Before I get on to the C team may I doff my cap to
Alex Massie who pointed out that I should have added József Bozsik for Blanchflower or Boban. He is correct, and out goes Blanchflower largely because Boban was a favourite of mine as a teenager. Baxter also drops out for another of the Magical Magyars László Budai).
So, with that in mind (and hopefully with a greater thoroughness than the B team), we march onwards to the C team. There are a number of potential goalkeepers - Iker Cassilas, Amadeo Carrizo, Jurgen Croy or Antonio Carabajal? Others, such as Santiago Canizares and the over-rated Chilavert, are probably worth a thought but that, in historical context, is all.
All great keepers and all worthy of consideration. Iker Cassilas is arguably the best keeper in the world and was, in my view, unlucky not to be named either World or European keeper of the year. I have been a massive fan of his ever since he was thrust into the Real Madrid team as a teenager and he has been almost ever present ever since. Maybe in a few years time, if I revisit this extremely pleasurable exercise, Cassilas will be further up the list.
Antonio Carabajal nicknamed El Cinco Copas because he played in five World Cups for Mexico. A strong keeper but not in the same class as the other three in this list.
Jurgen Croy is a name that all too often goes unspoken. When speaking about the great keepers of the 1970s people tend to mention about Zoff and Maier but tend to ignore Croy which is more than a little unfair. During his peak, the East German was seen as their equal. He was three times GDR Player of The Year and was thought of as one of the greatest shot-stoppers the game has ever seen.
Amadeo Carrizo, a pioneering goalkeeper from Argentina who is arguably the most influential goalkeeper in history. The first keeper to wear gloves? Carrizo. The first keeper to play the sweeper role coming out of his box? Carrizo. The first to use free kicks as strategic attacking weapons? Carrizo. With this in mind, Carrizo starts in goal.
There are four full-backs in contention. At right-back, an England World Cup winner and a dual World Cup winner from Brazil. Gentleman George Cohen was voted England's greatest right back but, despite his performances for England and Fulham, I think I have to go for Cafu - the most capped Brazilian of all time.
He redefined the position of right-back. In modern times, only Sergio Ramos does more (to an extent, Ramos essentially is the right-side of Madrid as his energy levels are so high). Cafu won everything in the game but it isn't for his massive trophy collection. The Pendolino, as he was nicknamed, would add fizz and zizz to any team. His tireless overlapping runs were a priceless attacking option and adds a threat from defence for any team. An exciting player, a wonderful player, the 2nd man on my teamsheet.
He is joined by another Brazilian bomber, another man with over a century of caps for Brazil and another man who accumulated trophies at a prodigious rate Roberto Carlos - a man the Encyclopædia Britannica uses as the example of the position of wing back. Many remember him for
this goal in Le Tournoi but it is worth looking at his
''impossible goal''*. Whilst many were disappointed that he didn't score with every free kick he ever hit, it is useful to remember (in club football) he scored roughly every 8 games. At international level, 19 goals in 125 games is even more impressive. A fairly attacking full back duo, and an extraordinarily fine pairing.
He comes in narrowly ahead of the spectacular Italian captain, Antonio Cabrini, and slightly further ahead of Jose Antonio Camacho of Real Madrid and Spain. Cabrini was a technically excellent player, a star of the Juventus team of the 1980s and a World Cup winner in 1982. He certainly deserved serious consideration but I go with Carlos narrowly.
In the centre, a number of names spring to the mind. I discount the John Charles not because he wasn't a good enough defender but because he starts up front in this team.
The four real contenders are three Italian thoroughbreds and 'El Capitán de America'. First up, one of the members of the great Milan side of the 1980s and 1990s, Alessandro Costacurta, has to be considered. An elegant player who played alongside such majestic defenders as Baresi and Maldini. He collected scudettos like Peter Mandelson collects Cabinet posts. 7 in all.
Costacurta misses out to Hector Chumpitaz. One of the unsung greats of South American football and one of two Peruvians in this line-up. A man routinely named in South American Football XIs and, along with men like Passarella and Elias Figueroa. He adds some grit to the centre of defence.
Next to Chumpitaz is Fabio Cannavaro. Rightly, the World Footballer of the Year in 2006. Small for a centre-back (5ft 9) but a man whose positioning meant that this didn't matter. The little Neopolitan has shone wherever he has played - his local club, Napoli, at Parma, at Inter and most notably at Juventus and Real. A fantastic reader of the game but also a great competitor.
He pips two other World Cup winners, Fabio Collavati (1982) and, at a wee bit further back still, Jack Charlton (1966)
A strong, exciting defence and a breathtaking midfield awaits. I'll go with a four man midfield and then one man with a totally free role behind Charles.
On the right-wing, a man I don't know a lot about but as one of the stars of the Madrid team in the Eintracht Frankfurt game (you know the 7-3 one at Hampden). For that game alone Canario almost deserves his place. However, he also starred in the Magnificos team of Real Zaragoza from the 1960s. An unsung star.
The centre of midfield brings together two of the greatest goalscoring midfielders the game has ever seen. First, our second Peruvian, Teófilo Cubillas. Routinely regarded as Peru's greatest ever player and would probably be better known globally if he had come from one of the traditional powerhouses of South American football.
Like Chumpitaz, strangely, despite being a household name for the 1970 World Cup (he was just as famous as players like Muller, Jairzinho et al), his name hasn't resounded down the ages but
El Nene was a force of nature.
He was South American Footballer of the Year in 1972 (in 1971 it was Tostao and in 1973 it was Pele...) and was renowned for astounding technical ability, a hard shot and great dribbling abilities. In 534 career outings, he scored 312 goals. That's a record that most strikers would murder their strike partner for! It is important to point out that he succeeded at the very highest level. In 1970 and 1978, he scored 5 goals at each World Cup.
Next to Cubillas is another goalscoring midfielder but this time from a slightly less glamorous location: Sir Bobby Charlton, England's all-time greatest goalscorer with 49 goals and 277 goals in 834 games at club level. He was part of the great England team of the 1960s and one of three stars of the 1968 United team that won the European Cup. He walks into this team.
On the left, yet another Magical Magyar, Zoltan Czibor, the left-winger in the Hungary team that destroyed England in the famous 3-6 game. A star for some of the historic names of European Football - Ferencvaros, Honved, Barcelona. He is the sort of player every team wants - a left-winger with astonishing dribbling ability, a powerful shot and a happy knack of scoring in big games. As part of one of the greatest and most innovative sides in history, Czibor deserves his place.
Other midfielders I considered - a favourite of mine, Rui Costa, and Jan Ceulemans but in reality the choice was pretty easy.
In the free-role, Johan Cruijff.
What more is there to be said about Cruijff than has already been written? Books, articles and essays tell us about Pythagoras In Boots. In my mind, he was the greatest player of all time. The technical difference between himself, Maradona and Pele is minimal. Cruijff, however, did more and thought harder than any previous or subsequent player about the game. Whereas Pele usually played with a team of wonderful players (a thought experiment: Would Rivelinho, Jairzinho, Tostao et al have won in 1970 without Pele? Probably) and where Maradona could win a game single-handedly with outrageous skill, Cruijff reinvented football. He was nominally an attacking midfielder but would play all over the pitch - he really was a total footballer.
Wenger has said that the reason Total Football has never been as beautiful, wherever it has been tried in the world, since 1974 is because no other team has Cruijff. An on-field manager contantly shouting, pointing, directing and someone who could bring out the very best in those around him.
Enjoy.
His statistics do not shed enough light on his achievements - three times European Footballer of The Year, once voted 2nd greatest player of all time, routinely regarded in polls as Europe's best ever player, 33 goals in 48 caps for Netherlands, 371 goals in 663 games in his career. Stunning but he was much more beside.
Up front, with one of the most creative midfields that one can think of behind him, is Wales' gentle giant. Many think that Best, Law or Charlton are the best players to come from these Islands in the North Atlantic. I think there is a strong case for Charles.
Firstly, he could play either as Centre Back or Centre Forward, he was a true all-round talent (I think Cruijff would like the presence of another total footballer...). Secondly, he was a wonderful player and this has been recognised by the fans of his main Italian club, Juventus. They voted him the greatest foreign player ever to play for the club (remember that Boniek, Platini and Zidane have also pulled on the black and white shirt). He was the first British player to excel overseas and is one of the few to do so. A former Italian player of the year, a man who averaged a goal every two games (remember a lot of the time he was playing at centre-back) and a man recognised throughout football, and especially at Leeds, Juventus, and Roma, as one of the all time greats.
He is ahead of the likes of the Careca, Hernan Crespo, Eric Cantona
So the team:
1) A. Carrizo 2) Cafu 3) Carlos 4) Cannavaro 5) Costacurta 6) Charlton 7) Canario 8) Cruijff 9) Charles 10) Cubillas 11) Zoltán Czibor
Subs: Jurgen Croy, Rui Costa, Antonio Cabrini, Jan Ceulemans, Careca.
Probably my favourite of the three teams so far... admittedly, that's largely because of Cruijff.
RCM
* Although, I concede (obviously) that the commentator is a prize idiot.
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