Well, with only 30 hours or so to go before the last match of what has been the most fabulously entertaining football tournament for decades, it's time to compile our Euro 2008 dream teams. Here's mine:
1. Casillas (Spain)
2. Hamit (Turkey)
3. Lahm (Germany)
4. Simunic (Croatia)
5. Kovac (Croatia)
6. Schweinsteiger (Germany)
7. Deco (Portugal)
8. Ballack (Germany)
9. Nihat (Turkey)
10. Fabregas (Spain)
11. Villa (Spain)
Subs: Volkan (Turkey) Corluka (Croatia)Von Bronkhorst (Holland) Sneijder (Holland) Modric (Croatia) Semih (Turkey) Van Nistelrooy (Holland) Torres (Spain).
My team is rather biased towards attacking players- I'm sure it would be involved in some high scoring games, and with the number of Turks and Germans in it, I'm equally sure it would keep playing right until the final whistle! The manager would be the inspirational Fatih Terim of Turkey, above.
Who would make your Dream Euro 2008 XI -and who would you have on the sub's bench?
9 comments:
Good choice, but no Russians? Zhirkov was fantastic! I think Ujfalusi deserves a mention, as does Arshavin, though I concede that he didn't have the immense Euros as everyone was making out.
Also think Magnin did alright for Switzerland.
I'd include Servet instead of perhaps Simunic. A couple of other Russians did alright. Sionko was ok for the Czechs.
And let's not forget Malouda for France...oh hang on...actually...er...forget about it, this joke is going nowhere...
Manager? has to be Hiddink.
I had this thought that perhaps America's next World Cup team should adopt the Azzurris anti-football style. Whatever they do, it would be an improvement over 2006.
Are there any American players or teams which interest you?
Thanks, Olching. In answer to your question re Russians: well, there would have been Russians (Zhirkov and Arshavin) had I selected the team prior to their match with Spain. I was hugely disappointed with their performance then, they just didn't seem to want to know. Arshavin in particular didn't seem to care.
Ujfalusi was solid, but he was at fault for Turkey's crucial third goal.
Servet was excellent, and I agree Sionko and Magnin were good too.
romashenko: Hiddink had a great tournament, but again, I was hugely disappointed with the way Russia approached and played in the semi-final. It was almost as if they felt that they had done enough beating Holland. They ddin't seem at all motivated, compare their attitude to that of the Turks re Germany. I think Terim gets the nudge over Hiddink especially considering that he had so many first choice players missing for the semi-final v Germany.
douglas: I very much hope the US doesn't adopt Italian anti-football tactics at the next World Cup! The US were unlucky not to beat Italy at the last World Cup and I think they're much better off playing energetic, enthusiastic and offensively minded football. Re US players: I’ve always been a big fan of Brad Freidel and Brian McBride. Are there any younger, up and coming players we ought to be looking out for?
As an Englishman who has lived in Colorado on and off for a couple of years I would have liked to be able to support the Colorado Rapids. This unfortunatly can not happen. The Rapids have this relationship with Arsenal and as a Spurs fan the thought of going to see the Rapids and seeing the 'Arsenal' section of their stadium would just be to much. Its a shame because I would have happily gone to see them if were not for this situation.
Freddy Adu was The Great American Hope for a while...he's now playing in Portugal
I also remember reading about Fabrice Noel in Sports Illustrated...he is currently playing for the Colorado Rapids...mcsb can tell you if he's any good...
Christian Gomez formerly of DC United is easily the Rapids best player. As for Fabrice Noel he left the Rapids last season and joined the Puerto Rico Islanders. His whereabouts after that are, to me anyway, unknown. A quick search suggested he joined Nantes in France, but I could not see his name on their website.
Some promising young American players that i have heard of are Jozy Altidore of NY Redbulls and Eddie Gaven of Columbus Crew.
Coach: Hiddink
1. van der Sar (Holland)
2. Lahm (Germany)
3. Kolodin (Russia)
4. Capdevilla (Spain)
5. Ballack (Germany
6. Iniesta (Spain)
7. van Persie (Holland)
8. Schweinsteiger (Germany)
9. Olic (Croatia)
10. Arshavin (Russia)
11. Villa (Spain)
Subs
Semih (Turkey), Torres (Spain), van Bronckhorst (Holland), Sneijder (Holland), Cassilas (Spain), Nihat (Turkey), Klose (Germany), Podolski (Germany), Hernandez (Spain), Altintop (Turkey), Srna (Croatia)
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