Poll: Best Editor XI
So the draft has finished and we’ve all got our teams picked. With the system at a 4-4-2 and a maximum of two players from each country, it got really interesting towards the end and some serious talent was left on the bench. Particularly with the strikers, when surefire world class dudes like Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Villa were left on the bench, while guys everyone could probably agree could light up Swissaustria – like Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Lukas Podolski – weren’t really considerations. Hell, Zlatan was the 5th to last pick. Tough for sure.
All but two countries were represented, so apologies to Turkey and Austria for being left out of the party. Germany, Spain, Italy and France all had six representatives apiece, which should come as a complete shock to no one.
The rules are each player named in the Team of the Tournament (23 players selected by UEFA) gets a point, while the POTY and Golden Boot winners get a two point bonus apiece. So if the same person wins both (a fair chance), that’s a huge head start. 27 points available in total, with the max each team can get is 15. (We’re also allowed one trade.)
With that said, which squad has the best chance of taking home the spoils?
After-the-post Edit: We would like to point out that the purpose of these teams is to pick the players that are A) most likely to win UEFA’s post-tournament accolades, and B) have not already been picked by the other editors. As opposed to picking teams that would actually play well together on the field. This has created some rather odd teams. So yes, Laurie is fully aware that her team reflects her unnatural obsession with marauding fullbacks, speedy wingers, and #10s. But thanks for noticing.
So Good, They Could Be French (Laurie).:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy);
Philip Lahm (Germany), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Patrice Evra (France), Marek Jankulovski (Czech Republic);
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid Portugal), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Samir Nasri (France), Roger Guerreiro (Poland),
Miroslav Klose(Germany), Zlatan Ibrahimovich (Sweden).
It’s All Steve McClaren’s Fault (Daryl).:
Artur Boruc (Poland);
Jose Boswinga (Portugal), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Fabio Grosso (Italy);
Franck Ribery (France), Rafael Van der Vaart (Netherlands), Daniele De Rossi (Italy), Arjen Robben (Holland);
Karim Benzema (France), Jan Koller (Czech Republic).
Eleven Naturalized Scots (Ian).:
Iker Casillas (Spain);
Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal), Philippe Senderos (Switzerland), Traianos Dellas (Greece), William Gallas (France);
Jeremy Toulalan (France), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Joao Moutinho (Portugal);
Mario Gomez (Germany), Adrian Mutu (Romania).
Antonio Cassano’s Mental Equilibrium (Chris).:
Peter Cech (Czech Republic);
Vedran Corluka (Croatia), Carles Puyol (Spain), Per Mertesacker (Germany), Tomas Ujfalusi (Czech Republic);
Torsten Frings (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Luka Modric (Croatia), Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal);
Luca Toni (Italy), Fernando Torres (Spain).
Which team will win the competition?
( polls)
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Comments


voted for you laurie. chris was a close second. good luck ian and daryl.




Chris, no question




Chris has a very strong strike force, and a pretty good midfield, but i’m not convinced about his back line.
Ian hs three or four players who could be real real contenders, but outside of that I don’t see it.
Daryl has possibly the strongest midfield, decent attack and a couple of good choices at the back.
But I think Laurie takes it, C-Ron, Gigi, Cesc AND Ibrakadabra? I’d pencil them in for the team of the tournament already.
Good luck guys.
Posted from
United Kingdom




At first I thought the same thing about Chris’s back line. Then I -reeeeally- thought about it, and realized that they are all actually decent defenders. Puyol and Metesacker. Ujflaooooshee is also very good. My vote goes to Chris, with Laurie a very very close second
Posted from
United States




Yeah, my D definitely isn’t laced with names, but each of those clubs performed really well on the defensive end during qualifying – particularly the Czech Republic – and none are in the group of death. Figured I could stack the front and hope for a Golden Boot and take a longer shot at the D.




Laurie’s back four… is all fullbacks -__-
Posted from
Malaysia




Daryls choice of keeper gets my vote.




Peter Cech
Sergio Ramos | Evra | Carvalho |
Ronaldo | Fabregas | Ribery | Pirlo | Ballack |
Torres | Toni | Benzema




Daryl definitely wins Matchday 1 with Pepe’s goal. Chris got a clean sheet for Cech, but Ujfalusi’s two uncalled handballs won’t make him a popular vote. All of us had at least one defender with a clean sheet today, but Senderos did me no favors with his weak clears to the center … what the hell were those anyway? At least Moutinho got an assist, but one day in, Daryl and Pepe have the Golden Boot (at least among our players).




Infectioner, and my midfielders all attack! Because defense is hugely overrated.
We weren’t looking for teams that would actually work on the field — it was players who have the greatest chance of ending up in the UEFA 23 that hadn’e already been picked by the other editors. Which can (and did) create some truly odd teams.
Posted from
United States




you guys should do updates with this. after each set of games maybe? just looked at the teams again and all of you must be questioning the lack of dutch love at the moment a little, eh? well daryl gave them a little love.
at any rate still pretty wide open for yous.




Nick, after tomorrow, when every team has had a chance to play, I’ll put something together on how our teams are doing. Daryl had a good guess with Van der Vaart, but we all wish we had a different Van der. Buffon had a rough one today for Laurie, as did Toni for Chris. Going Italy-free went okay for me, at least today.




i’m tipping daryl now.


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