World Cup Draft Match Ten: Necromonicon v Bounty Hunter

The Volt

Final match of the first phase can now go ahead. Thanks all for your patience.

Necronomicon

Bounty Hunter

Spell my name right dammit :pac:

My access is a bit limited today, I'll try to give my team a quick write up but won't be around after that.

Necronomicon

Bounty Hunter

The above is my starting XI and formation.

I believe that the two criteria I played the game by are evident in my team: balance and experience. The team boasts a cumulative 787 national team caps, or just over 71 per player. 41 is the least amount of caps represented by a player (both Maxi Rodriguez and Pereira).

Defence
A highly dependable and experienced goalkeeper in Mark Schwarzer, representing good value considering how late in the game I got him.

I concede that my risk in drafting Cannavaro didn't quite pay off (I did it before Italy's first game in the WC) and I fully expect any opponent to point to his shortcomings in this tournament. The one thing I'd point to is that the entire Italian team was muck, so perhaps in a better team he'd fare better (as individual performances go he wasn't terrible, as a team they defended horrendously). Partnering him is Carlos Marchena, who despite losing his place to Gerard Pique, is a quality centre back and was pivotal in Spain's Euro 2008 win.

I couldn't be happier with my full-back duo - we all know how good Germany captain Philipp Lahm is, and his right-full counterpart is Uruguay's Maxi Pareira, who was outstanding in this World Cup. The pair of them are solid defensively, as well as great going forward.

Midfield
Behind Zinedine Zidane I have Barcelona/Mali midfielder Seydou Keita and Juventus/Denmark's Christian Poulsen (and as a bonus, the two played together for a season at Sevilla). The defensive onus will be on Poulsen as the holder; Keita has more attacking flair, more of a box-to-box all round midfielder. I feel the two are highly complimentary. Ahead of them is my legends pick Zidane. I wanted a legend who I had the pleasure of following in my time rather than basing it on research and hearsay; and certainly Zidane is the greatest attacking midfielder of my generation.

Attack
Flanked by Argentine team-mates Lionel Messi and Maxi Rodriguez, I have Uruguay's Diego Forlan. Consistently excellent at club level since moving to La Liga, Forlan showed the world just how good he is by finishing joint top scorer in this World Cup, as well as scooping the honour for best player. With this South American trio (not to mention the attacking prowess of Zidane) I need not worry about where the goals will come from.

Bounty Hunter

Defense

The best way to start of any defense is with a top class goalkeeper and argueably the best one on the planet for the past several years and the man who only recently became the first man ever from his country to lift the World Cup as captain seem like the best possible way to kick off my team. Iker Casillas

A player like that along with a top class defense is often underated in things like this also considering the bigger name stars are all in attacking positions and thats why im glad to have been able to assemble this defense despite making most of the picks fairly late on.

Firstly the man who was argueably the best right back in the Premiership last season and in doing so surprised many with how well he got forwards despite being known primarily as a defensive hardman, a mainstay for his country who alongside one of his fellow Serbs will be tasked with keeping Lionel Messi quiet...Branislav Ivanovic

As mentioned a man Ivanovic will be used to playing with and will undoubtley have good communication with will be completing the Right side of my defense and he is argueably one of the hottest property players in terms of CBs atleast in European football at the moment. linked with clubs like Man Utd & Arsenal so far this summer but most reports claim that a 25m asking price has been slapped on his head and has kept those clubs at bay. The man is speak of ofcourse is Neven Subotic

No Nonsense would be one way to describe my defense as along with the serbs I have two other men who tend not to take any prisoners. Starting with a left footed Centre back was ever present for the Oranje during the 2010 World Cup qualifying.[4] He played more minutes than any other player in the Dutch squad and played a key role in their record of having conceded the fewest goals in their qualifying group. He of course is Joris Mathijesen

Then rounding out my defense is another versatile defender, one who can play all along the backline and this season proved how good a defender he is by displacing Philippe Mexes in the Giallorossi defence. He is also one of 3 Argentinian players in my squad...Nicolas Burisso

Central Midfield
The above defense is built to handle a Maxi, Messi, Forlanesque fromtline but when you throw someone like a Zidane into the mix something more is needed despite the fact that you have argueable the best goalie on the planet as your final line of defense for anything that does break through. That bit more that complete this defensive unit is a top defensive midfielder, a man who will not shy away from a tackle and can be a nightmare for your opponents creative players. In short that man is Gennaro gattuso. Along with my keeper this man also has a world cup winners medal won he procured against Zidane's france in 2006 for Italy, where he has always filled this role in a side just like has done for A.C Milan. He is a workhorse that will work tirelessley to break up attracks putting in countless tackles and covering a huge amount of ground.

A player like Gattuso in your side allows for the other centre midfielder to be able to fill a more creative outlet role like Pirlo has done for Italy and Milan for years by his side. Filling that role for my side will be a man whose abense was for me a major loss to the recent world cup and one who could be argued to be one of the best passers on the planet. That man is Juan Roman Riquelme. As well as this he has an ability to score from midfield but argueably more important than that is his setting the tempo of play as he will act as the bridge from the defensive part of this team to the attack.

Attack
A man who will link up well with Gattuso again as he has done so for many years in the Italian theme and who continues a theme of players who would be very likely fit in well with players around them is the man i'd have occupy my RW slot. He is also the one man that would be most likely to drop back and help out the defense as all 4 of the attack in a 4231 rarely are all out attack or else the defense is left venerable down the flanks and also anothe World cup winner. Not only Italien but hes also Argentinan and therefore means that id have a rule braking :pac: four Argies in my team together. That man Mauro Camronesi. As reliable as They come this Juventus midfielder gives great balance to my side and can be a real creative outlet for my main 3 goal threats.

In the Centre I have a man who is my second Dutch player whose club career say him become a star at Ajax, Internazionale and Arsenal where he teamed up with another of my main 3 attackers to great effect. He is a goal scorer and creater of goals and is one of those rare few that can create a moment of magic at any time out of nothing. widely regarded as one of the English Premier League's all-time greatest players. In 2007 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, the first and thus far only Dutch player ever to receive the honour, he has also finished third in the FIFA World Player of the Year award twice and his name is ofcourse Dennis Bergkamp

A man guaranteed to form a good Partnership with Bergkamp is the man who will fill the more attacking of my two wing forward slots. Another world cup winner and a goal machine in his own right which is evident by hime being Arsenal's all-time leading scorer. I wont argue that this is him in his prime but it wasnt an early pick and he is still better than most players going plus he has that little something extra that je ne sais que or Va Va Voom if you like. He again ofcourse is thierry Henry and with him and Bergkamp in my team while i still havent mentioned my main striker any teams defense should be worried.

Speaking of my main striker I guess its time for me to complete the team selection with the man who started ahead of some of the best attacking options in the world for Argentina this summer and Real Madrid. The man who despite all this is only 22 scored 27 goals in only 32 starts last season before then scoring only 1 goal less than the eventual goal boat winners in the recent world cup despite his side going out at an earlier stage than all of them. He is the 3rd/4th Argentinian player in my team and as stated alongside Bergkamp/Henry and with his countryman Riquelme supplying through balls is bound to get his fare share of opportunities....almost forgot thats Gonzalo Higuain there which completes this XI

my team:

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Iker Casillas

Ivanovic

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Subotic

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Mathijisen--Burdisso

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Gattuso

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Riquelme

Camronesi

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Bergkamp

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Henry

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Gonzalo Higuain