Team Red Viper
VS
Team Enigma
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red Viper Tactics
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enigma Tactics
Formation: 4-3-1-2 unorthodox
Tactics: Maradona running the show, direct side, quick transitions and vertical play
Defence:
Zoff is on goal one of the greatest keepers in history. In front of him Passarella in his natural LCB role, paired with another Argie great in Roberto Ayala playing the stopper role. Facchetti will occupy the left channel and will surge forward when needed, but when Passarella goes on a run he will occupy the space left behind. His athleticism and also tactical nous would help us in transition and keep a solid back three when we're attacking. Thuram plays in balanced role with Boniek also providing support when we're off the ball.
Midfield:
Deschamps is anchoring in his natural City role. He's paired with Keane who is b2b monster and facilitator between him and Maradona. Maradona naturally runs the game, looks for openings to set up out attacking duo (Henry/Benzema), use the space to finish himself. Boniek will primarily play a midfield role in this game. A very important role - he will stretch the opposition defenders out wide, help when we're off the ball and move between the lines. He has the stamina, tactical discipline and also the flair to pull that role and also with his help we will be a lot more compact when we're off the ball, whilst he can hassle and force the opponents to a mistake.
All round attacking display from Boniek against France courtesy to @harms
Attack:
Henry and Benzema are a deadly duo as a tag team and on their own - one of France greats they add to each other and would create all sorts of issues for the opposition defence. Supplied by Boniek and Maradona I really like our chances to score here. Henry plays in his natural left wideish role, whilst Benzema will be the CF in this game occupying opposition CB's and creating space for others and provide work off the ball. Also his ability in the air and keep the ball would also be important for us to creating chances.
Benzema highlights
Key points:
Deschamps is often underrated but is another leader on the pitch who provides the needed balance between the defence and midfield. Benzema over the last years has proven that he's one of the best modern strikers that probably gets us a slight upgrade over Riva. The opposition has the quality in their ranks so this is bound to be an epic encounter. Our key point here is IMO Maradona as this is the game for him being the best player on the pitch and able to probably be the decider.
VS
Team Enigma
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red Viper Tactics
THE TEAM
We will play a 4-3-3/4-2-1-3 formation. We will look to play attacking football and utilize the ability and creativity on the ball from nearly all our outfield players.
The defense comprises of Schmeichel in goal with a back-4 of Walker, Ruggeri, Scirea and Brehme. Schmeichel who is usually considered a top-3 goalkeepers of all time, will be in goal. A fantastic all rounded goal-keeper with great leadership and organizing ability. Walker and Brehme will be the full-backs in the team. Brehme is one of the best attacking full-backs ever with fantastic delivery and playmaking from the flanks. Meanwhile Walker is a fantastic defender and is one of the fastest defenders in the history of the game with elite recovery speed which has helped him defend against the likes of Mbappé and Vinicius quite well. Scirea and Ruggeri form the core of the central defense. Scirea is one of the greatest defenders ever to have graced the game of football. Anticipation and reading of the game was second to none. A leader amongst men, Scirea would be tasked with marshalling our backline. Scirea was also very good on the ball and would look to initiate attacks from the back. Partnering him at the back would be the Ruggeri. A no-nonsense defender who was a beast in the air and as physical as they come, he would be the perfect stopper to pair with Scirea,
In midfield we are rolling with a double-pivot of Valery Voronin and Paulo Roberto Falcão. A proper midfield general, Valery Voronin is one of the Top-5 defensive midfielders ever. Voronin could stamp his authority on the game in a variety of ways. Technically gifted on the ball and a very smart passer who could break the lines and feed the attack with his passing. But make no mistake, while he was good at the attacking side of the game, where he made a name for himself was on the defensive side. His anticipation and positional awareness combined with excellent tackling and physicality made him a behemoth of a presence in midfield. Marking two Ballon D'or winners, Eusébio and Flórián Albert at their prime, out of the game and restricting their influence is no joke. Yet Voronin did it. Alongside Voronin in midfield is Paulo Roberto Falcão. A central midfield playmaker extraordinaire, Falcão was a master at controlling the tempo of the game and orechestrating the attack. Possessed some of the best technique, close control, passing and vision amongst the footballers to have laced 'em up. Like his manager then at AS Roma, the great Nils Liedholm said, "Falcão is the man who conducts the orchestra on the pitch. All I do sometimes is write the music for him, or prepare the score based on certain ideas." Ahead of them as a No 10 is, Roberto Rivellino. A magician with the ball at his feet, Rivellino was one of the true pioneers of "joga bonito" where he invented various skills and dribbling technique which is now used quite regularly in football. The most notable being the "flip-flap". With his bending free kicks, accurate and precise passing, vision, sick close ball control and long-range shooting, Rivaldo would play operate as the No 10 where he can not only drop deep and gather the ball from Falcão and Voronin etc to initiate attacks from deep but also play between the lines and link-up with the front-3 and play the pass and move style of football.
In attack we have an attacking triumvirate of Romário, Hristo Stoichkov and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. On the left flank we have the 1994 Ballon D'or winner, Stoichkov. An explosive wing-forward who possessed a thunder-bolt of a left foot which he used to not only shoot rockets from all sorts of angles in and around the box but also cross and create from the flanks. Stoichkov with his pace, dribbling and incisive runs was a menace to deal with. The two-time Ballon D'or winner in 1980 & 1981, Rummenigge would be playing on the right as a right-wing forward. Kalle was an athletic all-round forward, who could play across the front line be it as a wing-forward on both the sides, a second striker or upfront on his own, which made him as one of the most completed attackers the World has ever seen. His link-up play along with his incisive runs into the box from wide areas or deep will be a nightmare for opposition to defend. Rounding up the attack, and leading the line up-front for us, we have Romário. One of the greatest and most prolific goalscorers of all time, Romário was a genius in the penalty box. Romário was an extremely agile player, who possessed excellent balance on the ball, and significant strength in spite of his small stature, which made him a cheat code in tight spaces in the penalty area. His low centre of gravity and quick bursts of acceleration enabled him to outrun opponents over short distances and beat defenders with sudden turns or changes of pace, while his technique and finishing ability saw him score a wide variety of numerous goals, including goals from powerful and accurate first-time strikes – notably through his trademark toe-pokes with little back-lift – or even from chipped shots from all sorts of angle. The front-3 of Romário, Stoichkov and Rummenigge, along with support from Rivellino will link-up extremely well with each other as all of them are excellent on the ball and along with scoring goals were extremely creative as well. They can interchange during the game causing all sorts of chaos in the opposition defense.
v/s Enigma:-
Enigma obviously has a great team. However, I feel I match-up quite well with him. And in some cases have advantages. Henry with his pace would be a nightmare for any defender obviously but luckily Walker is one of the very few who can keep up with him thanks to his elite recover pace. Walker already has experience dealing with rapid electric wide attackers like Mbappé and Vinicius and do a solid defending job on them. I am not saying Walker will handle Henry or anything like that but there are few full-backs who have the pace and physicality to keep up with Henry and Walker is one those very few. Then there is Maradona. This is where picking up Voronin was massive for me. Like with Walker vs Henry, I don't expect Voronin to keep Maradona in his pocket or anything like that. However, his experience of dealing with all-time greats with elite turn of pace and close control will come in handly. Maradona is obviously a different animal and there will be times where Voronin despite his best efforts would still get outfoxed by Maradona but at the very least he be able to restrict Maradona's experience like very few can. And having Scirea behind, who has had plenty of experience defending against Maradona would be extremely valuable. Maradona played against a Scirea led defense 9 times and has won only 2 times out of those. In those 9 games, he scored 2 goals and assisted 2 goals, out of which one goal was from a direct free kick. Not a bad record or anything but considering Maradona's stature, I would say not at his absolute best either. Having Scirea marshalling at the back with Voronin more or less shadowing Maradona throughout the game, I feel we will be able to do a solid job of restricting Maradona's influence on the game. We'll obviously have to keep track of late bursting runs into the box by Keane and Falcão will be the one to be tasked with keeping an eye on that.
We will play a 4-3-3/4-2-1-3 formation. We will look to play attacking football and utilize the ability and creativity on the ball from nearly all our outfield players.
The defense comprises of Schmeichel in goal with a back-4 of Walker, Ruggeri, Scirea and Brehme. Schmeichel who is usually considered a top-3 goalkeepers of all time, will be in goal. A fantastic all rounded goal-keeper with great leadership and organizing ability. Walker and Brehme will be the full-backs in the team. Brehme is one of the best attacking full-backs ever with fantastic delivery and playmaking from the flanks. Meanwhile Walker is a fantastic defender and is one of the fastest defenders in the history of the game with elite recovery speed which has helped him defend against the likes of Mbappé and Vinicius quite well. Scirea and Ruggeri form the core of the central defense. Scirea is one of the greatest defenders ever to have graced the game of football. Anticipation and reading of the game was second to none. A leader amongst men, Scirea would be tasked with marshalling our backline. Scirea was also very good on the ball and would look to initiate attacks from the back. Partnering him at the back would be the Ruggeri. A no-nonsense defender who was a beast in the air and as physical as they come, he would be the perfect stopper to pair with Scirea,
In midfield we are rolling with a double-pivot of Valery Voronin and Paulo Roberto Falcão. A proper midfield general, Valery Voronin is one of the Top-5 defensive midfielders ever. Voronin could stamp his authority on the game in a variety of ways. Technically gifted on the ball and a very smart passer who could break the lines and feed the attack with his passing. But make no mistake, while he was good at the attacking side of the game, where he made a name for himself was on the defensive side. His anticipation and positional awareness combined with excellent tackling and physicality made him a behemoth of a presence in midfield. Marking two Ballon D'or winners, Eusébio and Flórián Albert at their prime, out of the game and restricting their influence is no joke. Yet Voronin did it. Alongside Voronin in midfield is Paulo Roberto Falcão. A central midfield playmaker extraordinaire, Falcão was a master at controlling the tempo of the game and orechestrating the attack. Possessed some of the best technique, close control, passing and vision amongst the footballers to have laced 'em up. Like his manager then at AS Roma, the great Nils Liedholm said, "Falcão is the man who conducts the orchestra on the pitch. All I do sometimes is write the music for him, or prepare the score based on certain ideas." Ahead of them as a No 10 is, Roberto Rivellino. A magician with the ball at his feet, Rivellino was one of the true pioneers of "joga bonito" where he invented various skills and dribbling technique which is now used quite regularly in football. The most notable being the "flip-flap". With his bending free kicks, accurate and precise passing, vision, sick close ball control and long-range shooting, Rivaldo would play operate as the No 10 where he can not only drop deep and gather the ball from Falcão and Voronin etc to initiate attacks from deep but also play between the lines and link-up with the front-3 and play the pass and move style of football.
In attack we have an attacking triumvirate of Romário, Hristo Stoichkov and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. On the left flank we have the 1994 Ballon D'or winner, Stoichkov. An explosive wing-forward who possessed a thunder-bolt of a left foot which he used to not only shoot rockets from all sorts of angles in and around the box but also cross and create from the flanks. Stoichkov with his pace, dribbling and incisive runs was a menace to deal with. The two-time Ballon D'or winner in 1980 & 1981, Rummenigge would be playing on the right as a right-wing forward. Kalle was an athletic all-round forward, who could play across the front line be it as a wing-forward on both the sides, a second striker or upfront on his own, which made him as one of the most completed attackers the World has ever seen. His link-up play along with his incisive runs into the box from wide areas or deep will be a nightmare for opposition to defend. Rounding up the attack, and leading the line up-front for us, we have Romário. One of the greatest and most prolific goalscorers of all time, Romário was a genius in the penalty box. Romário was an extremely agile player, who possessed excellent balance on the ball, and significant strength in spite of his small stature, which made him a cheat code in tight spaces in the penalty area. His low centre of gravity and quick bursts of acceleration enabled him to outrun opponents over short distances and beat defenders with sudden turns or changes of pace, while his technique and finishing ability saw him score a wide variety of numerous goals, including goals from powerful and accurate first-time strikes – notably through his trademark toe-pokes with little back-lift – or even from chipped shots from all sorts of angle. The front-3 of Romário, Stoichkov and Rummenigge, along with support from Rivellino will link-up extremely well with each other as all of them are excellent on the ball and along with scoring goals were extremely creative as well. They can interchange during the game causing all sorts of chaos in the opposition defense.
v/s Enigma:-
Enigma obviously has a great team. However, I feel I match-up quite well with him. And in some cases have advantages. Henry with his pace would be a nightmare for any defender obviously but luckily Walker is one of the very few who can keep up with him thanks to his elite recover pace. Walker already has experience dealing with rapid electric wide attackers like Mbappé and Vinicius and do a solid defending job on them. I am not saying Walker will handle Henry or anything like that but there are few full-backs who have the pace and physicality to keep up with Henry and Walker is one those very few. Then there is Maradona. This is where picking up Voronin was massive for me. Like with Walker vs Henry, I don't expect Voronin to keep Maradona in his pocket or anything like that. However, his experience of dealing with all-time greats with elite turn of pace and close control will come in handly. Maradona is obviously a different animal and there will be times where Voronin despite his best efforts would still get outfoxed by Maradona but at the very least he be able to restrict Maradona's experience like very few can. And having Scirea behind, who has had plenty of experience defending against Maradona would be extremely valuable. Maradona played against a Scirea led defense 9 times and has won only 2 times out of those. In those 9 games, he scored 2 goals and assisted 2 goals, out of which one goal was from a direct free kick. Not a bad record or anything but considering Maradona's stature, I would say not at his absolute best either. Having Scirea marshalling at the back with Voronin more or less shadowing Maradona throughout the game, I feel we will be able to do a solid job of restricting Maradona's influence on the game. We'll obviously have to keep track of late bursting runs into the box by Keane and Falcão will be the one to be tasked with keeping an eye on that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enigma Tactics
Formation: 4-3-1-2 unorthodox
Tactics: Maradona running the show, direct side, quick transitions and vertical play
Defence:
Zoff is on goal one of the greatest keepers in history. In front of him Passarella in his natural LCB role, paired with another Argie great in Roberto Ayala playing the stopper role. Facchetti will occupy the left channel and will surge forward when needed, but when Passarella goes on a run he will occupy the space left behind. His athleticism and also tactical nous would help us in transition and keep a solid back three when we're attacking. Thuram plays in balanced role with Boniek also providing support when we're off the ball.
Midfield:
Deschamps is anchoring in his natural City role. He's paired with Keane who is b2b monster and facilitator between him and Maradona. Maradona naturally runs the game, looks for openings to set up out attacking duo (Henry/Benzema), use the space to finish himself. Boniek will primarily play a midfield role in this game. A very important role - he will stretch the opposition defenders out wide, help when we're off the ball and move between the lines. He has the stamina, tactical discipline and also the flair to pull that role and also with his help we will be a lot more compact when we're off the ball, whilst he can hassle and force the opponents to a mistake.
All round attacking display from Boniek against France courtesy to @harms
Attack:
Henry and Benzema are a deadly duo as a tag team and on their own - one of France greats they add to each other and would create all sorts of issues for the opposition defence. Supplied by Boniek and Maradona I really like our chances to score here. Henry plays in his natural left wideish role, whilst Benzema will be the CF in this game occupying opposition CB's and creating space for others and provide work off the ball. Also his ability in the air and keep the ball would also be important for us to creating chances.
Benzema highlights
Key points:
Deschamps is often underrated but is another leader on the pitch who provides the needed balance between the defence and midfield. Benzema over the last years has proven that he's one of the best modern strikers that probably gets us a slight upgrade over Riva. The opposition has the quality in their ranks so this is bound to be an epic encounter. Our key point here is IMO Maradona as this is the game for him being the best player on the pitch and able to probably be the decider.