A world class chess match: Europe vs South America (pt 1)
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by Foolsgold
No disrespect to Africa, Asia, and North America, but the two best footballing continents are easily Europe and South America. The real question is, if you were to take the best players from those two places, who would win? First, which players to use would need to be decided.
The South America side would be much easier to choose than Europe only because most of the players would come from either Argentina or Brazil. By the way, this is assuming that everyone is fit, so if I pick a player who is currently injured, that doesn't matter.
First up, strikers. You don't have to take Tevez and with his current form at Man U being not all that impressive, it wouldn't be that surprising, but the kid can play so he makes my South American side. Paired with him is the other Argentinian next-Maradona, Lionel Messi. He is so dangerous that leaving him behind would just be stupid. I'm not a big fan of Robinho so he gets left off, but I would take *gulp* Julio Baptista, only because he provides a different style of play than the two Argentines. My last two picks would be Uruguay's Diego Forlan and Chile's Umberto Suazo. Forlan's experience would be invaluable and I really like the unpredictability of Suazo.
My midfield would be anchored by Kaka and Javier Mascherano. Now that's just scary. With Mascherano there, Kaka would have the freedom to go get a hot dog from the stands if he wanted to. I would also start Riquelme on the left and Ronaldinho on the right. For the squad I'd have Matías Fernández, Gilberto Silva, Juninho, Maxi Rodriquez, and Edison Méndez eagerly awaiting their chance.
For the backline, I'd start Dani Alves on the right and probably Cambiasso on the left. In the middle I'd go with Alex and Gabriel Milito. For back ups, I'd call on Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Maicon, Jorge Fucile, and Gabriel Heinze. Finally, for keeper I'd have Roberto Abbondanzieri as my starter with Claudio Bravo and Doni as my back-ups.
My coach? That's a toughy. I guess I would go with Scolari, mainly because he coaches in Europe and he has experience dealing with talent-loaded squads.
My starting line-up would look something like this:
------------------------- Abbondanzieri ----------------------------
-- Alves --------- Alex ----------------- Milito ----- Cambiasso
-------------------------- Mascherano -----------------------------
----------------------------- Kaka --------------------------------
---------- Ronaldinho ------------------------- Riquelme --------
------------------ Tevez ------------------ Messi --------------------
Part 2 and the European side later this week. Cheers.
Originally posted here
