The Greatest XI of all time in Football

The Greatest Football XI of all time

When it’s about selecting the greatest XI of all time... we have to approach this task with two things in mind... finding the best players for best positions and also building up a balanced team... hence no matter how much I try, Cruyff & Zidane won't be in the same team for me... similarly, Di Stefano & Ronaldo also won't feature together..... 

I have a certain assumption while selecting this XI... I have decided not to consider any of the currently playing Footballers for this team... I am sure there will be a lot many arguments, but I strongly believe, unless one gets a holistic view over a player's career, it is not correct to judge them... Moreover people tend to get biased with the current players and tend to glorify them out of proportion..... 

Saying these, I would indulge into a team formation before choosing the players from the pantheon of the greats... I would say, there may be formations like 4-3-2-1 or 4-5-1 or 3-5-2 or 5-4-1 or 4-2-4 or 3-3-3-1 according to the situations and oppositions... but in a general case I would chose a traditional 4-4-2 formation…. However I would like to place them a little differently from the standard formations..... 

So, without wasting further words, let us choose our XI.....

Goalkeeper :  Honestly the choice is aplenty... Peter Schemeichel, Gordon Banks, Dino Zoff, Oliver Kahn, Tafarrel, Gianluigi Buffon, Nelson Dida, Rogerio Ceni, Chilavert, Iker Casillas and a lot more... however, no one can match the presence, charisma and level of performance that 'Black Spider' managed... At a big frame of 6'3", with saving more than 150 penalties while captaining the great Russian team, "Lev Yashin" simply walks in the team..... 

Left Back : There may be great competition for this spot between the Italian greats and German greats, but "Paolo Maldini" kind of owns this space... Amazing grace, amazing career, amazing talent.... One can bet his life on the defence that is maintained by Maldini... Italy & Milan certainly did with success..... 

Centre Back : Forgive me Bobby Moore... As much as I am fond of you, I can't stop "Franco Baresi" from owning this space... An absolute servant of Football, the great man led Italy with poise and secured the essence of that great Italian defences. for which it is known... Great vision, great defender, great footballer..... 

Right Back : The magical team of Brazil 70, was not only about that unbelievable strike force actually.... Captain "Carlos Alberto" held fort brilliantly, and occasionally contributed to some of the most spectacular of Brazilian gameplays... Of course, the greatest team goal as voted, came from him, was not a complete surprise..... 

Libero : Interesting choice of formation... But the choice of player is straightforward... Kaizer needs not face any competition ever... "Franz Beckenbauer" co-ordinates this formidable defence and manages that essential link with midfield and forwards... Possessed with an amazing vision of the game, Beckenbauer is a dream to have in any team.... 

Central Midfielder : A host of choices... Perhaps the toughest of the slot in terms of choices... Some of the greatest players have made this slot's choice a complete close contest... However, in the end for me, "Zinedine Zidane" would beat Platini, due to the fact that he won the World Cup with a dazzling performance while tormenting Brazil, both in 1998 & 2006 (this time reaching Final in the process)... 

Right Midfield : Again lots of choices, but the key factor in decision making is the team composition... If we have already selected one of the best passers ever in the team for the midfield, then we may be tempted to select the high-speed strong guy in the right for the wing-play..... However, it’s even better if you have a player who can do that, while also dribbling like the devil himself..... Widely regarded as the greatest dribbler ever, Garrincha "the Joy of the People" could make the Football sing and dance with him, and all the spectators irrespective of their supports always loved him for that.... Lacking in height (like most great attacking players), and despite with his deformity from birth, "Garrincha" dazzles in this time... I will feel pity for the opposition defenders.... 

Left Midfield : I could have gone for traditional midfielder greats like Cruyff or Laudrup or Charlton or Socrates or Zico or Rivaldo or Baggio or Figo or Stoichkov or Hagi or for myriads of others... But when we have an army major, a creative playmaker, a bludgeoning left-footed thunderbolt, a complete player and a great visionary, is there any better choice? Hard to argue... The legend who changed Football forever with his unprecedented talent while captaining the Magical Magyars to the mythical standards, the 'Galloping Major' "Ferenc Puskàs" is blasting in from the left... 

Attacking Midfielder : Even if there are choices, but none can match "Diego Maradona"... period..... Being a player of magical abilities, and with that magical left-foot, Diego just beats all competitions to the pulp... The ultimate rebel... The god-given abilities with that magical left foot.... Could change the complexion of a match within seconds... Always a fighter and extremely competetive, he was just a player of rawest emotions and voodoo like skills.... Usually unstoppable, easily draws 3-4 defenders from opposition camps, and then leaves them in dust as he dribbles past them like devil himself... He with Garrincha, Zidane and Puskàs, complete a terrifying mid-field that can change the equation of the match anytime..... 

Striker 1 - Withdrawal Forward : hmmm... Time for the great No. 10.... 3 times World Cup winner, an astonishing 1281 goals from 1353 games, amazingly talented and graceful, the teenage prodigy who proved to become the unstoppable force... Unmatched in skills, or performances or abilities... he scored with his right foot, he scored with his left foot, he scored awesome headers and he scored even from bicycle kicks... he scored long rangle goals, he scored positional goals, he scored by dribbling multiple defenders, he scored with just one touch, he scored from free-kicks, he scored from anywhere and he scored from everywhere.... He possessed every skill any footballer can dream of.... "O Rei" as he is known is said to have eyes even in the back of his head too, as he could see things in Football field, that no one else could... his passing was unbelievable, his dribbling was among the best ever, his shooting was certainly the finest, and he could tackle and move past defenders that perhaps only god can think of..... Unbelievable in either foot or heading or at times with those Bicycle kicks, "Pelè" occupies the role of first Striker... His vision of the game was said unparalleled, as he could change roles according to the match situation, and score from just about anywhere and at any time... 

Striker 2 - Forward : It is the position for that man, who can cause mayhem in opposition box... Although this team has a number of such players, but for the position of No. 9 can be occupied by none other than "Ronaldo" only.... Sorry Van Basten, as much as I like you, I still can't move from reality that Ronaldo was a player from a different planet altogether.... 3 times World Player of the year (winning as the youngest ever for the first time), 3 Ballon-d-Oros, 2 World Cups and a number of other accolades, the wide-grinning, bald headed, big Brazilian just steals the show... Like Pelè, Ronaldo was also comfortable with either foot, and can destroy opposition defense almost at will..... A freak knee-injury and torn ligament almost ended the career of this great Brazilian in 1999-2000... But post-injury even a half-fit Ronaldo winning the world cup and the best player of the world award just testifies, what a terrific player he was.... Ronnie the ‘Il Phenomeno’, completes the deadliest strike force ever imaginable at any form of the game... 

Coach : Such extraordinary team may need an extraordinary coach... But is that necessary? The players are just too talented here, to make any tactical mistakes... There may be egos within the team, but that needs a more understanding coach, than a charismatic one... Enter "Mário Zagallo"... Usually called as Mário 'Lucky' Zagallo, he brings that extraordinary luck factor that has seen him win World Cup as a player in 1958 and 1962, as a coach/manager in 1970, and as an assistant manager in 1994... Awesome!!! Thus we include the luck factor too...

Other serious considerations for the coach were - Béla Guttmann, Tomislav Ivić, Bob Paisley, José Mourinho, Alex Ferguson, Guus Hiddink, Helenio Herrera, Ernst Happel, Luiz Phillip Scholari, Arsene Wenger, Giovanni Trapattoni, Fabio Capello, and Rinus Michels… 

Captain : Who other than Franz Beckenbauer??? 

and now the bench strength... I won't get into explanation here, but will just mention the names of 15 players in the bench... It will be in the order like --> [Name (Origin, the year of choice)   (position of the player in the formation)]

Bench:

Michel Platini (France, 1984)                            (Central Midfielder)

Cafu (Brazil, 1998)                                     (Right back Defender)

Johan Cruyff (Netherlands, 1974)                (Attacking Midfielder)

Gordon Banks (England, 1966)                          (Goalkeeper)

Roberto Carlos (Brazil, 2002)                           (Left back Defender)

Alfredo Di Stéfano (Argentina/Spain, 1958)     (Attacking Midfielder)

Lothar Matthäus (Germany, 1990)     (Central Defensive Midfielder)

Ronaldinho (Brazil, 2004)                             (Attacking Midfielder)

Gerd Müller (Germany, 1974)                            (Striker)

Roberto Baggio (Italy, 1993)                           (Central Midfielder)

Bobby Moore (England, 1966)                           (Central Defender)
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy, 2006)                          (Central Defender)

Zico (Brazil, 1982)                                              (Central Midfielder)

Marco van Basten (Netherlands, 1989)                   (Striker)
Eusébio (Portugal, 1966)                                         (Striker)

Now, that’s a dream team, right??? Bring on any team from anywhere... It’s ShowTime.....