Strongest Ever National Team XI

Tim Henman

Come on Tim!
Joined
Nov 14, 2013
Messages
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You can pick players from any era in your team as long as they are all from the same nation. Pick the team you think would beat any other national team that other members can come up with.

I am not very good with these things but I will give it a go with Holland.

GK: Edwin
RB: Reizeger
CB: Rijkaard
CB: Koeman
LB: Danny Blind
DM: Davids
CM: Seedorf
CM: Gullit
LW: Cruyff
RW (or whatever you would call the role he plays for Bayern): Robben
CF: Van Basten

Subs: Stam, Van Persie, Schneider, F. De Boer, Bergkamp, Overmars, Krul (Just based on his shootout heroics against CR at this world cup)

Didn't realise how many great players I would have to leave out.
 
Portugal All time XI

GK: Vitor Baia
RB: Bruno Alves (no idea about this one....Bruno Alves/Joao Pereira?)
CB: Fernando Couto
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
LB: Fabio Coentrao
DM: Paulo Sousa
CM: Deco
AM: Rui Costa
LW: Cristiano Ronaldo
RW: Luis Figo
CF: Eusebio

Subs: Rui Patricio, Nuno Gomes, Nani, BEBE, Jorge Costa, Mario Coluna

The midfield and forward line are up there with the best of them, imo.
 
Tim Henman said:
You can pick players from any era in your team as long as they are all from the same nation. Pick the team you think would beat any other national team that other members can come up with.

I am not very good with these things but I will give it a go with Holland.

GK: Edwin
RB: Reizeger
CB: Rijkaard
CB: Koeman
LB: Danny Blind
DM: Davids
CM: Seedorf
CM: Gullit
LW: Cruyff
RW (or whatever you would call the role he plays for Bayern): Robben
CF: Van Basten

Subs: Stam, Van Persie, Schneider, F. De Boer, Bergkamp, Overmars, Krul (Just based on his shootout heroics against CR at this world cup)

Didn't realise how many great players I would have to leave out.
Click to expand...
van Persie over Kluivert/RVN? What? Wouldnt pick the CB Rijkaard over Stam either.
 
Not going to beat the obvious leading lights in world football, but decided to have a go at an Ireland XI:


Given

Irwin ------ McGrath --------- Hurley -------- Carey


Roy Keane ------ Giles
Houghton ----------------------------------- Brady


Stapleton -------- Robbie Keane​
 
My favourite NT:

....................... Batistuta ......................
........ Messi ......Maradona ..... Di Stefano ....
............. Redondo .......... Monti .................
.. Marzolini... Ruggeri ... Passarella ... Zanetti..
....................... Carrizo .............................
 
Tim Henman said:
I am not very good with these things but I will give it a go with Holland.

GK: Edwin
RB: Reizeger
CB: Rijkaard
CB: Koeman
LB: Danny Blind
DM: Davids
CM: Seedorf
CM: Gullit
LW: Cruyff
RW (or whatever you would call the role he plays for Bayern): Robben
CF: Van Basten
Click to expand...

How does Robben/Seedorf make it over Neeskens and van Basten? Not quite total football, but as many players I like crammed into the team.

.............. van Basten .................
... Cryuff ... Bergkamp..... Gullit ....
........ Davids ......... Neeskens......
............... Rijkaard .....................
...... Krol ..... Blind ..... Reizeger ....
.................. Edwin .....................

Notable omissions: Koeman and Suurbier.
 
Sammyjunn said:
van Persie over Kluivert/RVN? What? Wouldnt pick the CB Rijkaard over Stam either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right, that was a mistake. But the Rijkaard/ Stam decision is a tough one.

Edit: To be fair, if we are going off top level, I don't think much separates RVP from Kluivert/RVN.
 
Last edited:
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
How does Robben/Seedorf make it over Neeskens and van Basten? Not quite total football, but as many players I like crammed into the team.

.............. van Basten .................
... Cryuff ... Bergkamp..... Gullit ....
........ Davids ......... Neeskens......
............... Rijkaard .....................
...... Krol ..... Blind ..... Reizeger ....
.................. Edwin .....................

Notable omissions: Koeman and Suurbier.
Click to expand...

Van Basten is in mine.. Robben has been top 5 in the world for the last 5 years in my opinion.
 
Wales

Southall
S.Williams J.Charles K.Ratcliffe G.Bale
B.Meredith G.Speed A.Ramsey R.Giggs
M.Hughes I.Rush
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
My favourite NT:

....................... Batistuta ......................
........ Messi ......Maradona ..... Di Stefano ....
............. Redondo .......... Monti .................
.. Marzolini... Ruggeri ... Passarella ... Zanetti..
....................... Carrizo .............................
Click to expand...

Deadly front four.
 
Tim Henman said:
Yeah, you're right, that was a mistake. But the Rijkaard/ Stam decision is a tough one.
Click to expand...

Not that he is a bad CB, but Rijkaard for me was much more than a good CB. He was more awesome as a DM, imo.

Tim Henman said:
Van Basten is in mine.. Robben has been top 5 in the world for the last 5 years in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I see. I picked Bergkamp simply because with Gullit there, Bergkamp would add more value. But it is debatable Cryuff...Gullit...Robben would be as effective.
But Neeskens???
 
Buchan said:
Not going to beat the obvious leading lights in world football, but decided to have a go at an Ireland XI:


Given

Irwin ------ McGrath --------- Hurley -------- Carey


Roy Keane ------ Giles
Houghton ----------------------------------- Brady


Stapleton -------- Robbie Keane​
Click to expand...

Sparky Rhiwabon said:
Wales

Southall
S.Williams J.Charles K.Ratcliffe G.Bale
B.Meredith G.Speed A.Ramsey R.Giggs
M.Hughes I.Rush
Click to expand...

I fancy our boyo's to beat the Paddies. Let's see the other British Isles teams now...
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
How does Robben/Seedorf make it over Neeskens and van Basten? Not quite total football, but as many players I like crammed into the team.

.............. van Basten .................
... Cryuff ... Bergkamp..... Gullit ....
........ Davids ......... Neeskens......
............... Rijkaard .....................
...... Krol ..... Blind ..... Reizeger ....
.................. Edwin .....................

Notable omissions: Koeman and Suurbier.
Click to expand...
Surely in that formation it has to be Gullit behind van Basten and Robben right wing? I do think that van Hanegem still deserves to be in that line-up. Play Davids deeper, move Rijkaard down where Blind is and get Reiziger out of there, no matter what.

.............. van Basten .................
. Cryuff ......................... Robben .
...... van Hanegem .... Gullit ..........
................. Davids .....................
Krol .. Koeman .. Rijkaard .. Neeskens
.................. Edwin .....................

on reputation van der Hart probably deserves to start ahead of Koeman, but I haven't seen anything of him, so I didn't include him.

Neeskens right back really is the only way to make this team flawless in my opinion.
 
Brazil XI

GK: Gilmar Santos
RB: Djalma Santos
CB: Domingos Da Guia
CB: Hilderaldo Bellini
LB: Nilton Santos
DM: Didi
CM: Socrates
CM: Zico
FW: Garrincha
FW: Ronaldo Luis
FW: Pele

Manager: Mario Zagallo
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
My favourite NT:

....................... Batistuta ......................
........ Messi ......Maradona ..... Di Stefano ....
............. Redondo .......... Monti .................
.. Marzolini... Ruggeri ... Passarella ... Zanetti..
....................... Carrizo .............................
Click to expand...

We have a winner!
 
Australia

....................Schwarzer
Marston......Neill..........Tobin.....Davidson
...........Zelic........Okon.......Kewell........
...............Cahill.............Baartz...........
..........................Viduka

And now we have a real winner.
 
Uzz said:
Portugal All time XI

GK: Vitor Baia
RB: Bruno Alves (no idea about this one....Bruno Alves/Joao Pereira?)
CB: Fernando Couto
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
LB: Fabio Coentrao
DM: Paulo Sousa
CM: Deco
AM: Rui Costa
LW: Cristiano Ronaldo
RW: Luis Figo
CF: Eusebio

Subs: Rui Patricio, Nuno Gomes, Nani, BEBE, Jorge Costa, Mario Coluna

The midfield and forward line are up there with the best of them, imo.
Click to expand...

There's some good picks there but you are neglecting some oldies (understandably so) and picking players that should be nowhere near the best XI (Fernando Couto, Bruno Alves don't deserve being there in my opinion. Bruno Alves never played as Rb and Couto is in the bench at best)

My pick would be this:

GK: Vítor Baía

RB: João Pinto
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
CB: Humberto Coelho
LB: Fábio Coentrão

DM: Paulo Sousa
CM: Mário Coluna
RW: Figo
LW: Cristiano Ronaldo

CF: Eusébio
CF: Matateu

Bench: Paulo Futre, Peyroteo, Chalana, Rui Costa, João Vieira Pinto, José Augusto, António Oliveira, Pepe, Vítor Damas, Travassos, Jesus Correia, Germano, Fernando Gomes, Deco, Maniche.
The ammount of wingers we produced is staggering. Leaving Chalana and Futre on the bench is painful.
Most people don't know Matateu but he was an amazing player and deserves to be up front with Eusébio. Di Stefano and Raymond Kopa were big fans of him
 
Buchan said:
What? With a midfield of Speed and Ramsey? Are you joking? They wouldn't get a sniff off Keane and Giles, who were also tough bastards, to boot.
Click to expand...
Wales will play a possession game like vintage Barcelona. Keane and Giles will be chasing shadows.
 
A Dutch XI is quite hard.. such a small country but many good football players.

GK : Edwin / Jan van Beveren. According to older people van Beveren was even better than van der Sar but because he and Cruijff didnt get along he didnt play much for the NT. The older generation says it most likely cost us the WC of 74 and 78

Defense : Krol, Koeman, Stam. The lack of quality fullbacks forces me to choose only 3 defenders. If Reiziger is considered one of the best Dutch fullback of alltime something has to be wrong.

DM : Rijkaard

CM : Neeskens, van Hanegem.

AM : Cruijff, Gullit, Robben. Really hard choices.. only Cruijff is a no brainer.. players like Faas Wilkes (Almost ancient but he was Johan Cruijff his youth idol), Dennis Bergkamp, and Rob Rensenbrink were world class players too.

CF : Van Basten. Even with players like van Nistelrooij, Kluivert and van Persie this one is easy. Without the injuries van Basten would be considered the best striker of all time.
 
Small nation but some good players:

------------------------------(Ronnie) Hellström-----------------------------------------------------

--------(Roland)Nilsson------(Patrik)Andersson------(Have we ever had a good leftwingback?)

-(Lennart) Skoglund-(Gunnar) Gren-(Glenn) Strömberg- (Nils) Liedholm- (Henrik) Larsson---

--------------------(Gunnar) Nordahl---------Zlatan (Ibrahimowic)--------------------------------
 
That argentinian XI is incredible. Would like to read what @Marcosdeto has to say about his favourite eleven
 
Stadjer said:
A Dutch XI is quite hard.. such a small country but many good football players.

GK : Edwin / Jan van Beveren. According to older people van Beveren was even better than van der Sar but because he and Cruijff didnt get along he didnt play much for the NT. The older generation says it most likely cost us the WC of 74 and 78

Defense : Krol, Koeman, Stam. The lack of quality fullbacks forces me to choose only 3 defenders. If Reiziger is considered one of the best Dutch fullback of alltime something has to be wrong.

DM : Rijkaard

CM : Neeskens, van Hanegem.

AM : Cruijff, Gullit, Robben. Really hard choices.. only Cruijff is a no brainer.. players like Faas Wilkes (Almost ancient but he was Johan Cruijff his youth idol), Dennis Bergkamp, and Rob Rensenbrink were world class players too.

CF : Van Basten. Even with players like van Nistelrooij, Kluivert and van Persie this one is easy. Without the injuries van Basten would be considered the best striker of all time.
Click to expand...

Ooof, that's lovely actually.

IIRC Stam actually played right back at Milan at times, so he would be more comfortable in that RCB role that he first appears.
 
...............................Kahn
Vogts.....Beckenbauer...Kohler....lahm
................Britner.........Effenberg
..........................Matthaus
..........Muller.....................Rummeniger
............................Muller

Maier, schwarzerbeck, brehme, ballack, schuster, netzer, klose

Neuer, sammer, schnellinger, overath, Schweinstiger, Reus, klinsmann
 
It's difficult to come up with a meaningful England side unless you are about 120 years old with a clear memory of Herbert Chapman's Arsenal. So from my memories, and in a classic 4-4-2:

Shilton
G.Neville
Ferdinand
Adams
Pearce
Beckham
Robson
Gerrard
Waddle
Beardsley
Lineker

I have somehow not included my favourite United player (Scholes) but then the national team has always been a mess.
 
sun_tzu said:
...............................Kahn
Vogts.....Beckenbauer...Kohler....lahm
................Britner.........Effenberg
..........................Matthaus
..........Muller.....................Rummeniger
............................Muller

Maier, schwarzerbeck, brehme, ballack, schuster, netzer, klose

Neuer, sammer, schnellinger, overath, Schweinstiger, Reus, klinsmann
Click to expand...

There's just too many of them.

Schnellinger or Brehme over Lahm at LB.
I like Netzer to fit in somehow (ahead of Overath)

:angel:
 
Julio Cesar

Cafu
Aldair
Lucio
Roberto Carlos/Junior

Jairzinho
Zico
Gerson
Garrincha

Pele
Romario
 
MoskvaRed said:
It's difficult to come up with a meaningful England side unless you are about 120 years old with a clear memory of Herbert Chapman's Arsenal. So from my memories, and in a classic 4-4-2:

Shilton
G.Neville
Ferdinand
Adams
Pearce
Beckham
Robson
Gerrard
Waddle
Beardsley
Lineker

I have somehow not included my favourite United player (Scholes) but then the national team has always been a mess.
Click to expand...

No Scholes?
 
My Austria all-time XI ....

Zeman
Sara Pezzey Happel Hanappi
Alaba
Prohaska Ocwirk Herzog
Sindelar Krankl

​
 
Banks

Walker
Ferdinand
Butcher

Edwards
Charlton
Robson

Hoddle

Greaves
Dean
Finney
 
........................Banks....................
Armfield...Moore....ferdinand..cole
.............robson..........Edwards.......
........................charlton..................
.....finney............................Matthews
........................greaves......................
 
Iceland XI is hard but for different reasons than those mentioned above. Never done nearly as well before as we are doing currently but there have been better individuals.

----------------------------------------Árni Gautur Arason

Grétar Rafn Steinsson ----- Guðni Bergsson --- Eyjólfur Sverrissson --- Hermann Hreiðarsson

------Birkir Bjarnason --- Ásgeir Sigurvinsson --- Gylfi Sigurðsson --- Emil Hallfreðsson

-----------------------------Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen

------------------------------------------------Kolbeinn Sigþórsson

Bench: Birkir Bjarnason, Ragnar Sigurðsson, Ívar Ingimarsson, Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson, Eyjólfur Sverrisson, Rúnar Kristinsson, Albert Guðmundsson, Arnór Guðjohnsen

Based on the current team and how well they are doing. Very few defenders and winger to pick from so I had to shoehorn Eyjólfur in CB as he has played there and I know he'd probably be as good as the current ones. Otherwise could have bumped him up to MC, Gylfi to AMC and Eiður to SC. Just wouldn't be properly satisfied with another CB.
 
Snow said:
Iceland XI is hard but for different reasons than those mentioned above. Never done nearly as well before as we are doing currently but there have been better individuals.

----------------------------------------Árni Gautur Arason

Grétar Rafn Steinsson ----- Guðni Bergsson --- Eyjólfur Sverrissson --- Hermann Hreiðarsson

------Birkir Bjarnason --- Ásgeir Sigurvinsson --- Gylfi Sigurðsson --- Emil Hallfreðsson

-----------------------------Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen

------------------------------------------------Kolbeinn Sigþórsson

Bench: Birkir Bjarnason, Ragnar Sigurðsson, Ívar Ingimarsson, Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson, Eyjólfur Sverrisson, Rúnar Kristinsson, Albert Guðmundsson, Arnór Guðjohnsen

Based on the current team and how well they are doing. Very few defenders and winger to pick from so I had to shoehorn Eyjólfur in CB as he has played there and I know he'd probably be as good as the current ones. Otherwise could have bumped him up to MC, Gylfi to AMC and Eiður to SC. Just wouldn't be properly satisfied with another CB.
Click to expand...
Do you really rate Sigthorsson or havent Iceland produced good/decent strikers yet? I get pissed off everytime he plays for Ajax.
 
Van der Sar

Stam Rijkard Krol

Neeskens

Gullit van Hanegem Cruyff

Bergkamp

van Basten van Nistlerooy
 
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