Team Onenil Invictus
The 1970s were fast times of wild and memorable characters. Before the era of big money but after the first round of televised World Cups, the North American Soccer League embodies much of fun and eccentricity of this beautiful era.
Boasting the best players of the decade like Cruyff and Beckenbauer we return you to these wild and fun times. A time before cynical monetization where you can connect with your inner child and just root for your favorite players.
Our defense of Santos - Kaiser and his trusted lieutenant Schwarzenbeck - Alberto forms an immense platform for the team, with three or the quartet being enshrined in the World Team of the 20th Century:
In goal, Maier was the core of Germany’s World Cup and European Championship winning defense and Bayern’s trio of European Cups. In total, they have won 6 World Cups between them — 2 of them as captains, and as such, they can handle a variety of World Class attacking combinations thrown at them by the opposition team.
Our midfield of Falcão, Neeskens and Breitner is one of the best all-around midfields possible in this draft or others. Like Beckenbauer in defense, Falcão is going to be the primary playmaker of this portion of the pitch given his exemplary range of passing and architectural ability. Flanking him are two of the most complete and resolute box-to-box midfielders in football who could also peel wider to fortify the spaces in certain phases of the game — with Breitner having special chemistry with Kaiser and Neeskens with Cruyff, which is a sweet added bonus.
Cruyff, the quintessential False 9, leads our attack as the primary playmaker of that portion of the pitch, and is complemented by Kubala and Robben. Kubala targets the opposition’s weakest zone and can maximize his output (worth bearing in mind that he scored 280 goals in 345 appearances with Barcelona). And Robben operates like a winger who dribbles past opponents and creates all sorts of trouble while taking some of the attention away from Cruyff
Team Jim Beam
Formation: 3-4-1-2;
Playing style: compact, counter-attacking
In this formation one of the centre midfielders (Desailly) acts as a sweeper in midfield and stays deeper than the other midfielders, the other alongside of him is more creative with a good engine (Häßler) feeding the forwards and the flanks. It also requires a great playmaker as an attacking midfielder (Laudrup) and suited to play on the counter-attack.
It also requires central defender to be good with the ball at his feet and willing to bring it forward. In other words, perfectly suited for Sammer in which position he excelled and won Ballon d'Or.
The tactics is also familiar to Sammer as it is partly based on 1997 Borussia Dortmund tactics which led them to Champions league triumph against much superior Juventus team on the paper.
In the defensive phase: A well-executed, modern and efficient defensive scheme led by Sammer in the position of a sweeper which gave him Ballon d'Or, partnered by two fantastic, world-class defenders on each side in Burgnich and Ruggeri. The team will play in compact and fairly deep defensive style in which they will, as soon as the ball is won, try to counter-attack their opponent through the middle or the flanks.
In the attacking phase: As soon as the ball is won the team will attack with devastating speed and try to get to the other team's penalty area and in the danger zone through surging runs from defence by Sammer, or middle consisting of brilliant and creative passers such as Laudrup and Haesller.
Butragueno will be always on the move trying to disorganize the other team's defence, while Batistuta will be in his best position as a focal point of attack.
Jesus Christ. Never though I'd hear the name of that lunatic ever again.