Team NM
THE TEAM
The core of the legendary Juventus team of the 80's forms the basis for the side – with the legendary Geateno Scirea marshalling the defence and dictating the game from the back, whilst Marco Tardelli roams box to box, breaking forward in possession and hastling the opposition without the ball.
Arguably the third best defender of all time after Baresi and Beckenbauer - Scirea will take up his classic Libero role and move over the pitch to where he is most needed. On the ball he will offer accurate distribution from the back to Platini, providing a base on which to build attacks.
On the flanks, two outstanding Brazilian fullbacks in Carlos Alberto and Roberto Carlos provide offensive width, breaking forward when the team attacks to overload Cutch's defense as it struggles to get to grips with Platini, Puskas and Hamrin.
Offensive fullbacks are often underrated in these drafts but here we have two of the most effective of all time at doing just that - Make no mistake, Roberto Carlos and Carlos Alberto will wreck havoc if left unchecked and by bombing up the pitch the two Brazilians will create space for Platini to work his magic in the middle.
In addition to the two fullbacks, width is provided by one of the most prolific wingers of all time in Kurt Hamrin - Who currently remains the 7th All Time Leading Goalscorer in Serie A. An exceptional dribbler with an electric turn of pace, Hamrin will start on the right hand side but will drift in or out, driving inside to create space for others.
Why I Think I will win:
- GOATs in each phase of play: Scirea/Carlos Alberto/Platini/Puskas
- Who is marking Platini? Simeone is the only defensive minded midfielder in Cutch's team, and he can't do a job on Platini. Platini will have the freedom of the field.
- Scirea will limit Charlton's long shots and influence
- Both my center backs are very adept at protecting the wingbacks
- Goals galore - my team simply has an incredible amount of goals in its front 3. If Charlton is negated, Cutch simply can't match that.
PLATINI
The team is built around one of the greatest footballers of all time and arguably the game's best ever passer - Michel Platini. A three time winner of the Ballon d'Or in '83, '84 and 85, Platini is the best player on the pitch, playing in a system similar to the ones he thrived in with some of the very same players.
Given the freedom of the pitch to drift and pick up possession, Platini will get on the ball and spread the game with his exceptional passing – slipping through balls to Puskas, or knocking it out wide to an overlapping Carlos Alberto.
Of course Platini was not only an unrivalled playmaker but a supreme goal scorer himself – On ten occasions did he hit 25 goals or more in a season, at his peak scoring 82 goals in 139 games in 80's Serie A and 9 goals in 5 games for France at Euro '84.
There is no one in Cutch's side capable of stopping Platini offensively, or preventing his passing dictating the course of the match.
PUSKAS
Linking up with Platini is another of football's all time legends, “The Galloping Major” Ferenc Puskas - The Captain and leader of the “Mighty Magyars” and part of Real Madrid's historic side which won five European Cups in a row. Over the course of an exceptional career Puskas scored 616 goals in 620 games at club level, 84 goals in 85 games internationally and remains the only player to score a hat-trick in two European Cup Finals.
"How great was Ferenc Puskas? Such things, necessarily, are subjective - and, particularly when you're going on video footage, almost impossible to judge - but for me he stands alongside Johan Cruyff as one of the two greatest European players of all time.
It is not just his technical ability. Other players have had that. It is not even the fact that he had key parts in two of the most celebrated games ever played on British soil - Hungary's 6-3 victory over England at Wembley in 1953 and Real Madrid's 7-3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960. It is the fact that that ability was allied to a brain that understood how best to use his ability for the team.
That is why his nickname, the 'Galloping Major', was so appropriate - even if he hardly galloped and, at the time it was bestowed, was only a lieutenant - because he was so good at marshalling his side towards a common goal. "If a good player has the ball, he should have the vision to spot three options," the full-back Jeno Buzanszky said. "Puskas always saw at least five."
Comparisons are made with George Best, not least because Puskas enjoyed a similarly hectic social life. Tales of his drinking exploits with Jim Baxter are legion, and the late Scotland winger, who maintained that the Hungarian had just two words of English - "vhisky" and "jiggy-jig".
But Puskas's habit never got in the way of his football and, after the two-year exile he served following his defection in 1956, he had the self-discipline to lose 18kg before lining up for Real Madrid. With an Olympic gold, a World Cup silver, five Hungarian league titles, five Spanish championships and a European Cup, plus the fact he was top scorer in Spain four times, his achievements dwarf those of Best."
It is not just his technical ability. Other players have had that. It is not even the fact that he had key parts in two of the most celebrated games ever played on British soil - Hungary's 6-3 victory over England at Wembley in 1953 and Real Madrid's 7-3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960. It is the fact that that ability was allied to a brain that understood how best to use his ability for the team.
That is why his nickname, the 'Galloping Major', was so appropriate - even if he hardly galloped and, at the time it was bestowed, was only a lieutenant - because he was so good at marshalling his side towards a common goal. "If a good player has the ball, he should have the vision to spot three options," the full-back Jeno Buzanszky said. "Puskas always saw at least five."
Comparisons are made with George Best, not least because Puskas enjoyed a similarly hectic social life. Tales of his drinking exploits with Jim Baxter are legion, and the late Scotland winger, who maintained that the Hungarian had just two words of English - "vhisky" and "jiggy-jig".
But Puskas's habit never got in the way of his football and, after the two-year exile he served following his defection in 1956, he had the self-discipline to lose 18kg before lining up for Real Madrid. With an Olympic gold, a World Cup silver, five Hungarian league titles, five Spanish championships and a European Cup, plus the fact he was top scorer in Spain four times, his achievements dwarf those of Best."
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