It’s that time of the year again. With the days fast approaching December 31, awards for the “Best XI” of 2008 are being handed left and right. The biggest one (at least as far as us Europeans are concerned) probably being UEFA’s Team of the Year (voting is still open on uefa.com here).
While we wait for the UEFA popular vote (winners announced in January), let’s have a look at what the main sports newspaper in France has in store for us this year. Here’s L’Équipe’s All-Star XI Football Players for 2008.
And once again, don’t be surprised if Premiership elements are leading the way and Serie A is snubbed…
Firstly, a point should be made that this year there were two “Best XI” selections: the first one made by L’Équipe’s journalists, and the second one voted online by users on the paper’s official website. Differences between the two formations abound, but one striking similarity is that there’s a large majority of players from the EPL (6/4, i.e. six in the journalist vote and four in the popular vote). The Spanish Liga is right behind with 4/4, shortly followed by the Italian Serie A (2/1) and the Bundesliga (0/2).
Another noteworthy point: seven of the players selected are European champions, in one form or another (four with Man Utd, three with Spain).
Note that only six players were selected in both formations (Casillas, D.Alves, R.Ferdinand, Messi, Gerrard, and C-Ron), and the only Serie A players to feature are Kaka (apparently still loved online, despite his mediocre season with Milan) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (good thing someone is starting to pay attention).
Yup, Italy is being snubbed again. Given the shiny performance by Serie A teams in last year’s UCL, and the even more illuminating campaign of Roberto Donadoni at Swissaustria this Summer, these choices leave me flabbergasted, but here’s a few more comments & some more notable (in my opinion) omissions:
- Keepers: No discussion here. Saint Iker deserves the n°1 spot this year on account of his great season with Real and hoisting the Euro cup with Spain. As far as I’m concerned though, Gigi is still the World’s best.
. - Defenders: I’m pretty bummed at Giorgio Chiellini’s non-inclusion among the center-backs. All three picks are UEFA Champions League finalists, almost as if that’s the only competition the voters watched. Surely, among the collective catastrophe that was Italy’s defense at Euro 2008, someone must have noticed the one player really standing out was Chiellini. Is there really no spot open for Serie A’s best defender, or am I being too biased? Perhaps. Nevertheless, expect this guy to be a regular presence in future selections.
. - Midfielders: No discussion on Xavi and Stevie G. To describe their contribution as “essential” in Spain/Barcelona’s and Liverpool’s play, would be stating the obvious. Also pleased to see Ribery’s excellent season with Bayern acknowledged online (then again, L’Équipe is a French newspaper). As mentiond, I’m not too convinced with Kaka’s presence in the popular vote though (this clearly wasn’t his best season), and Daniel Alves as right-winger? Possible, but weird. And where’s Cesc?
. - Forwards: Good thing the journalists are paying attention; Zlatan’s there. But I prefer C-Ron as a winger and Leo Messi as a striker, not vice-versa. And such a shame that Luca Toni completely bombed his Euro 2008 tourney, because his Bundesliga/UEFA Cup season with Bayern had been nothing short of phantasmagorical.
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Feel free to further bash L’Équipe’s choices in the comments below but remember that any type of “Best Of” rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt. Subjectivity reigns, as always.
Note: For reference, here’s last year’s selection, and don’t forget to pay a visit to the newspaper’s official website. The award page features player profiles for all winners.
Tags: All-Star Best XI, Cristiano Ronaldo, Daniel Alves, Fernando Torres, Franck Ribéry, Iker Casillas, John Terry, Kak, Kaká, L'Équipe, Lionel Messi, L’Équipe’s Best 11 Soccer Players of 2008, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Philipp Lahm, Rio Ferdinand, Soccer, Steven Gerrard, Xavi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Posted in Player Profiles, World News |
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My picks:
————————–Casillas————————–
————————————————————-
S.Ramos———Vidic———-Ferdinand———-Evra
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
———-Gerrard———Xavi———Iniesta———–
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
———C.Ronaldo——D.Villa——-Messi————–
Sorry Marco, but Serie A teams have just been unimpressive this year
I’ll agree on Chiellini though, a future star.
To see Frank Ribery got more votes than anyone (even more than Messi or Ronaldo) is mind-boggling. Are French fans that obtuse?
Agree with the journalist picks, although I’d replace Ibrahimovic with David Villa. I have yet to be impressed by Ibra in a big game.
frankly, seeing daniel alves feature twice (!!!) in the picks after barcelona’s poor season is really really weird. what about maicon, who’s been litterally scoring half the points for inter this year? (the other half is zlatan, and thank goodness he’s here). the attak should be messi-torres-ibrahimovic.
and philip lahm??? are you serious? fernando torres is still saying thanks for the euro cup final…
buffon
maicon vidic ferdinand evra
xavi
iniesta gerrard
messi c.ronaldo
ibrahimovic
Meh. These teams are too attack-oriented. Are they leaving the defending job entirely to the backline? They are supposed to be THAT good, is that the idea?
Don’t underestimate the contribution of defensive mids. I think Javier Mascherano would feature nicely here.
Cech
Bosingwa – Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra
Cristiano Ronaldo – Gerrard – Mascherano – Messi
Ibrahmovic- Torres
Nice blog, visit mine, maybe we exchange links??
Make your team here! http://ioamolaseriea.blogspot.com/2008/12/facciamo-la-nostra-top-11.html
…………………………..Casillas…………………………..
…………………………………………………………………
S.Ramos………..Terry………Ferdinand…………..Evra
…………………………………………………………………
………………………….Fabregas………………………….
Gerrard………………………………………….C-Ronaldo
…………………………….Xavi……………………………..
…………………………………………………………………
……………..Torres…………………Ibrahimovic………..
Ok for Ribery, the paper is French. But Lahm??? Did Bayern supporters vote for this????
The journalist eleven is much better, although I’d also replace Iker with Gigi. Best of the best.
Dream Team (3-4-3):
GK: Ibra
D: Ibra-Ibra-Ibra
MF: Ibra-Ibra-Ibra-Ibra
F: Ibra-Ibra-Ibra
Coach: None needed
There can be only One and 2009 will the His Year…
These “Best Of XI” awards should be made at the end of the SEASON, not at the end of the year. It only makes sense to judge a player based on his league performance, not on an arbitrary 12 months interspersed with the Summer holidays.
Anyways, my 2 cents (and 3-4-3 formation):
Casillas
Sergio Ramos, Vidic, Evra
Gerrard, Fabregas, Xavi, Ribery
Cristiano Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Messi
Here’s my question/s:
If Lampard, Terry and Ferdinand are so good, why was England A.) Knocked out at the World Cup so early, and B.) Absent during all the Euros?
I mean if 3 of their national teamers are the “mostest, bestest” of Europe… then explain how these players can’t succeed and the apparently horrible, untechnical, untalented Italians can?
How do defensemen from La Liga, where the scores for one team sometimes threaten double digits, come close to a “bestest” list of the year?
How does Maicon not make the list as a defenseman who can score, set up the score, advance the ball up the field… and you know… play DEFENSE?
Sorry Gerrard was the English midfielder mentioned in the blog not Lampard.
To be fair MAD (and MackAttack, who also mentioned Maicon earlier), Maicon only really exploded (in the full sense of the term) earlier this season. His performances last year were very satisfactory, but two major factors went against him: Inter were eliminated early from the UCL, and he did not play at Euro 2008. I think it’s as simple as that.
Regarding your first statement, I don’t think you should mix club and national teams. The three players you mentioned have blossomed tremendously on the club level. Whether England as a national team has sucked this past decade, is irrelevant as far is this ranking’s concerned (for the journalists at least).
Lastly, Sergio Ramos’s presence is justified, once again, by two things: Real Madrid (Liga champions) and Spain (Euro champions). When goals get scored, one tends to blame the center-backs, not the wing-backs. That’s why you don’t see Cannavaro or Pepe making the list.
Let me guess LiLo: you’re a big fan of the EPL aren’t you?
You know JakeR, that’s not such a bad idea. I think the reasons against that are essentially practical. What would the selection/prize be called then? Best XI of 2008-09? Doesn’t “sound” too good does it?
Then again, the Ballon d’Or is called “Ballon d’Or 2008″ and the voting’s done around September/October, so… why not.
—————————-Casilas—————————————-
sergio————terry—————ferdinand—————-evra
ramos
C.ronaldo————-gerrard——–fabregas—————-L.messi
———————–ibrahimovic——-Torres————————-
xavi is good but fabregas is better. puyol is good defender aswell
My top 11. ( I wanted to put vidic in there, but i didnt know who to replace him for)
————————–Casillas————————–
————————————————————-
S.Ramos———Puyol———-Ferdinand———-Evra
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
C.Ronaldo—Gerrard—Sneijder—Messi
————————————————————-
————————————————————-
———————Rooney–Torres——–
————————— P Cech ——————-
— Dani Alves—– N Vidic—- M Laursen—- P Evra——-
—- A Young—————– Xavi———– R Van Der vaart ———-
—– L Messi————- Kun Aguero———- C Ronaldo———
SUBS!!!!!
Van Der Sar
J Terry
Nani
W sneijder
W Rooney
i wanted agbonlahor in dere
men ochoa needed to be the goalkeep
…………………………………….casilas……………………………………………..sergioramos…………evra………….rio ferdinand…….lahm………………..fabregas ………………………………………..pato kaka c.ronaldo.messi
buffon
alves terry puyol a cole
c.ronaldo kaka lampard robben
messi
eto
cech
s.ramos terry ferdinand lahm
c.ronaldo kaka ribery
ibrahimovic torres messi
coach. A.WENGER
j.cesar
maicon ferdinand terry santon
essien
gerrard xavi
ronaldo messi
ibrahimovic
your line up is one of the so far apart from torres .havnt you heard of z.ibrahimovich? he n rooney would make incredible strike partners .ferdinand shld b rplaced by vidic.and sniedjer shld play a little bit up front
CASSILAS
SERGIO NEMANJA JOHN PATRICE
RAMOS VIDIC TERRY EVRA
‘XAVI’
CRISTIANO HERNANDEZ
RONALDO KAKA ARJEN
ROBBEN
LIONEL ANDRES
MESSI
WAYNE ROONEY
——————————-Casillias————————————-
Ramos————–Vidic——————Chillieni—————–Evra
—————Gerrard———-Xavi———–Fabregas——————————Messi————————————–Ronaldo—————————————Kaka——————————————————————————————–Torres——————————-
cassilas
evra vidic puyol alves
c.ronaldo iniesta xavi gerrard
torres van persie
SUBS buffon
terry
fabregas
crouch
coach guus hiddink
this team is shite take rooney out