Fantasy Football Club Soccer
How The Ultimate Eleven Players Would Line Up And Win Any League
With soccer being the true "world series" of sports and Fantasy Football leagues ever popular in countries all over the globe, here's one possible ultimate football team.
The Best Of The Best
Ah, football (or soccer as it's commonly becoming known as). It doesn't matter how religiously or how casually you follow it, from the grass roots of your favourite non-league team to the World Cup only, it's the one game that can truly inspire the whole world to sit down and watch.
Sure, you may have baseball and its "World Series" - well, world if you only include America - and boxing can elicit huge television audiences, but there's something about the beautiful game that just brings fans across the globe together. The English Premier League has never been more popular, with bidding rights costing hundreds of millions of pounds sterling for the privilege of showing live game on the TV, such is it's popularity.
In Or Out?
One of the things that makes football so interesting and divisive at the same time is comparing how the greats of today would have compared with the teams of yesteryear. Would Michael Owen be regarded as highly as Maradona? Does Cristiano Ronaldo compare to George Best? (simply put, no...)
So, just as a bit of fun, and the first part in a mini-series that looks at the great and the good of today and yesterday, here's how the Top Eleven Players in the world from the last ten years may have made up the Ultimate Club Team. And remember, it's just an opinion of one person - please feel free to suggest what your team would look like.
- Peter Schmeicel (GK) - known as The Great Dane, ex-Manchester Utd legend Schmeicel was recognised as one of the best keepers in the modern era, and gets the vote here for his command of the box, and the amount of times he would run upfield at crucial moments, to have a stab at scoring himself.
- Roberto Carlos (LB) - now a shadow of his former self, this Brazilian wizard was unsurpassed at the left-back position, both for Brazil and Real Madrid.
- John Terry (DEF) - an absolute rock in the heart of Chelsea and England's defence, this young player would walk into any team in the world.
- Lilian Thuram (DEF) - French colossus who had terrific pace and knowledge of the game.
- Gary Neville (RB) - still one of the world's best defenders today, Neville has been consistent in the right-back position for over a decade, both for Manchester Utd andEngland.
- Ryan Giggs (LMF) - quite simply a modern-day equivalent of George Best, the Welsh Wing Wizard is truly a sight to behold when running at defenders at full pace and still managing to keep the ball glued to his feet. His FA Cup semi-final winner against Arsenal a few years back will live on in footballing history forever.
- Eric Cantona (MF) - a genius and a visionary, and never afraid to speak his mind, it'll be a long time before football sees his like again.
- Zinedine Zidane (MF) - sadly remembered for his head butt incident in the last World Cup, as opposed to the master skills player he was, Zidane was one of these rare things - a player in a class of his own.
- Ronaldinho (RMF) - a technical wizard who can orchestrate his teammates around him, this Brazilian midfielder is constantly in the running for World Player of the Year.
- Ronaldo (ST) - quite simply one of the greatest Brazilian strikers to arrive on the scene since Pele. Although nothing like his former self today, no-one can forget the way he single-handedly won Brazil the World Cup four years ago.
- Thierry Henry (ST) - although technically not an out-and-out striker, this Arsenal and France legend has not only shown he deserves to be in this line-up, but how loyal a player he is when he turned down Barcelona to stay with the kids of the new Arsenal.
Over To You
So there you have it. It's not exhaustive, and it's certainly not claiming to be the definitive eleven players of the last ten years. But for what these players brought to their clubs and, more importantly, their fans, as well as how strong a team they would be, this is a pretty good starting eleven in any league.
