Argentina Football Formation

Lineup (4-3-2-1)

Ubaldo Fillol · Daniel Passarella (c) · Roberto Ayala · Silvio Marzolini · Javier Zanetti · Diego Simeone · Mario Kempes · Fernando Redondo · Diego Maradona · Alfredo Di Stéfano · Gabriel Batistuta

Argentina's "Greatest XI of All Time"

Of course they are a great side, and of course they are blessed with great talents. So here we go...

GK: Ubaldo Fillol
He was nicknamed ‘The Duck’ and wore the number 5 at the 1978 World Cup, but Fillol was a panther between the sticks and Argentina’s greatest ever number 1. He was fearless, agile and astonishingly bouncy pouncy. He was everything you could want in a keeper.

RB: Javier Zanetti
Having made his debut back at the beginning of time, ‘The Tractor’ has played in an incomparable 145 internationals for Argentina. So reliable he’s almost perfect, Zanetti criminally missed out on two World Cups during his prime despite his country’s struggles producing top notch players at right back.

CB: Daniel Passarella
The supreme Argentinian defender. At the heart of defence he was snarling and mean as an anarchic gaucho, but coming forward he was a stylish distributer and he scored 22 goals for Argentina in 70 matches, many of which came from curling free kicks. He was the first Argentinian to lift the World Cup and he swaggers into this team without a second thought. Obviously he is the captain of this team.

CB: Roberto Ayala
The risk of playing without a tall centre back is annulled since both Ayala and Passarella had the ability to spring over three-storey buildings (if they had ever felt the need to do so). With leadership, intelligence and grit in spades, Ayala was a wee balled up force of nature.

LB: Silvio Marzolini
The mirror reflection of Zanetti over on the right flank, Marzolini was an elegant, versatile left back renowned for his gentlemanly grace and winning mentality (the two even sported the same timeless haircut). He was named best left back at the 1966 World Cup and is the finest player in that position that Argentina has produced.

DMF: Diego Simeone
Edging out Javier Mascherano in the deep-lying-destroyer-of-hope role is the irrepressible ‘Cholo’ Simeone. Mr. Knife Between His Teeth is the third most capped player in the history of the Selección. If his coach had asked him to stop a charging Pampas bull, Simeone would have dived in with a two-footed tackle, such was his commitment to the cause.

CMF: Fernando Redondo
The classiest player of them all, Redondo is the man charged with linking the lines in this Greatest XI. He can grow his hair as long as he wants, we will still select him.

CMF: Mario Kempes
‘El Matador’ was the star of Argentina’s first World Cup win in 1978 and set the mould for future generations of number nines like Batistuta and Hernan Crespo. A mere glimpse of his flowing locks must have sent defenders into a cold sweat; he was a voracious scorer, yet with his devoted teamwork and clever movement he offered so much more than other goal machines. Believed to be responsible for the invention of the term ‘man-crush’ in the late 70s.

AMF: Diego Maradona
Half god and half insane; the perfect ten.

AMF: Alfredo Di Stéfano
There is a debate in Argentina and also in the rest of the world, as who is the greatest Argentinian Football - Di Stéfano or Maradona? And often these two are compared with Pelé. So there you understand the league of these players.

CF: Gabriel Batistuta
Has there ever been a better out-and-out striker than ‘Batigol’ in his prime? For 11 glorious years this son of a slaughterhouse worker led the frontline for Argentina, becoming the all time leading scorer for the Albiceleste. Also had the best goal celebration ever.


Manager: César Luis Menotti
The great philosopher coach who masterminded Argentina’s 1978 World Cup win, would work wonders with this set of players. Forget pragmatism, this team is all about poetry. Rather, to be precise it is "La Nuestra" revisited in its most brilliant way.

Reserves include :- Antonio Rattin, Oscar Ruggeri, Jorge Valdano, Gabriel Heinze, Carlos Roa, Lionel Messi, Gabriel Heinze and Ricardo Bochini.