Uno Draft: Round 1 - Michaelf vs MJJ/SyrianScholes

[Šjor Bepo]

TEAM MICHAELF

My team will play a 4-3-3 formation with a lopsided front 3, a defensive full back behind Matthews on the right and an attacking fullback on the left where Belloumi will mainly be acting more centrally.

My goalkeeper is Bert Trautmann who was the Football Writers Association footballer of the year in England in 1956. Trautmann was a brillant shot stopper who was particularly skilled at working out where an opposing player was going to shoot the ball to. This skill helped him to save 60% of the penalties he faced during his career. He was also good at throwing the ball a long way to help start attacking moves.

There have only been two world-class goalkeepers. One was Lev Yashin, the other was the German boy who played in Manchester – Trautmann

My rightback is Tarcisio Burgnich who won two European Cups and four Serie A's with Inter Milan as well as winning a European Championship and finishing runner up in a world cup with Italy. Burgnich was comfortable both as a fullback and a centreback. Burgnich was well disciplined, had high levels of concentration, great anticipation and reactions as well as being an excellent marker and a tough tackler who was difficult to beat in one on one situations.

My right sided centreback is Carlos Gamarra who was a member of the 1998 World Cup team of the tournament and the best defender in South America in 1998. Gamarra's strengths were tackling, aerial ability, strength and leadership skills.

My left sided centreback is Daniel Passarella who was a member of the 1978 World Cup team of the tornament while winnig it as captain (he was also a member of Argentina's winning squad in 1986 although he was unused throughout that tournament). He was also the Argentine footballer of the year in 1976 and a member of the all time teams of both Argentina and Fiorentina. Passarella was a strong tackler with excellent positioning and aerial ability both on defense and attack. Passarella's passing ability also enabled him to build attacks from the back and he scored 175 goals during his career.

My attacking leftback is Yasuhiko Okudera. After starting his career in Japan, Okudera moved to Germany in 1977 signing for Cologne where he won a league and cup double in his first season mainly playing on the left wing for them. After 3 years at Koln and a year at 2nd division Hertha Berlin, otto Rehhagel igned his for newly promoted Bundesliga team Werder Bremen where he was moved to an attacking fullback. Okudera appeared in most league games for Werder Bremen as they finished 5th, 2nd, 5th, 2nd and 2nd in Okudera's 5 seasons at the club missing out to both Hamburg in 82/83 (the same year Hamburg won the European Cup) and Bayern in 85/86 on goal difference. In December 1983, Kicker picked him in a hypothetical best foreign players in the Bundesliga XI. Okudera then moved back to Japan and retired a couple of years later. Okudera was known for his pace and left footed shots. At Koln he was nicknamed the Oriental Computer for his ability, while not being technically excellent, to be precise and consistent.

My defensive midfielder is Frank Rijkaard who was in the Euro 88 team of the tournament, a 3rd place finisher in both the 1988 and 1989 Ballon d'Or and the Serie A player of the season in 1992. Rijkaard was also able to play as a centre back. Rijkaard was quick, strong, had a high work rate, was positionally intelligent, had good decision making skills, was good in the air and a strong tackler. Offensively he had good technique, passing and vision as well as having a powerful shot.

My right sided central midfielder is Didi who was the best player at the 1958 world cup and won the world cup in both 1958 and 1962. Didi was two footed, calm, had great passing and vision as well as being a superb freekick taker who was brilliant at curving and dipping his freekicks at the last minute. Didi was also a good long range shooter from open play. Didi was also a decent tackler and a very good reader of the game on defense which allowed him to intercept opposition passes.

My left sided central midfielder is Scotland's Jim Baxter. At his peak in the first half of the 1960's, Baxter was a precise passer, with good vision and an ability to send opponents the wrong way. George Best picked him in the best team of players he played with or against.

arguably the best player to play in Scottish football. He had immense skill, balance, confidence, grace and ability to pass and hold the ball. He was just a fantastic footballer. Fantastic.

My left sided attacking midfielder is Lakhdar Belloumi who was the African footballer of the year in 1981 and was according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) the 4th best African player of the 20th century and the 62nd best player in the world in the 20th century. Belloumi was a team player with exceptional dribbling, accurate technique, tireless running and inventor of the blind pass. Belloumi was also a frequent goal scorer scoring 204 goals in 417 league games during his club career and 27 goals in 100 caps for Algeria. Belloumi ran the show in Algeria's win against eventual finalists West Germany in the 1982 World Cup scoring 1 goal and assisting the other in Algeria's 2-1 win. After the 1982 World Cup both Barcelona and Juventus wanted to sign him but couldn't because Algerian rules prevented him from playing abroad untill he was 27. In 1985, now 27, Juventus tried to sign him again despite already having Platini, but with the deal nearly complete Belloumi broke his leg and hever played for Juventus.

My Right Winger is Stanley Matthews who won the Ballon d'Or in 1956 as well as the Football Writers Association footballer of the year award in England in both 1948 and 1963. Matthews was quick, a great dribbler and great crosser of the ball as well as being an intelligent player and a good passer of the ball.

My striker is Alberto Spencer who is the all time top goalscorer in the Copa Libertadores which he won 3 times with Penarol as well as being ranked the 20th best South American player of the 20th century by the IFFHS. Alberto Spencer was great in the air with Pele saying that Spencer was better at heading the ball than he was. Spencer was also quick, was a good dribbler, had good movement off the ball and was a brilliant finisher. Spencer was also a big game player scoring in each of the Copa Libertadores final ties he played in (Copa Libertadores finals at this time were two legged affairs with playoffs being possible), scoring 8 times in 10 Copa Libertadores final games.


Team MJJ/SyrianScholes

Tactics:
Pretty simple 4-3-3, the players are well known to everyone. The attack is easy to imagine, two wing-forwards with one striker. Blanchflower is the controller in midfield, breitner the attacking box to box and desailly the DM.

Why I will win:

• Johnstone against okudera will be a massacre. If you google okudera, this comes up.

My opponent is playing a fullback who is less popular than a side character in an anime? How does he expect him to guard one of the best wing-forwards the world has seen?

• Helping that anime chick guard johnstone is belloumi, who according to the limited sources I have found played as an attacking midfielder and played as a classical number ten. Think putting riquelme on the left wing and imagine how much help he will give the fullback. So who is stopping johnstone here?

he doesn't move much , he is that kind of classical n10 that The whole team lays on.

• Matthews will have no help from burgnich and cole + mane will be enough to negate his influece on the match.
• Spencer doesn't seem the right kind of fit next to matthews either and my opponent has a severe lack of goals in his side.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

all the best @Michaelf7777777 @MJJ @syrian_scholes

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Michael, you would have won huge brownie points from me if you had played Burgnich on the left. He man marked Johnstone in the 1967 European Cup final and kept him quite all game. Johnstone himself admitted he had a bad final even though Celtic won.

 

[P-Nut]

Teams seem quite even but I prefer the MJJ/Syrian defence

 

[Michaelf7777777]

I have a few points that I would like to make:

Firstly, my team have other sources of goals besides Spencer who is the all time top goal scorer in the Copa Libertadores and scored 446 goals in 646 games during his club career. As I mentioned in my write up Belloumi scored at a rate of nearly 1 goal per 2 games during his club career. Didi was also a regular goalscorer scoring 20 in 68 for Brazil and in league games scoring 51 in 150 for Fluminense and 40 in 64 during his first spell at Botafogo. Daniel Passarella is also a goal scoring threat particularly from set pieces.

Secondly, I think that Spencer is a good fit for Matthews in that Spencer was brilliant in the air (being nicknamed "magic head" and being acclaimed by Pele as a better header than he was), quick and a brilliant finisher. These attributes work together well with Matthew's crossing ability. Furthermore Spencer's pace will allow him to take full advantage of opportunites created by my trio of creative midfielders in Baxter, Didi and Belloumi.

Thirdly, I think that while the midfield battle will be close, I have the advantage in terms of creativity.

Forthly, Belloumi was described as a tireless runner and a team player in addition to his considerable attacking qualities (link: https://ahalftimereport.com/2015/05/24/lakhdar-belloumi-the-wizard-of-maghreb/), so I don't think it is fair to compare him to Riquelme.

Fiftly, I do not see the relevance in your google searching as fame is not the same thing as ability.

Lastly, I think having a goalkeeper as short as Campos (only 1.68 metres or 5 feet 6 inches tall) is an advantage to me as he will find it more difficult than your typical goalkeeper to stop shots aimed towards the top corner of his net as my players particularly Spencer and Didi (as well as Passarella from set pieces) have the ability to do so. Also Campos's goalkeeping style is described as risky and flamboyant which suggests that he is more likely than your typical all time draft goalkeeper to gift my team a goal through an error.

 

[MJJ]

I have a few points that I would like to make:

Firstly, my team have other sources of goals besides Spencer who is the all time top goal scorer in the Copa Libertadores and scored 446 goals in 646 games during his club career. As I mentioned in my write up Belloumi scored at a rate of nearly 1 goal per 2 games during his club career. Didi was also a regular goalscorer scoring 20 in 68 for Brazil and in league games scoring 51 in 150 for Fluminense and 40 in 64 during his first spell at Botafogo. Daniel Passarella is also a goal scoring threat particularly from set pieces.

Secondly, I think that Spencer is a good fit for Matthews in that Spencer was brilliant in the air (being nicknamed "magic head" and being acclaimed by Pele as a better header than he was), quick and a brilliant finisher. These attributes work together well with Matthew's crossing ability. Furthermore Spencer's pace will allow him to take full advantage of opportunites created by my trio of creative midfielders in Baxter, Didi and Belloumi.

Thirdly, I think that while the midfield battle will be close, I have the advantage in terms of creativity.

Forthly, Belloumi was described as a tireless runner and a team player in addition to his considerable attacking qualities (link: https://ahalftimereport.com/2015/05/24/lakhdar-belloumi-the-wizard-of-maghreb/), so I don't think it is fair to compare him to Riquelme.

Fiftly, I do not see the relevance in your google searching as fame is not the same thing as ability.

Lastly, I think having a goalkeeper as short as Campos (only 1.68 metres or 5 feet 6 inches tall) is an advantage to me as he will find it more difficult than your typical goalkeeper to stop shots aimed towards the top corner of his net as my players particularly Spencer and Didi (as well as Passarella from set pieces) have the ability to do so. Also Campos's goalkeeping style is described as risky and flamboyant which suggests that he is more likely than your typical all time draft goalkeeper to gift my team a goal through an error.

• Its basically only didi who is up against desailly and spencer, you have to remember the level belloumi played against when touting his one in two record.
• I got spencer confused with somebody else, thought he was more of a false nine type of player. Thanks for clarifying that up.
• You have more creativity due to Didi as Blanchflower is better than Baxter but I have more goal scoring due to Breitner.
• Has belloumi played as a LW? He played as a AM or a classical number ten. That is very different than playing on the wing. Also, if you look at his pes stats he is very poor defensively with very little work-rate.
• That was a joke.
• He managed fine in his career and is one of the best keepers of all time.

 

[Himannv]

I think @MJJ and @syrian_scholes have the better team. Having said that, I really like seeing Jim Baxter feature in these drafts. Rate him.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

I think Michael ticks a lot of boxes.

Passarella and Gamarra is the kind of pair I would want against Greaves. Mane will be shut down by Burgnich. Rijkaard marshals the central zones.

The opposition will find it very tough to score IMO.

Coming to the other side, Spencer is the kind of physical striker I would expect to trouble Scirea. Matthews vs Cole might also go the formers way.

And it's unlucky for Didi to face Desailly of all. I don't know who is on the bench but I would have considered playing Didi as the LM. Solves a lot of problems and avoids a direct combat with Desailly.

But at the end that left flank is indeed a deal breaker. MJJ/Syrian Scholes edge this on player quality for me. The one on one match ups go in Michael's favor for sure and probably would have won my vote if not for that left flank.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

This is a very balanced match that realistically could be decided by playing Burgnich against Johnstone or not as the case may be. Burgnich could cancel out Johnstone while you could reasonably throw Okudera against Mane here.

 

[Enigma_87]

MJJ/SS edges it for me due to more quality across the park.

Having said that I like Michael's midfield a lot - Rijkaard, Didi, Baxter is a great trio that bring a lot from each other.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Congratulations @MJJ and @syrian_scholes

 

[MJJ]

Congratulations @MJJ and @syrian_scholes

Thanks michael, you had a good team too just unlucky with bad cards in key positions.

 

[Invictus]

• Johnstone against okudera will be a massacre. If you google okudera, this comes up.

My opponent is playing a fullback who is less popular than a side character in an anime? How does he expect him to guard one of the best wing-forwards the world has seen?

 

[Ecstatic]

I think he used google picture

 

[MJJ]

I dont exactly know who that is.

 

[Ecstatic]

I would have probably voted like a sheep for syrianscholes/mjj.

That said, Jimmy Greave could be frustrated

 

[Šjor Bepo]

We can proud ourself with the fact that we organize better games then Fifa as the last time Greaves and Didi faced each other poor Jimmy had 2 jobs!