Euro 2008 XI (Or XLIV) Liveblog

In the beginning we were going to write a contrasting selection to the very good piece from SoccerLens on the Euro XI, picking a Euro 2008 Blog XI without anyone already featured by Eddie. But then it seemed unfair to have just one person deciding the Euro XI, which is a ritual before any major tournament. So we’ve decided to add a little spice and make it a competition between the four editors here (Laurie, Daryl, Ian and myself). We’re holding a draft, and we’ll each select a team of XI we hope will make the official UEFA Team of the Tournament at the end of the games (comprised of 23 players), which will be how the winner is determined. Each player who makes it into the official Tourny 23 will get a point. Plus the players winning Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament will get a bonus. Team with the most points at the end wins. So it’s not about forming the best 4-4-2 or team.

Now once someone’s off the board, they’re gone, like a fantasy draft, and we’ve got a standard 4-4-2 to fill. One keeper, four defenders, four mids and two goal poachers. So we’re going to draft 44 players and see which team comes out on top. We’ll put up a poll at the end of the day, and you can vote on which one of us picked the best team. And of course, there’s a wager on the line between the four of us, so this is a true competition.

For now, we’ll be liveblogging the picks and our commentary in the Skype chat down below, and feel free to post your predicted XI’s as well. We won’t peek, we promise. And of course, comments welcome.

Teams.:

Ian: Eleven Naturalized Scots
Laurie: So Good, They Could Be French
Daryl: It’s All Steve McClaren’s Fault
Chris: Antonio Cassano’s Mental Equilibrium

Round 1

1: Laurie - “All right. Decisions. Go with my heart, or hold my nose and go with a sure thing? I choose to hold my nose and pick Cristiano Ronaldo.”

2: Daryl - “I’ll take Franck Ribery, for the practical jokes.”

* - Laurie has since jumped off a cliff.

3: Ian - “I’m going to keep the midfield train rolling. Michael Ballack.”

* - Laurie officially now hates us all.

4: Chris - “Oh come on, like you guys didn’t see this coming: Luca Fucking Toni. I’m shocked no one picked him from under my nose.”

Round 2

4: Chris - “My pick is Fernando Torres. I can’t leave him on the board. I just can’t.”

3: Ian - “Looks like strikers are going fast … the heart says Mutu, but the head says Gomez. Mario Gomez for me.”

* - Laurie hates every pick that is not hers right now.

2: Daryl - “Karim Benzema (neary RvN, changed at last second).”

1: Laurie - “Fine. We’ll go with the war motif. I pick Buffon.”

Round 3

1: Laurie “Ummm… Let’s see. I want two, and the other will definitely be gone by the next time I’m up. Ummm… Fabregas.”

2: Daryl - “strange, but i’ve got a good feeling about him: Pepe”

3: Ian - “I’ll take his partner, Ricardo Carvalho.”

4: Chris - “I now officially have the best hair in this tournament: Andrea Pirlo.”

Round 4

4: Chris - “Now to swipe the steal of the draft: Luka Modric.”

* - I believe in Bilic.

3: Ian - “Sticking with my two-players-per-team plan, going with another Portuguese midfielder to step out of the hair-gel shadow. Joao Moutinho.”

2: Daryl - “another defender for me: Sergio Ramos.”

1: Laurie - “I’d better grab a defender while I can: Philip Lahm.”

Round 5

1: Laurie - “If I can’t have Gomez, I’ll take Klose.”

2: Daryl - “let’s go Daniele De Rossi”

3: Ian - “Okay … I’ll finish up my strikers now, and since I went with Romania in the predictions, I’ll go all in … Adrian Mutu.”

4: Chris - “I think this one might be a bit of a surprise: Per Mertesacker.”

Round 6

4: Chris - “if we’re now going towards the back, I’m going to scoop Puyol.”

3: Ian - “I’m covering my back now, even though keepers have been pretty much left alone. Iker Casillas.”

2: Daryl - “I’ll take Van der Vaart”

1: Laurie - “Ooh. Okay. I need defense. Let’s see…Zambrotta”

Round 7

1: Laurie - “And let’s get interesting here and pick Roger Guerreiro.”

2: Daryl - “let’s take a punt on the big man: Mister Jan Koller”

3: Ian - “I have two favorite next drafts, and Chris can only steal one of them from me, so I go with that. Konstantin Zyryanov.”

4: Chris - “It’s killing me that I can’t pick Rosicky….fuck it, Cech.”

Round 8

4: Chris - “Imagine me saying this in that weird Portuguese announcer’s voice: Ricardo Quaresma.”

3: Ian - “Going with a defender. Philipe Senderos”

2: Daryl -”i need a marauding right back and Jose Boswinga fits the bill”

1: Laurie - “So Nasri, because I’m sentiimental, even though he won’t see much playing time because Domenech doesn’t know what to do with him.”

Round 9

1: Laurie - “And what the hell. Let’s go sentimental French with another player who won’t see time on the field. Evra. Just because I adore him.”

2: Daryl - “Arjen Robbn, and fingers crossed for no injuries”

3: Ian - “‘m going to round out my midfield with a defensive mid that I think has a great chance at the Best 23 even if the rest of France falls apart - Jeremy Toulalan”

4: Chris - “I’ll go Ujfalusi. That Czech D was awesome in qualifying.”

Round 10

4: Chris - “Too bad they don’t have a young player of the tournament: Vedran Corluka.”

3: Ian - “I’m going to go with one that I don’t necessarily expect to get out of the group stage, but I do expect to play good defense. Traianos Dellas from Greece.”

2: Daryl - “Since Corluka’s gone, I’ll make mine a working lineup with Signor Fabio Grosso.”

1: Laurie - “Ummmm.. Oh,hell, I’m going with Zlatan.”

* - Steal of the draft.

Round 11

1: Laurie - “And for my last pick, let’s go Czech. Let’s Czech the spelling…Jankulovski.”

2: Daryl - “quotas prevent me picking VdS, so Artur Boruc will wear the gloves”

3: Ian - “I bet against them going through, so its weird to have two Frenchmen, but I’ll take Gallas for my last pick.”

4: Chris - “I want so desperately to take Tranquillo Barnetta because of the playing at home factor, but I just can’t. So Mr. Irrelevant will be….Torsten Frings.”