World Cup Draft Rd 3: Mr. Guappa v bamboozling

The Volt

Match 2 of 2

bamboozling

Here's how my opponent usually lines out, correct me if I'm wrong, and here's how I plan to line out.




Ok here's how I line out. Mr. Guappa has a good team but i believe the pace, strength and skill of my team will ensure that I win.

I'm going to go through how I'll line out.

Goals; I have Neuer, one of the best young goalies in the world and a player who had an excellent World Cup, he is tall, agile, strong, an excellent shot stopper and he has a mammoth boot on him as seen against England in Bloemfontein. He can be suspect under crosses but is still an excellent, solid goalkeeper. Let's not forget he is German no.1 at the ripe old age of 23.

Defence; In defence i have Johnson, Pepe, Godin and Boateng. Again there is pace and youth in abundance here. Johnson is excellent going forward and often bombs down the wing with plenty of crosses and shots going into the box. At times his defending can be called into question but he is facing a weak pick in Clint Dempsey and i really don't forsee him giving Johnson too much bother. Then I have the excellent partnership of Pepe and Godin. Pepe is lightning quick but also strong as an ox, plays the ball and an ace man marker. Pepe will undoubtedly be able to handle Eusebio as he is as quick as him and as strong as him. Eusebio was famous for his power and pace, however these are attributes that Pepe has in his armoury and is one of the best man markers in the world. I believe that he can tame Eusebio and this will be vital to my winning of the game. Godin gives my defence a presence in the air with his height and physique. 40 caps by the age of 24 and a future captain of his country that did excellent at this world cup him and Pepe will be well able to hanndle anything the opposition throw at them. Then we have Boateng who offers plenty of solidity and is more than capable of venturing forward and giving options down the wing. As a rule of thumb with my full backs I want one to hang back as the other goes forward so we don't end up susceptible to the counter attack.

Midfield; In central midfield i have Nigel De Jong and Lothar Matthaus. This is arguably the strongest central partnership of the 20 teams in this competiton. De Jong is a scrapper and a water carrier but he is excellent at what he does. He will play on the right side of this pairing and will have special duty to shut down Fabregas. De Jong will have sit just in front of Fabregas and stop the supply coming his way. Looking at my opponents team I believe that stopping Fabregas will be vital as he is the only truly creative player on my opponents team. Then I have Lothar, my captain and in my view the greatest world cup player in the history of the game. 5 world cups, the only outfield player to do so, a world cup winner, twice runner up and an absolute legend of the game. He will work in tandem with De Jong to stifle the creativity of Fabregas and Muller. Matteus has license to burst upfield and come into the box and score goals. He will also act as the heartbeat of my team, dictating rythum, keeping possession ticking over but he brings more to the table than Van Bommel and Zokora in opposition midfield with his ability going forward, passing and all round ability.

Wingers; Ribery and Pedro. A frightening prospect on the wings. Pedro is a world cup winner, the only man to have ever scored in 6 competitions in a season. Franck Ribery emerged as the previously unknown star of the tournament 4 years ago. He is a world class winger. Looking at M.r Guappa's I see definite opportunities out wide especially down the left wing. Van der Wiel still leaves a lot to be desired defensively and Ribery would just be too much for him, cutting inside creating chances I think that Ribery would just be too much for van Der Wiel. Ashley Cole is in my mind the best left back in the world but I think he will be quite overworked with Pedro providing pace and trickery and Johnsoin bombing up from full back. The best part of Johnson's game is attacking and as he links in with Pedro they will just be too much for Cole. Ribery and Pedro can swap wings and I believe they would run riot, cutting in, getting to the byline and feeding quality ball to my strikers and also scoring goals which is something both are rather excellent at.

Strikers; Ibrahimovic and Eto'o. It would strike fear into the minds of any central defence in the world, let alone a defence in shockingly poor form like Chiellini and Bruno Alves. Ibrahimovic will be the furthest forward of the two, using his size, presence and technique to score goals and lay on chances for Eto'o. I couldn't believe my luck when I picked up Ibrahimovic in the non WC round. He is a star player who changes games and has a special talent. Yes he's arrogant and brash but look it that's what makes him special too. I love him and believe he is vastly under rated by Englsih football followers. It's a testament to the man that in his debut season with Barca he scored 21 goals in 41 games, better than a goal a game, over 50% of his goals were the first one scored in the game and yet his season was considered one of vast underachievement. Then we move on to Eto'o. What a player. Look it I'm not going to go on about Eto'o. He's one of the best strikers of his generation. We all know that and he has consistently proven this on the world stage. He has bucket loads of pace and can tear apart Chiellini and Alves.

Captain; Lothar Mattaus
Corners; Ribery
Free Kicks; Mattaus/Ribery
Penalties; Ribery

Opposition;

Pepe and Godin will have a tough job taming the Black Panther but I believe they will be up for it. As mentioned earlier Pepe has the pace, power and man marking abilities to deal with Eusebio.t's the up to Godin to win the defensive headers and mop up everything else that happens in and around the back.

In midfield there is only going to be one winner as De Jong and Mattaus will dominate Van Bommel and Zokora. As outlined earlier De Jong has special license to stop Fabregas and with Fabregas quiet I don't forsee Eusebio getting ball and therefore no goals. Zokora isn't a great player and will be found out in a quality game like this one.

Then we have Ibrahimovic and E'too against Chiellini and Bruno Alves. Both were poor during the world cup, particularly Chiellini and they are not a defensive pairing that would fill me with any great confidence. Alves is prone to bouts of madness during games and while a good defender, can be a liability if not tuned in. Chiellini is also slightly lacking in pace and against a front line of Ibrahimovic and Eto'o this deficincy will be cruelly exposed. Both are technically very capable defenders and play with great heart and gusto but in modern day football there is no substitute for pace. Pace is something I have in abundance right throughout my team.

To summarize I believe that I will win this game. My team is the team of youth, pace and technique. Looking at my team I have real goalscoring threat in the shape of Ribery, Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Eto'o. My opponent has Eusebio, Muller and maybe Fabregas but he doesn't score many goals. I am solid at the back, attacking full backs on either side, an excellent midfield and a real potent attack. I hope this is enough to get your vote. May the best team win.

Mr. Guappa

bamboozling

Bamboozling has put up my team in their correct formation, so I won't bother re-posting it. I think his team is the definition of good on paper, sh*t on grass. There is a reason why 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 has replaced 4-4-2 as the preferred formation of successful teams - it is a much more balanced formation, given the right players. Bamboozling has 2 wide players who would be perfect in a 4-5-1 formation, but will be defensive liabilities in a 4-4-2 formation. Bamboozling has a lot of big names in the attacking side of his team, but I am not convinced that they would work together.

Bamboozlings defence is not all he is making it out to be. Clint Dempsey is far from a weak pick.. his goal-scoring record confirms this. He is exactly the type of player to take advantage of Glen Johnsons defensive weaknesses. Dempsey will track Johnson on his forward runs, whie at the other end of the pitch he will be able to sneak into good positions when Johnson switches off. With Ashley Cole also a threat from the left side (I don't see Pedro offering enough protection to Johnson), I am sure that I will have plenty of attacking threat down this side of the pitch.

Defensively on this side of the pitch Cole has enough pace, energy and experience to deal comfortably with Pedro, and Dempsey will help out when Johnson comes forward.

Jerome Boateng was kept out of the German team by the very unconvincing Badstuber at the start of the World Cup. In the games that he did start he was often withdrawn early. I think his direct opponent (Thomas Mueller) has more than enough to take advantage of this weakness in the opposition.

Bamboozling claims that de Jong will be able to shut down Fabregas, which is a lovely theory. In practice de Jong would spend his 90 minutes trying to get across to either flank, where Mueller has the beating of Boateng and Dempsey is let loose by Johnson. This will give Fabregas vital time in the final third of the pitch, where he can do serious damage with late runs into the box and through balls when he gains possession.

To claim that Pepe will keep Eusebio quiet is just ridiculous. Yes the player with 399 goals in 443 career appearances will be kept quiet by a player who couldn't get into the Portugese team in the centre-back position. The combination of Bruno Alves and Carvalho meant that Pepe was shunted into a defensive midfield role. Eusebio will drag Pepe and Godin all over the place, leaving loads of holes for Fabregas, Mueller and Dempsey to exploit.

At the back, I won't be asking too much in an attacking sense from van der Wiel, van Bommel and Zokora. van Bommel and van der Wiel will get forward on occasion, but their main responsibility is defensive. Van der Wiel is a top young defender who was a key part of a strong Dutch defence, he has enough pace to match Ribery on his flank. van Bommel and Zokora will be a shield in front of my back four, offering protection to the centre-backs, helping out the full-backs if required and crowding Matthaus when he ventures froward.

I think my centre-backs will have their hands full with the pairing of Eto'o and Ibra. Obviously I will be aiming to cut down the ball getting into them, with Zokora and van Bommel working hard to limit this. They will also crowd out the space if either frontman drops deep in search of the ball. Chiellini had a poor World Cup, a victim of the calamity around him IMO, and he is still one of the very best defenders in the World. Bruno Alves is another very good defender, who as mentioned previously kept Pepe out of the centre-back position for Portugal, a side which conceded just twice in four games in South Africa. I think these 2 compliment each other well as a centre back pairing who will keep Eto'o and Ibra in check.

I would also like to point out that I have the better 'keeper. Cech will add confidence and authority to my back-line and is a formidable last line of defence when required. At the other end, I don't believe that Neuer offers a similar presence, or indeed level of assurance to his back-line.

I am sure that if you take a moment to analyse this game, and what situations are likely to develop then you will see that Bamboozlings defence will spend the 90 minutes in sixes and sevens. I believe that I will advance on a scoreline of 2-1.

The Volt

This match has gone to extra time it would seem. Seeing as how the poll is closed, we'll go to penalties :pac:

Anyone with voting rights, just post in this thread who you're voting for and this time tomorrow we'll hopefully have a winner.

Mitch Connor

Mr. Guappa

SlickRic

Mr Guappa

curry-muff

bamboozling

Ill go Guappa too

T-b0n3

Mr. Guappa too.

Close call though.

Sorry bamboozling!

Gillington

bamboozling

Voted for Mr Guappa so Ill have to stick with him!

Whippersnapper

As a team working together it's got to be bamboozling! Cech has nowhere near the confidence he used to have which makes me look at Neuer. Matthaus would be well able for Van Bommel and Zokora. Fabregas would therefore be pulled back a lot to chase Matthaus while Ribery exploits the space created.

:pac:

curry-muff

bamboozling

As defences in this go, Guappa has arguably the best in the game. This paired with his impressive attack headed by Eusebio. Ill admit im not Dempseys biggest fan but he is accompainied in attack by Fabregas and world cup golden boot winner Thomas Muller. Suppose that has to count for something, this being a world cup draft and all :P