FOOTBALL FORMATIONS

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Dream Team - "Europe XI"

This dream team is made up from the Europe's greatest players. Europe has produced so many great players, that the first XI was really difficult to pick. From the Chapman'sArsenal to Austrian Wunderteam to Hungary's Magical Magyars to the England's finest to Beckenbauer's heroes and Cruyff's Total Footballers to the Italian Cateneccians to the French Golden Team to Wenger's invincibles to the Spanish midfielders - this is a very wide range to cover. The reserves also have a big pool of players that people can further build another two or three teams from there. So, here we go...



Goalkeeper : Dino Zoff (Italy)
Widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeeper of all time, Zoff is definitely the greatest since 80s. Captained Italy to its glorious triumph in 1982 World Cup at the age of 40. Was impenetrable at the goal and created the legend, that was so hard to emulate that Buffon with all his brilliance still considered as the second best after Zoff for Italy.

Centre Back : Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany)
Captain of the victorious 1972 side, before being a losing finalist four years later. Beckenbauer's status as one of the greatest players of all-time demands his inclusion in any team of great European Championships players.
He is the captain of this team of course. Catained Germany to its World Cup triumph in 1974, and later became manager of German team when they won again in 1990.

Centre Back : Bobby Moore (England)
Captained England to its only international glory. Was a fantastic defender, and had not been Beckenbauer, then the title of the greatest defender of all, could have been his to keep. Graceful and intelligent, with a vision unparallel, Pelé once described him as the greatest defender he has ever faced.

Left Back : Paolo Maldini (Italy)
Maldini never actually won the tournament but featured in three championships in his career and made the team of the finals on each occasion. Having been a teenager at Euro 88, he was also part of the Italy side that came within a few seconds of lifting the trophy 12 years later before they were frustrated by France. It is unfortunate that he could never win the World Cup, but the AC Milan legend made amends in Champions League for five times.

Right Back : Lilian Thuram (France)
Lilian Thuram held fort on the right for the golden generation of France, as they won the World Cup in 1998 and the Euro Cup in 2000. Thuram is the most capped player in the history of the France national team, and one of the twenty most capped players of all time. Thuram was a great combination of toughness and elegance, and he assured everyone with a safety in the defense.

Central Defensive Midfielder : Lothar Matthäus (West Germany)
Matthäus is probably the greatest player ever in his role. He played as Central Defensive Midfielder, as well as Box to Box Midfielder. Matthäus captained West Germany to their World Cup win in 1990 and stopped the genius of Maradona in the final. In 1990, he was named European Footballer of the Year and World Soccer Player of the Year after captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Left Midfielder : Xavi Hernandez (Spain)
Xavi was player of the tournament in 2008 when Spain finally ended their long wait for a major international trophy. Imperious in possession and a willing worker without the ball, he was one of those who helped the long-standing schism between Barcelona and Real Madrid to be set aside in a national cause. It was just a matter of time, when he inspired Spain to win its first World Cup in 2010.

Right Midfielder : Zinedine Zidane (France)
Zidane was the star man in the France side that added European glory to World Cup 1998 success in 2000. In World Cup 1998 final he scored two. He was the rare few players who replicated his success in his club level at the equal measure. It is unfortunate that he won only one Champions League in his career, but by the time he has already been hailed as an all time great.

Left Forward : Ferenc Puskás (Hungary)
Ferenc Puskás is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, and 514 goals in 529 matches in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues. Puskás led the Magical Magyars to its greatest glory under the coaching of Gusztáv Sebes, Fittingly every year's best goal award is given under the name of Puskás, as a tribute to one of the greatest Goalscorer ever.

Striker : Gerd Müller (West Germany)
Muller's goal-scoring instincts ensured victory for West Germany in 1972 in Euro, and in 1974 World Cup as he scored goals aplenty to justify his call name as "Der Bomber". Müller, despite never being the typical European striker, scored goals in an astonishing frequency, and justifiably held legend as one of the greatest goalscorer ever.

Right Forward : Marco van Basten (Netherlands)
His goal in the 1988 final against the Soviet Union has been hailed as one of the greatest ever, a dipping volley from a virtually impossible angle. Van Basten had already scored a hat-trick against a hapless England and netted the 88th-minute semi-final winner over hosts West Germany. But that volley eclipsed it all.


Coaches/Managers (take 3 from the group) : Arrigo Sacchi, Ernst Happel, Victor Maslov, Herbert Chapman, Gusztáv Sebes, Hugo Meisl, Jimmy Hogan, Béla Guttmann, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Don Revie, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Arsene Wenger, Helenio Herrera, Fabio Capello, Valeri Lobanovsky, Rinus Michels, Brian Clough, Guus Hiddnk, Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho, Giovanni Trapattoni, Otto Rehhagel, and Vicente del Bosque.


Reserves include : Eusébio, Franco Baresi, Thierry Henry, Matthias Sindelar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lev Yashin, Johan Neeskens, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Bergkamp, Michel Platini, Gheorghe Hagi, Michael Laudrup, Claude Makélélé, Gordon Banks, Gianluigi Buffon, Hristo Stoichkov, Bryan Robson, Francesco Totti, MarcelDesailly, Steven Gerrard, Roberto Baggio, Luis Figo, Frank Rijkaard, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Claudio Gentile, Ruud Gullit, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Iker Casillas, Deco, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Alessandro Nesta, Robin van Persie, Davor Suker, Peter Schmeichel, Raúl Gonzalez, Laurent Blanc, Arjen Robben, Kevin Keegan, John Terry, Geoff Hurst, Karl-Heinz Rumenigge, Alessandro Costacurta, Berti Vogts, José Antonio Camacho, Frank Lampard, Stanley Matthews, Éric Cantona, Paolo Rossi, Denis Law, Fernando Torres, Patrick Vieira, Gary Neville, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Xabi Alonso and Luca Modric.