All players shall be judged only on their performances at the tournaments (From 1927 to 1960 the CEICs, from 1960 to 2012 the Euros). Please take this into account before voting. You can read up on the theme by clicking here.
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Team Aldo:
The team will be taking its inspiration from that fantastic Spanish team in the EURO 2008, that started their national domination. The recent Spanish national team has usually been known to adapt the Barcelona tiki taka tactics and rather turn that into a very conservative possession based football. It is important that you remember that before Spain did that, they won a European Championship playing fantastic attacking football, while still adhering to the discipline of accurate crisp passing and movement. It was this team that dazzled Austria and Switzerland in the summer of 2008, and this is how we intend to play.-------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Aldo:
The formation is quite similar, a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2. Going from back to front, the back 4 has a unit which has proven themselves at the Euros. The CB duo of Bossis and Happel will guard the goal. Two exceptionally intelligent defenders, capable of reading the game like an open book will look to cut off the threat before it becomes a danger. Happel would be more probable of the two to go into hard challenges and physical duos, while having the frenchman for cover. They'll be flanked by two German legends, Manfred Kaltz and Phillip Lahm. Both are wonderful defenders, with excellent positioning and concentration, in turn rarely getting beaten in a 1v1, while also providing considerable threat going forward. No one can forget Lahm's sensational match winner against Turkey in the 2008 semi final and Kaltz is known for being one of the best crossers of all time from the fullback position. They'll join the attack regularly and look to provide the service.
Important Fact - all four of the defenders are extremely comfortable on the ball, all possessing the ability to beat a man as well as spray the ball around. This is crucial when building a side similar to that Spanish team, even if they were not the boring possession machine that they were two years later. With defenders of that high ability on the ball, there would rarely be any mispasses that the opponent can take advantage of, the ball would be quickly moved around and sent into space as soon as its spotted.
The four man midfield starts with the CM duo of Xavi and Cocu, two players are accustomed to the same style and brand of football, with goes perfectly with the style of this team, they will dominate most midfields they come up against. It's not just the fact that they can keep the ball till eternity, that is not the instruction to them even if they can, it's the fact that both can use it to provide crunching blows to the opposition. Xavi was phenomenal in the Euro 2008, which is why a team that is a tribute to them is built around him, their best player. Both are incredibly all round players, putting great shifts defensively and capable of turning defense to attack in an instant. Naturally, Cocu is the more defensive partner, while Xavi takes control of the game and pulls the strings.
Out wide, they have two EURO legends in Andres Iniesta and Pavel Nedved. Both the players have multiple Euros under their belt where they were fantastic. The Iniesta that destroyed teams in the 2012 edition is the one playing here, often allowing people to click photos with him being hounded by 5 or so players, he was simply unplayable back then. he will be instrumental in combining with Xavi and controlling the game. He can drop deep, or stay forward, depending on the nature of play. That tournament was his peak in the Spanish shirt and earned him a third place in the Ballon D'or, and him playing in that form is absolute trouble for the opposition. We basically have the peak Xavi and peak Iniesta, while talking of their national careers, playing with an attacking intent, it is going to be great. You'll have opponents chasing shadows when these two combine those performances and take the opponents out of the game right in the middle of the park, like they've done so often.
Nedved on the other side is not a slouch, one of the most versatile and complete players ever, Nedved put tremendous shifts in the Czech midfields time and again and is a true national legend. Here he is driving forward from the right. What he brings? He will keep the ball as well as anyone, I can see him sync beautifully into that Spanish system, a role that David Silva - a very similar player offensively, played. His creativity would be influential in the game, and when he comes infield and joins the midfield, it allows Iniesta to take a free role and run rings around the opponents. It works similar the other way as well, Iniesta joins the midfield to control the game, and the Czech Fury is unleashed with his powerful running and the dangerous shooting ability.
All in all, the midfield has 4 really complete players, which is vital for this team. All 4 will contribute both offensively and defensively to crucial effect and have the background and performances to work seamlessly together. There will be a lot of cohesion and synergy between the four, and there's proven chemistry of Xavi and Iniesta, one of the greatest duos ever. It will almost certainly hand us the control, and give us a massive advantage. AGAIN - This is not the "pointless possession" you may confuse this style with, we see an opening we take our chance, and do that over and over. The passing will be incisive, swift and crisp with fantastic movement and workrate from everyone and that will open the opponents up over 90 minutes, we are sure of that. It is certain that there will be truckloads of great chances created by this unit, even without what is about to follow.
Up front is another partnership, of "The Emperor" Florian Albert, and the Czech who was impossible to stop in 2004, Milan Baros. Before you go "
that Liverpool flop", I'd like to remind you, his club form weighs ZERO in this game. It is only his peak for Czech Republic at the Euros that counts, and he was sensational in 2004. Anyway, Albert will be playing as the support striker off Baros, dropping into the hole. One of the most elegant players you will see, he lit up the stage with his tremendous dribbling ability at devastating pace, technical brilliant and superb passing, like the rest of the team. Baros would be more in charge of finishing the chances created by the midfield, what he does best. Albert will be playing as a forward, there is no need for him to drop deep and help out the midfield, he has the complete freedom to influence play in the final third either creating a chance or scoring one himself. His goal record is insane, anyway. Both have tremendous tremendous pace and acceleration to burn, and that will punish the slightest of mistakes. That and the fact that you need something special to take the ball from Albert when he's flying past players.Against Skizzo and Pat Mustard's team, which doesn't have much natural threat out wide, the fullbacks will be instructed to overlap whenever they see the chance and stretch the opponent. Both Happel and Bossis are versatile defenders and can easily come forward to cover in case there is a problem. Overall the whole team will play close to each other, suffocating any space and maintaining possession while looking to attack. Cocu, Bossis and Happel are all brilliant readers of the game and that will be invaluable while playing against a cultured playmaker like Netzer.
I've explaining the qualities of our midfield in depth, and they will all be of use great in this game. I've added truckloads of creativity, flair, passing ability in midfield, and while he has a very competitive midfield, it will be very difficult to cut the supply to the front two. Xavi is quite comfortably the best central midfielder on the pitch, and there's a bit of gulf in quality there which is highly to my advantage.
The front two is packed with tremendous pace and goal scoring ability, and will be fed the ball throughout the game, which again is a nice weapon to hold and should be a bit of a bother for their CB duo.
I love the all roundedness, versatility, completeness, whichever way you might wanna put it, of this team. It is something I look at have whenever I build a fantasy team and I've always believed it makes a huge difference. Even in this game where we are judging players based on a handful of performance, I have Iniesta who played both on the left and the right, Nedved who did the same and both equally capable of joining the midfield or driving forward in attack. That adds so much balance to the whole scheme and makes this work. Bossis is known to cover for an attacking fullback (Amoros). All the players just seem to fit in the system without having to sacrifice anything that made them so legendary, which makes this final team really well functioning and capable of combing beautifully to provide some quality entertainment. I hope this attempt makes sense to you and you can see what I am trying to implement. Whether it will work or not, is up to you to decide, but it is more important that I can successfully share my vision for this team with you. Thanks for reading.
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