Rivals Draft QF - harms vs Prolifik

Who will win the match?


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    10
  • Poll closed .

Edgar Allan Pillow

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TEAM HARMS

Tactics

My defense gets a significant boost with the addition of both Thiago Silva and his partner-in-crime Marquinhos, who has been moved back from midfield. All three of my defenders are extremely competent one in one and are as quick as they are strong (this is peak Silva, not the Chelsea version), which allows me to play a risky high-line against prolifik. Silva assumes the role of a defensive leader and he's also going to be the main ball-playing asset of that backline (spreading his famous diagonals to Juninho & Futre). It fits me that prolifik is likely going to field a narrow attack with only one striker and no real wingers.

In front of them I have a lovely duo of Ardiles & Gündogan – extremely versatile & hard-working players who are going to help me recycle the ball and win it back fast if necessary.

Up front it's quite straight-forward – Bobek & Vukas assume familiar inside right & left roles that they've excelled in, Futre and Juninho stretch the play out wide and Larsson provides a point of reference in the middle.

Lesser (perhaps) known players:

Bernard Vukas
:
In 2000, he was voted by the Croatian Football Federation as the best Croatian player of all Time, and in a poll by Večernji List, he was voted the best Croatian athlete of the 20th century.

He came to Hajduk Split in 1947 and stayed there until 1957, playing 202 games and scoring 89 goals. With Hajduk, Vukas won the Yugoslav First League title on three occasions, in 1950, 1952 and 1955, and he was the league's top scorer in the 1954–55 season with 20 goals. In 1950, Vukas helped Hajduk win the Yugoslav First League undefeated, a record which has never been broken.

Stjepan Bobek:
Usually a forward or attacking midfielder, Bobek was renowned for his technique, vision and goalscoring ability and is commonly regarded as one of Yugoslavia's greatest players.

During his time in Partizan, he played 468 games and scored 403 goals, still holding the club record. Bobek won two Yugoslav League titles and the Yugoslav Cup four times. He was the top scorer of the Yugoslav First League twice, in 1945 (25 goals) and 1954 (21 goals).

Julinho:
Best right winger that Brazil had before Garrincha came along. At 1960, during his stint at Palmeiras, he was included in World Soccer's World XI. A highly creative, talented, and dynamic player, with a slender build, Julinho usually played as a right winger, where he operated as a playmaker, and was known for his speed, vision, tactical sense, powerful shooting ability, and dribbling skills, which enabled him to cut into the centre and shoot on goal or create chances for other players. He was also known for his ability to build attacking plays, or get to the touchline and deliver accurate curling crosses to his teammates.

Eddy Graafland:
3rd best Dutch keeper of the XXth century behind van der Sar and van Breukelen according to IFFHS and Feyenoord's greatest ever keeper.


TEAM PROLIFIK

Neuer replaces Ladić to give us a drastic upgrade between the sticks. His ability on the ball boosts our possession-based style, and his quickness off his line mitigates this fact that Dias and Blanc aren't the quickest.

Vieira adds drive and athleticism in midfield compared to the more static Rattín.

We will play a heavily possession-based game in which we leverage our high techincal quality all over the pitch to dictate the game and create chances.

From Neuer in goal, to the Blanc-Dias CB pairing, through Vieira and Baxter in the engine room, to the attacking trio of Prosinečki, Titov, and Đorđević, we have highly skilled players who are comfortable on the ball. Tevez leads the line with his typical pace and tenacity.

Prosinečki will frequently drift infield to combine with Vieira and Baxter and bolster our short-passing game.

Blanc provides an additional route to goal, as he is not only a major threat from set pieces (a Đorđević speciality) but also has a knack for pushing forward in the run of play and getting on the end chances himself.
 

Gio

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Djordjevic is a great pick in this draft.

@harms - do we know much about the style of play of Vukas and Bobek?
 

harms

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Djordjevic is a great pick in this draft.

@harms - do we know much about the style of play of Vukas and Bobek?
We have a full game of Vukas available where he was simply brilliant – basically your archetypical number 10 with low center of gravity and outstanding dribbling, preferring the left side at least on the basis of that game. He has an insane record of scoring 300 goals in 615 games for Hajduk but I wouldn't say that scoring was his main interest – again, based on what I've seen in that game.

Bobek is tougher to describe as we've only get some glimpses of his play on YouTube where you see him peeling out wide (to the right) – but evidently he was much more of a goalscorer compared to a more playmaking Vukas (403 goals in 468 games; 37 goals in 41 league games for Partizan at his peak over the course of 2 seasons + 38 goals for Yugoslavia, an all-time record).

They've played together for Yugoslavia quite a lot – sometimes Vukas would play on the left and sometimes Bobek would play as a number 9 but usually as inside left and inside right in a front 5 respectively.
 

harms

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Djordjevic is a great pick in this draft.

@harms - do we know much about the style of play of Vukas and Bobek?
Here's a few reports of the game. By my recollection he was fantastic linking up with Zebec on the left wing:
From the start it was obvious that England were going to struggle. The silky skills of Kubala (inside right - harms), Vukas and Zebec (outside left - harms) constantly exposed the home defenders. Alf Ramsey and Bill Eckersley looked particularly vulnerable and the FIFA team should have done more with their superiority. The different styles quickly gelled and the Europeans pushed the ball around in short sharp bursts, creating many openings and spreading panic through the England ranks.

England got off to a dreadful start by conceding a first-minute penalty. Hanappi sent a lovely through pass for Vukas who was clear of the defence. Eckersley, chased back but his despairing tackle succeeded only in giving Kubala the chance to score from the resultant spot-kick.

This time superb play between Ockwirk and Nordahl gave Zebec the chance to get past Ramsey and then centre for Boniperti (outside right – harms) to cut inside and crash home number two. The same player then repeated his strike in the 39th minute cutting in past Eckersley to fire home after another good pass from Vukas.

...

The FIFA select took the lead when Hanappi sent Vukas away down the middle. Eckersley brought him down and Ladislao Kubala scored from the spot. Within three minutes, though, England had equalised. Stan Mortensen took a pass from Lofthouse and ran on to shoot low past Zeman.
But they went behind again when a cross from Zebec was slammed in by Gianpiero Boniperti. Six minutes before half-time Boniperti scored again from a pass by Vukas to leave England's proud record in grave danger.
http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1946-60/1953-54/M0282RoW1953.html

 

Himannv

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Both teams have really gung-ho midfields. A little bit unbalanced in both cases I think so it'll probably be a fun game. Love Futre anf Larsson but also love me some Baxter.
 

harms

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Both teams have really gung-ho midfields. A little bit unbalanced in both cases I think so it'll probably be a fun game. Love Futre anf Larsson but also love me some Baxter.
There's a real feel of the 1950's All Star games about this :drool: The score is certainly going to be big.
 

Šjor Bepo

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Vukas has a reputation of a selfish (great)player that loved to dribble, make of that what you will :D
 

prolifik

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Both teams have really gung-ho midfields. A little bit unbalanced in both cases I think so it'll probably be a fun game. Love Futre anf Larsson but also love me some Baxter.
I thought about going more conservative with Rattin instead of Titov, but just thinking about that version made me start yawning.
 

harms

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Good game @prolifik
I expected you to start Rattin and play Baxter on the left but this works too. It would’ve been a fascinating encounter in real life.