World XI's - Europe & Rest of the World
 

Well after a few weeks of the world cup, looking at the performaces of a few players in the tournament & with due respect to some other class players who aren't participating in this tournament. I had an idea just to pick two 20-man squads from Europe & Rest of the World based on mixture of current form & overall career performances to see how they would match up:

EUROPE 20-MAN SQUAD:

FORMATION: 4-4-2

GOAL-KEEPERS: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Peter Cech (Czech Republic)

DEFENDERS: Gary Neville (England), Ashley Cole (England), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), John Terry (England), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal), Alessandro Nesta (Italy), Carlos Puyol (Spain), Gianlunca Zambrotta (Italy).

MID-FIELDERS: Michael Ballack (Germany), Arjen Robben (Holland), Frank Lampard (England), Steven Gerrard (England), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Michael Ballack (Germany), Patrick Vieira (France)

STRIKERS: Wayne Rooney (England), Thierry Henry (France), Fernando Torres (Spain), Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)

GK – Gianluigi Buffon
RB – Carlos Puyol
LB – Gianlunca Zambrotta
CB – Fabio Cannavaro
CB – John Terry
RM – Christiano Ronaldo
LM – Arjen Robben
CDM – Andrea Pirlo
CAM – Steven Gerrard
ST- Andriy Shevchenko
ST – Thierry Henry


REST OF THE WORLD 20-MAN SQUAD:

FORMATION: 3-5-2

GOAL-KEEPERS: Dida (Brazil), Oswaldo Sanchez (Mexico)

DEFENDERS: Javier Zanetti (Argentina), Roberto Ayala (Argentina), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Gabrielle Heinze (Argentina), Ivan Cordoba (Columbia), Rafael Marquez (Mexico).

MID-FIELDERS: Emanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast), Michael Essein (Ghana), Kaka (Brazil), Ronaldinho (Brazil), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina), Mahamadou Diarra (Mali), Stephen Appiah (Ghana).

STRIKERS: Adriano (Brazil), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Ronaldo (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina).

GK – Dida
RWB – Javier Zanetti
LWB – Gabrielle Heinze
CB – Roberto Ayala
CDM – Michael Essein
RM – Emanuel Eboue
LM – Kaka
CAM – Ronaldinho
CAM – Juan Roman Riquelme
ST – Hernan Crespo
ST – Samuel Eto’o

If this is meant to be based on the world cup so far, why include players from countries that didn't qualify? May as well not have it in the WC forum at all.

As well as players not even good enough to get in teams that did qualify...

what are you saying blokes like Cordoba & Diarra cant make the sides of any of the 32 countries that qualified for the world cup this year?, come on now..

as i mentioned they are some class players who aren't in the world cup i.e Cordoba & Diarra & even though Columbia & Mali didn't make the world surely they are good enough to make a rest of the world sqaud.

Considering Australia and Ecuador made it to the 2nd round, if these sides where based on World Cup performance atleast a couple players should be in there. i guess there not based on world cup performances if players outside the 32 teams are there. Some pretty average squad there consider what you could have had TBH.

thats right not just on world cup performances but a mixture of that along with overall career performances & consideration to other top players from other countries that didn't qualify for the world cup.

What, how can these sides be average?

Just because Australia & Ecuador they made it to the second round makes the players that they have the best in the world, if they get knocked out which is a very high possibilty what would you say then?, Greece won the european championship but you wouldn't pick any of their players a european sqaud regardless if they qualified for the world cup or not.

The point is, if you aren't picking the squads based on the world cup, why do it in the world cup thread? It's just not relevant.

For instance, you wouldn't have put Lucas Neill in a "rest of the world" team before the WC, but he'd certainly be part of the team of the WC so far, as he's been simply sensational in all three games. And again, you wouldn't pick Neville, Ashley Cole, Henry or Christiano Ronaldo based on their WC performances either, because they've been nothing special.

fair enough then, didn't think of it that way when i made the thread.

You wouldn't pick C Ronaldo anyway, would you?

I spose aussie would though 8-)

He really isn't "good". I'll leave it at that.

Nah, not really. He looks good, and occasionally does sensational things, but he's not one of the best players around imo. Not the best midfielder Portugal has, even.

Christino Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world and would walk into any World XI or European XI, end of story....

That's not what I said now is it?

I said players not good enough to get into the teams that DID qualify.

Yeah.

No, no he wouldn't. Overrated. His final pass isn't good enough, his shooting is pretty ordinary. He's like Joe Cole two years ago, a few tricks but no end product.