo (Greek team), Taddei (Roma), Fernando Baiano (Celta), Edu (Betis). Did I forget anyone? That's one deep NT.
Daniel Alves - Right Wing Back - Sevilla Mozart - Central Mid - formerly with Reggina but now in Russia?
look just listing off a bunch of players does not mean there is depth, like some brazil fan boys are doing here. In that case Argentina could do the same. However i must disagree that we have no depth in attack, ( strikers ), I mean we have Cruz, Figueroa, Saviola, Tevez, Crespo, Delgado, Cavenaghi, Palacios, those are some up for grabs. In defence we have depth but we have not really experimented in time to really be confident whom to use, Milito, Ayala, Samuel, Collicini, Quiroga, Placente, Zanetti, Sorin, Heinze, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Schiavi, Burdisso, Cufre and some others.So how is this not enough depth?? Yes in the goal area we have many a question mark, yet I feel talent is there, but pekermann has not seen it in time... Ustari comes to mind as does the young number two in Villareal!!
Oh my god...another frustrated argentinian. We are not just giving you a list with a bunch of players...if you take a look at a great post 2 comments above, you will have 5, that's right, 5 teams made with brazilian players that all of them could easily be playing at World Cup level. No other nation has ever had that amount of good players, Argentina is very deep, right after England, but c'mon!! 5 teams made out of top level players...players that are playing in top level clubs worldwide, not even I thought we could assemble so many good teams.
Very impressive. Surely Brazil have the most depth. I'll try three Azzurri line-ups to see what it looks like: #1 Cassano (Roma); Toni (Fiorentina); Totti (Roma); Gattuso (Milan), Pirlo (Milan), Camoranesi (Juve); Grosso (Palermo); Zambrotta (Juve); Cannavaro (Juve), Nesta (Milan); Buffon (Juve). #2 Del Piero (Juve); Gilardino (Milan); Montolivo (Fiorentina); De Rossi (Roma), Maresca (Sevilla), Diana (Sampdoria); Chiellini (Juve), Zaccardo (Palermo); Barzagli (Palermo), Materazzi (Inter); Roma (Monaco). #3 Pazzini (Fiorentina), Inzaghi (Milan); DiMichele (Udinese); Donadel (Fiorentina); Barone (Palermo); Gasbarroni (Sampdoria); Pasqual (Fiorentina), Bonera (Parma); Bovo (Roma); Iuliano (Mallorca); Cudicini (Chelsea). And why not one more? #4 Lupoli (Arsenal), Miccoli (Benfica); Rossi (Man. U); Ambrosini (Milan); Perrotta (Roma); Blasi (Juve); Balzaretti (Juve), Marzoratti (Milan); Potenza (Mallorca), Coda (Empoli); Toldo (Inter) That's really quite good, if you think about it.
That is very good SEMPRE, congratulations...I was surprised. I am starting to think that Italy has even more depth than England and Argentina... Guess what, let's chalenge a british and argentinian fan to try to get as much team formations they can and see if they could beat Brazil and Italy!
Ok, I'll start. My countryfolks can add all the players I have probably missed. ARGENTINA TEAM A Abbondanzieri (Boca) Coloccini (La Coruña) Ayala (Valencia) Heinze (ManU) Sorin (Villareal) Zanetti (Inter) Mascherano (Corinthians) Riquelme (Villareal) Messi (Barça) Crespo (Chelsea) Tevez (Corinthians) ARGENTINA TEAM B Lux (River Plate) Samuel (Inter) Milito (Zaragoza) Gonzalo (Villareal) Cambiasso (Inter) Aimar (Valencia) Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid) Bilos (Boca) Kily Gonzalez (Inter) Rosales (Ajax) Cruz (Inter) ARGENTINA TEAM C Barbosa (Villareal) Placente (Celta Vigo) Burdisso (Inter) Demichelis (Bayern) Bernardi (Monaco) Lucho (Porto) Veron (Inter) Santana (Palermo) Solari (Inter) Saviola (Sevilla) Maxi Lopez (Barça) I have a few players left for TEAM D: Saja (GK, San Lorenzo) D'Alessandro (Wolfsburg) Zabaleta (Espanyol) Galletti (Atletico Madrid) Aguero (Villareal?..) Palacio (Boca) Figueroa (Villareal) Delgado (Cruz Azul) Please add all the ones I have missed into a D and maybe E team.
Yeah there is Calvo, Bilos, Insua, Gallardo ( sorry I don't know if you mentioned him) Ibarra, Clemente Rodriguez, Cejas, ... others to follow.
Indeed, some of these are worth to be included. ARGENTINA TEAM A Abbondanzieri (Boca) Coloccini (La Coruña) Ayala (Valencia) Heinze (ManU) Sorin (Villareal) Zanetti (Inter) Mascherano (Corinthians) Riquelme (Villareal) Messi (Barça) Crespo (Chelsea) Tevez (Corinthians) ARGENTINA TEAM B Lux (River Plate) Samuel (Inter) Milito (Zaragoza) Gonzalo (Villareal) Cambiasso (Inter) Aimar (Valencia) Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid) Bilos (Boca) Kily Gonzalez (Inter) Rosales (Ajax) Cruz (Inter) ARGENTINA TEAM C Barbosa (Villareal) Placente (Celta Vigo) Burdisso (Inter) Demichelis (Bayern) Bernardi (Monaco) Lucho (Porto) Veron (Inter) Santana (Palermo) Solari (Inter) Saviola (Sevilla) Maxi Lopez (Barça) ARGENTINA TEAM D: Saja (GK, San Lorenzo) Ibarra (Espanyol) Zabaleta (Espanyol) Galletti (Atletico Madrid) Gallardo (River Plate) D'Alessandro (Wolfsburg) Insua (Boca) Aguero (Villareal?..) Palacio (Boca) Figueroa (Villareal) Delgado (Cruz Azul) Any good players left for a TEAM E? Maybe a bit out of topic, but I have always wondered about a few Argentinian players that do great in the FC Basel (Switzerland). These are: Matias Emilio Delgado (FCB) Cesar Andres Carignano (FCB) Julio Hernan Rossi (FCB) Christian "Jimmy" Gimenez (now moved to Olympique Marseille) These players had key roles in the successes of this club (many times Swiss champions, CL qualification), specially Delgado. Yet we are talking Swiss league, so it may not mean much outside. Would they deserve our E team?
I always liked Gimenez, and I wonder where this kid called Vatigliano ended up, we also have some in Greece hiding out?? Thing is I think you are all missing my point from earlier and I was just as guilty as the rest. Naming a bunch of players does not really show depth, I mean we have to be really serious about how many of these players could and or would break into the first team. many players we named and as well as the players the Brazilian fans named I think would be hard pressed to fit into the final roster. I would say both the teams have maybe 35 world class players to choose from in the end to go to the big show next summer and would 3 to 4 of the biggest names be injured... and that includes the likes of England, Italy and the rest, the chances of victory or even a good performance would be drastically hampered.
Well, England are very deep in central defense and in midfield. It's quite a luxury to have all of Terry, Campbell, Carragher, and Ferdinand. There are a couple of places--goal-keeper, holding midf, and center-forward--where England could be deeper. But they have a really strong squad. Rooney of course has no replacement. But a player like Rooney comes along very rarely . . . .
England really have no one after Rooney and Owen. Not much experience at all. They probably wouldve beaten Portugal had they had Rooney in Euro 04.