I would say Italy. They have a great mix of top class players and very good youth to pick from. Italy has brilliant players for every position, they just need to find the right balance and to keep their discipline.
This is a joke right? Are you talking about BRASIL?? BRASIL.................................are by far the best, them and Argentina are first tier but with the samba boys a few rungs above...Italy is second tier/third tier with the likes of Spain,England,France,Holland and Portugal...
It's no joke. Italy have the best mix and their defenders are miles better than Brazil's. Brazil better than Argentina? YOU must be joking there.
brazil doesnt have good defenders, but they do have plenty of ugly buck-toothed horse-faced attackers to compensate.
Italy could be such a great team if they wanted to...Besides Adriano, I really don't see any other young Brazilian upcoming talent.
As much as I want to vote for Argentina, I think that the obvious answer is B... B...r... B...r.....a Sorry, I cannot bring myself to admit it. Argentina it is.
I'll second the Italy vote. They are deep at almost every position. It's not a lack of talent that hurts them, it's their nonsensical "style". It's a crime for a team with that kind of talent to play the way they do, especially when the results haven't been stellar. Brasil is a close second to Italy. Burn357- Brasil has good defenders, and always has. You are making the mistake of using the typical one-dimensional defending styles to define them. That's not how the Selecao plays, thank God. Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Lucio and even Luizao would start for many teams, despite RC's tendency to stray forward more than others do. It's not a game of knock the ball away and hoof it upfield counterattack. It's a defense-through-possession game... wait for the opponent to make the errant pass, then keep the ball, move the ball around (perhaps even on your own; see, Brasil's defenders can do this sort of thing) until you can get it to one of those ugly bucktoothed horse-faced attackers you mentioned in your post. Cassano- you don't see Brasil's upcoming stars because a lot of them are still playing at home. Some of the guys you're hearing about now were unknown to Europe as recently as four years ago. There'll be another "hey, where'd these guys come from?" around 2006.
I'm a fan of Italy personally but to call them the best national squad by players puzzles me. As a fan of the azzurri I feel sort of stupid saying this, but I think it's relatively true (hopefully some Italy fan will knock some sense into me). Where is the depth in defense? Besides Cannavaro and Nesta who is left? Bonera, Oddo, Panucci are hardly the best in the world. I would rather have a flag pole on defense than Matterazi because god knows it would do a better job. Italy's midfield is good but would you place them above England? Gattuso can be good but is sometimes really inconsistent (terrible tackles ahoy). Pirlo is the same way but minus bad tackles. Pirlo and Gattuso fit perfectly into the AC Milan system but they don't always function as well on the NT. Zambrotta is pure class and I don't know many better than him (I forget if Zambrotta is playing mid or defense lately). Totti is hard to classify as he can play AM or striker. Bad press aside Totti is talented enough but has yet to show it for Italy. Who else am I missing? Attack wise, I think Italy has plenty of really good options. Cassano, Del Piero, Gilardino, Montella, etc. There are plenty of very skilled strikers at Italy's disposal. Goalkeeping, I think it is safe to say Buffon is the best in the world. Finally there is coaching. Even with the amount of talent on the national team we have to put up with disapointing coaches. Trappatoni just puzzled me and left a lot of our best players at home. Lippi is questionable, I give him the benefit of the doubt, but he hasn't impressed so far. One major thing I respect Lippi for is the fact that he is playing young players and is experimenting with more attack minded football. I'm willing for the team to take some losses if we can nail down an effective new mode of play. side note Also, why do Brazilians feel so threatened if they aren't always considered to be the best at something. God knows I respect the Brazilian NT, but there is talent outside of Brazil.
Hmmm... all the others start with A, B, I, E ... Portugal starts with small p...... The thread is started by someone who appears to be Spanish... Apart from this... there are no doubt that the national team is Brazil and will be for a lot of years, mainly because Brazil as always been a fantastic producer of talent but also because the bosman rulling in Europe and the foreign limits in most of the leagues, help even more major exporting nations like Brazil.
are they not YOUNG upcoming stars? besides, alex, diego and robinho havent played a game in a major league.
Italy could be very good if they utilized their talent. Hard nosed defenders and a great midfield...but their finishing is poor...and that's kind. Vieri has lost his touch and Del Piero looked terrible in EURO 2004. Another team not to be overlooked is the Netherlands. Great forwards: Ruud (though I hate him and think he's shite most of the time, he can be good SOMETIMES), JFH, Van Hooijdonk, Kluivert, etc. Decent midfielders in Davids, Overmars, Arjen Robben (probably one of the most talented young players in the world), Cocu (he can play as a defender too), Van der Meyde, and Seedorf. Their defense is at times average, but can be among or THE best in the world when they play well. Van Bronckhorst can be shaky, but is still rather underated, with Japp Stam in the middle, he is a safe bet to shut most strikers down. Add Reiziger and one of the De Boer's and you've got yourself a pretty good team...
There is Gilardino, Cassano, Miccoli, and Montella to replace aging Del Piero and Vieri. Don't forget Roy Makaay (Hitman of Munich) and a young Robin Van Persie who is quite good.
Robinho(Santos), Carlos Alberto and Diego(Porto), Dagoberto(Atletico Paranaense), Wagner Love(CSKA), Kleber(Dinamo Kyev), Dudu Cearense and Nilmar(french teams Im not really shure), Diego Tardelli(Sao Paulo) are some players that you will hear a lot about soon.
a lot of players looked bad at euro 2004, most of italys team did, but shouldnt be written off completely. makaay is definitely better than all of those strikers, save for maybe ruud. and i think a lot of those midfielders are better than decent(davids and robben at least). I dont think anyone will overlook this team anyways, very talented. what do people think of germany right now(a team that doesnt have to qualify for 2006 and is somewhat rebuilding) and the Czechs now that there best player retired from international football.
Ok, who voted for Denmark? Was there a hanging chad or something? My vote goes to Argentina, with Brazil very close behind.
You could never guess that you are an Arsenal fan. You fit the criteria perfectly. Biased and stupid.