Friday, May 31, 2019

Ronaldo and Messi playing together for Australia

Ronaldo and Messi as teammates?
Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Out of all the hypothetical "what if" teams I've constructed, this particular team pushes the boundaries of realism the most. In this blog, I am stretching the concept of a dream team to its extreme, crafting a lineup that would undoubtedly be the ultimate fantasy for countless soccer enthusiasts worldwide.

Imagine Cristiano Roanldo and Lionel Messi playing on the same national team in a World Cup Final. And it could have happened.

Cristiano Ronaldo's grandparents moved to Perth, Australia when he was 5 years old. His mother decided to stay behind in Portugal while her parents and siblings left for the Down Under. Meanwhile, it was reported Lionel Messi's parents also studied the idea of moving to Australia, but did not go through with the plan. If fate had it, both Ronaldo and Messi could be playing for Socceroos around the same time.  

Please read my source here about Ronaldo and here about Messi.

 Why do I decide to create a blog for Australia 2006 team? Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were better players in the World Cup Finals of  2010, 2014 and 2018, but there are more things to spice things up in 2006. The 2006 World Cup Finals was Australia's Golden Generation in their prime. Furthermore, Christian Vieri who grew up in Australia was still an active player. 
Australia World Cup 2006

Prediction
The 2006 World Cup Finals was Australia's first World Cup Finals since 1970's.  The 2006 team was probably the greatest ever Australian team.  Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, etc were widely considered among the greatest ever Australian players in history.  Meanwhile, Croatia also included three Australian-born players namely Joey Didulica, Josip Šimunić and Anthony Šerić on their World Cup team.  Georgios Samaras (Greece)'s father was also born in Australia, making him eligible for an Australian passport.  Please do not forget that Christian Vieri was eligible to play for Australia. 

 I do not believe Ronaldo and/or Messi would be the same players if they grew up in Australia. Without the same soccer culture from Portugal and Argentina, their development might have gone through a different path. They might not be Ballon d'or level player. However, they still have the same DNA to become extremely good footballers. Christian Vieri who spent his childhood in Australia turned out very good.  So Australia do have the capacity to produce world class footballers.  Ronaldo and Messi should at least become on the same level as Vieri.

In the actual World Cup Finals, Australia narrowly lost to eventual winner Italy in the second round by a controversial penalty on the 93rd minute.  Italy was playing with 10 men for most of the second half.  So it is entirely possible that Australia could have beaten Italy with Lionel Messi and Cristano Ronaldo.  The next opponent in the quarterfinal would be Ukraine, a team that Australia would be capable to beat.  So reaching the semifinal was very possible.  Germany the host awaited them in the semi-final.
 The controversial penalty against Italy

Players added: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Christian Vieri, Joey Didulica, Josip Šimunić and Anthony Šerić.

Players Dropped from the real 2006 team: Archie Thompson, Ante Covic, Joshua Kennedy, Stan Lazarisdis, Mark Milligan and Michael Beauchamp.

Team
GK: Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough/Australia)
Mark Schwarzer played in Germany, but he did not find success until he moved to England in 1997.  He started over 500 games in the Enghish Premiership.  He was known for his seasons at Middlesbrough and Fulham.  With 109 caps, he is the cap record holder in Australia. He played in two World Cup Finals: 2006 and 2010. He was in the World Cup Qualifying playoff against Uruguay in 2005, where he saved two penalties.
Mark Schwarzer
GK Zeljko Kalac (AC Milan/Australia)
Zeljko Kalac made his name with Sydney United.  He moved to Europe in 1995.  He played in England, holland and Italy.  He was the backup keeper for AC Milan as they won the Champions' League in 2006-2007. He spent most of his career between Bosnich and Schwarzer, but still earned 54 caps for Socceroos.  He played against Croata at the World Cup Finals in 2006.

GK:  Joey Didulica (Austria Wien/Croatia)
Didulica started to play football in the North Geelong Warriors. In 1996, he moved to the Melbourne Knights, a club whose team primarily consists of Australian Croats. In 1999, he transferred to Ajax Amsterdam before eventually moving to Austria Vienna in 2003. He also played for AZ Alkmaar.  In 2004, he decided to play for the country of his parents.  He was capped 4 times for Croatia. He went to Euro 2004 and World Cup Finals in 2006.

RM/RB: Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers/Australia)
Brett Emerton is the third most capped player for Socceroos.  He went to two World Cup Finals.  He was captain of the "Olyroos", Australia's Olympic football team, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.  He spent his career notably with Sydney Olympic, Sydney FC, Feyenoord and Blackbrun Rovers.  He spent 9 seasons with Blackburn Rovers.  He was Oceania Player of the Year in 2002.

RB: Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City/Australia)
Wilkshire made his professional debut for English club Middlesbrough. In 2003, he moved to Bristol City before moving to Twente in 2006. Wilkshire next played in Russia for Dynamo Moscow, but later moved back to the Netherlands to play for Feyenoord in 2014. He played eighty times for the Australia. This includes matches at both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

CB/RB: Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers/Australia)
Lucas Neill earned 96 caps during Australia's Golden Generation and 61 of them as the team captain.   He played 15 seasons in England, including a long career with Blackburn Rivers and West Ham.  He represented Australia at the 2006 World Cup, the 2007 Asian Cup, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and also the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar.  He was probably remembered for the controversial penalty he gave away vs Italy at the round of 16 duirng the Germany 2006.
Lucas Neill
CB: Craig Moore (Newcastle United/Australia)
Moore played over 250 games for Rangers in Scotland. After Rangers, he played with Borussia Mönchengladbach, Newcastle United and his hometown club Queensland Roar (later renamed Brisbane Roa in the Australian A-League, as their captain and Marquee player.  In 2012, he was voted into the Australia's All-time Best XI.  He went to both 2006 and 2010 World Cup Finals.

CB: Tony Popovic (Crystal Palace/Australia)
Starting in 1989 at Sydney United Popovic went on to play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima of Japan and Premier League side Crystal Palace, among other clubs. He appeared with the Socceroos at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he played against reigning World Champions Brazil. He had 58 caps in total.

CB: Josip Šimunić (Hertha Berlin/Croatia)
Born in Australia to Bosnian Croat parents, Šimunić started his career at Melbourne Knights. He spent 14 seasons in the Bundesliga with Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim before finishing his career in Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb. He played for Croatia from 2001 to 2013, appeared in five major tournaments.  He is the third most capped player in the history of the Croatia national team. In Germany 2006 against Australia, he was best remembered for receiving three yellow cards.
Josip Šimunić 

LB: Anthony Šerić (Panathinaikos/Croatia) 
Born in Australia of Croatian background, he began his professional football career with Hajduk Split.  He played in Italy with Parma, Verona, Adaílton, Lazio and Brescia.  He also played with Panathinaikos, Beşiktaş, Karabükspor and S.C. Olhanense. He was a part of the team that finished 3rd at the 1998 World Cup in France. He earned 16 caps and also went to 2002 and 2006 World Cup Finals.

LM/CB/LB: Scott Chipperfield (Basel/Australia)
Chipperfield began his professional career at Wollongong Wolves in 1996 and was a vital member of the team that won the National Soccer League twice in a row, in 2000 and 2001, and the Oceania Club Championship in 2001. In 2001, he joined Swiss Super League club FC Basel. He was an important member of the team as Basel reached the Second Group Stage of the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League. From 1998 to 2010, he played 68 times forAustralia.

DM: Vince Grella  (Parma/Australia)
Vince Grella began his senior career in Australia before moving to Italy, where he spent over ten years, playing for Empoli, Ternana, Parma and Torino. He moved to Blackburn Rovers of the Premier League in 2008 where he spent four seasons, before returning to Australia in 2012 to play for Melbourne Heart. For Australia, he had 46 caps.  He attended two World Cup Finals.  

CM: Josip Skoko (Wigan/Australia)
Josip Skoko played for North Geelong Warriors, Hajduk Split, Genk, Gençlerbirliği, Wigan Athletic, Stoke City and Melbourne Heart. At Genk he was made captain and helped the team win the title in 2001–02.  Skoko was a member of the Australian National football team for ten years, from 1997 to 2007.  He was a member of the 2006 World Cup team.

CM/RM/RB: Jason Culina (PSV Einhoven/Australia)
Culina started his career with Sydney United under his father, Branko Culina, before moving to Ajax, but only after moving to Twente did Culina begin to shine at the top level in club football. He moved to PSV in 2005. In 2009, he was signed by Gold Coast United, becoming the club's first marquee player. He also played briefly with A-League club Sydney FC. Capped 58 times.  He was a starter in the 2006 World Cup Finals. 

AM/CM/LW: Marco Bresciano (Parma/Australia)
Marco Bresciano played for Bulleen Lions and Carlton before he moved to Italian side Empoli in 1999, beginning a twelve-year stay in the country. He played for Parma, Palermo and S.S. Lazio. He made 84 appearances and scoring 13 goals with Socceroos. He played in three World Cups, two AFC Asian Cups (one victorious) and the 2004 OFC Nations Cup winning team. 

AM: Tim Cahill (Everton/Australia)
Tim Cahill is the all-time leading scorer for Socceroos and was considered one of greatest Australian players ever.  He played for Millwall, Everton, the New York Red Bulls, Shanghai Shenhua, and Hangzhou Greentown. At Everton, he was one of their star players for 8 seasons.  He represented Samoa at youth level.  Later, he switched to Australia in 2004.  He went to three WC Finals.  He led Australia in winning the Asian Cup in 2015.

LW:  Harry Kewell (Liverpool/Australia)
In 2012, Harry Kewell was voted the greatest ever Australian player.  At Leeds United, he won the PFA Young Player of the year in 1999-2000.  With Mark Viduka, the team reached the semifinal of the Champions' League in 2000-2001.  At Liverpool, he won the Champions League in 2005, where he started the final match.  He became the first Australian-born player to win a Champions' League medal.  He played 58 times for Socceroos.  He was a member of the 2006 World Cup team.
Harry Kewell
RW/FW:  Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)
Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona. At time of writing, he won 4 World Player of the Year and 5 Ballon d'Or.  For Argentina, he has played over 130 times.  At the time of writing, he has not won an international trophy for the national team, but reached three Finals in his career.

RW: Mile Sterjovski (Basel/Australia)
In Australia, Sterjovski played for Wollongong Wolves, Wollongong United, Sydney United and Parramatta Power.  In 2000, he moved Europe, playing for Lille, Basel, Hacettepe and Derby. In the A-League, he played for Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners, separated by a period playing for Dalian Aerbin. From 2000 to 2010, he played 43 times for Australia, including 3 games at the 2006 World Cup.

FW/LW: Cristano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Portugal)
Cristano Ronaldo is one of the greatest forward of his generation.  He is the most expensive players in history from 2009-2013 when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid.  At the time of writing, he won the Ballon d'Or winner five times and won Champions' League titles with both Manchester United and Real Madrid.  In 2016, he helped Portugal to win the European Championship, a month after winning the Champions' League with Real Madrid. He also played for Juventus.
Cristiano Ronaldo
ST: John Aloisi (Alaves/Australia)
Alosis was the first Australian ever to play and score in La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.  He also played in Belgium.  Some of the clubs he played for included U.S. Cremonese, Portsmouth, Coventry, Osasuna, Alves, Sydney United, etc.  From 1997 to 2008, he played 55 times for Australia.  His penalty kick against Uruguay which took the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup was voted by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as one of three greatest moments in Australian sporting history


ST: Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough/Australia)
Viduka started with Croatian-based club Melbourne Knights FC.  He went to Europe in 1995, where he was probably the most famous Australian playing in Europe.  He played in Croatia, Scotland and England.  In Scotland, he was the top scoring in the Scottish league and won the SPFA Player of the Season with Celtics. And then, he joined Leeds United, where the club reached the semifinal of the Champions' League.  He also played for Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

ST: Christian Vieri (Monaco/Italy)
Christian Vieri was born in Italy, but grew up in Australia.  At the club level, he played for 12 clubs in his career.  He played in Italy, Spain and France. He was the Serie A Footballer of the Year in 1999. He became the most expensive player in the world when Inter Milan signed him from Lazio.  For the national team, he made his debut in 1997 and played in his last game in 2006.  He won the Silver in France 1998.  He missed out on the 2006 World Cup team, where Italy won the World Cup.
Christian Vieri 

Team Explanation 
-- I did a review of the team in March, 2024.
-- Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi played their first World Cup Finals in 2006.  The real Messi was 18 years old making his name in his first season in the senior side of Barcelona while the 21 years old Ronaldo was an emerging star in the Premiership with Manchester United. They would become better players in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
-- Mark Schwarzer, Mark Viduka, Lucs Neil, Craig Moore, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton are on my Australia's All-Time team.
-- The skill level of a player is sometimes affected by the training and their upbringing.  Ronaldo and Messi probably would not be Latino type of players if they grew up in Australia.
-- Australia is great at many sports.  It is entirely possible that the pair ended up in a different sport.  Cristiano Ronaldo has the speed, height and size to play rugby or Australian rules football.  Meanwhile, Messi might not have the height to play the two sports, but he had the speed to be a top rugby 7 player.  He is as tall as Waisale Serevi, the greatest rugby 7 player ever. With a different type of weight training for rugby, both Messi and Ronaldo could bulk up to take the sport in Australia.  So I won't be surprised that both players would not be playing soccer at all.
Lionel Messi
-- Because of the presence of three Australian-born Croats (Joey Didulica, Josip Šimunić and Anthony Šerić) playing for Croatia in the 2006 World Cup Finals, I could have created a blog fantasy team for Australia 2006 with or without Ronaldo and Messi. That blog team would be similar to the one I did with USA World Cup 2010. However, Josip Šimunić would be the only Croatian player who could make an impact in Germany for Australia.  It would not be much different from the actual Australia 2006 World Cup team. So I did not create an alternative 2006 team for Australia until I found out about Ronaldo and Messi. 
-- No A-League player was selected.  The original World Cup team only had Mark Milligan and Michael Beauchamp.
-- At the time of writing, I did not have enough material to create blog teams for Eusebio's alternative path, but I created an alternative team for Brazil with Careca in 1982.
Goalkeepers
-- Mark Schwarzer helped Middlesbrough to reach the UEFA Cup Final in 2006.  Meanwhile, Zeljko Kalac joined AC Milan as a backup in the summer of 2005, but he did not play his first game until February, 2006.  Both were automatic choices.
-- Goalkeeper Joey Didulica edged out Ante Covic, but it was not a clear decision.   Covic did not make his international debut until February, 2006 while Didulica had been with Croatia national team for two years at the time of the World Cup Finals.
Defenders
-- In central defense, Josep Šimunić replaced Michael Beauchamp on this team. Beauchamp was actually named the "Player of the Year" by Australian football magazine FourFourTwo in 2006.  Nevertheless, he was the least famous central defenders on Socceroos' roster.  He only had one international cap prior to the World Cup Finals.  Lucas Neill, Craig Moore and Tony Popovic were three of the greatest Australian central defenders ever.
-- Josep Šimunić already played in the 2002 World Cup Finals as well as the European Championship in 2004.  He had plenty of experiences by the time of the World Cup.  In 2006, he was at the peak of his career playing for Hertha Berlin.  He was a regular starter for Croatia.--- During the 2006 World Cup Finals, Šimunić's match against Australia became infamous. He received a second yellow card from referee Graham Poll in the 90th minute but wasn't sent off immediately. After the game, Šimunić confronted Poll and was shown a third yellow card followed by a red. FIFA initially recorded all three bookings but later removed the second one. The incident led to Poll's removal from the knockout stages and his retirement from international games. Poll later revealed in his autobiography that he mistakenly identified Šimunić as an Australian player due to his accent.  
-- I was confronted with a pivotal choice concerning the left-back position.  Anthony Šerić was a non-playing member of Croatia's World Cup run in 1998.  In fact, he went to three World Cup without playing in a match.  He was a seldom used player on the players' pool. In 2006, Stan Lazaridis was in the twilight of his career.  He was released at the end of the 2005–06 season after making 222 appearances for Birmingham City.  I opted for Seric who was still in his prime.  Šerić was 27 years old in 2006 while Lazarisdis was 33.   
-- Australian-born Avraam Papadopoulos was playing as a forward in the lower division in the Greek league before he was converted to be a defender.  In 2006, he would not make it to the World Cup team.  From 2008 to 2014, he was capped 37 times for Greece.
Midfielders/Wingers
-- I did not have any alternative candidate for the midfield position. Basically, I kept the midfield corps from Australia, but I dropped Mark Milligan.  He and Michael Beauchamp were the only players from the A-League on the actual World Cup team.  I selected Vince Grella over him because Grella had been an important player for Parma at that time.  He and Marco Bresciano were also teammates over there.
-- Luka Modric and Mark Viduka are cousins.  Mark's father Joe is reported to be first cousins with Modric’s father.  In 1991, Modrić became a refugee because of the war in the former Yugoslavia. However, there was no indication of Modric ever going to Australia. So he was not considered for this team. In the 2005–06 season, Modrić signed a ten-year contract (his first long-term contract) with Dinamo Zagreb.  Modric, Ronaldo and Messi would have been awesome for the next three World Cup Finals.
-- Tim Cahill was named the Everton Player of the Season in the 2004-2005 season.  Marco Bresciano was a seasonal player for many years in Serie A.
Tim Cahill

-- Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would be the main wide players.  Messi was 18 while Ronaldo was only 21 at the time of the World Cup Finals.  The 2005-2006 season saw the beginning of the REM line in Barcelona as Messi started more games than the season before.  
-- Of course, I had Harry Kewell.  Mile Sterjovski helped Basel to reach the quarterfinal of the UEFA Cup.  
Forwards
-- Christian Vieri's form dropped during the 2004-2005 season.  He was sold to AC Milan in the summer of 2005, but he quickly moved to Monaco in January of 2006 so that he could make Italy's World Cup team.  However, he suffered an injury in March, 2006 which ruled him out of the World Cup Finals.  While Marcelo Lippi publicly said that he would have considered to have Vieri at the Finals, I doubted that he would make the team with or without his injury.  His last cap for Italy was in October, 2005 against Malta. However, Australia might be a different story.  Would manager Guus Hiddink take him if he was not injured? By 2006, Christian Vieri had played more than 15 seasons in Serie A.  If he was "cap-tied" to Australia, he would have been the most experienced player for the Socceroos.  He would be a valuable asset. Besides, the addition of Christian Vieri would make this blog team more interesting.  I also took an injured Denis Law to my United Kingdom World Cup 1970 team so I could put Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law in a World Cup Finals. I have already stretched the limit far enough by making Messi and Ronaldo "Australian".  So why not? 
-- Both Mark Milligan and Joshua Kennedy only made national debut in 2006 right before the World Cup Finals. They were 20 years old.  Realistically, I would have taken Kennedy over Vieri, but this was not a real team.  So he was left off the team for Vieri.
-- John Aloisi, Mark Viduka and Christian Vieri were similar type of strikers. I knew for a tactical point of view that I should look into other types of strikers.  So I seriously looked into Georgios Samaras (Greece).
-- Georgios Samaras's father was born in Australia, making his eligibility for Australia possible.   A highly regarded prospect in Europe in 2006, he made a remarkable move from SC Heerenveen to Manchester City in January 2006, setting a new transfer record for a Greek player, right before the World Cup Finals.  He did not switch to the left wing position until the 2009-2010 while playing for Celtic.  He was a central forward in 2006.  So he would not be in conflict with Kewell and Ronaldo.  Moreover, in the summer of 2006, no one would know that his career would be a failure in Manchester City.  He earned the nickname "Greek Tragedy" after 2006.  As of the 2005-2006 season, he was the scoring sensational in the Dutch league in the first half of the season.  In England, he scored only 4 league goals in his half season there (but Viduka only scored 6 league goals for the full season). He was also 21 years old at the time of the World Cup Finals.  Sometimes, coaches would take a young prospect for learning experiences ahead of veterans.  So I carefully pondered the best approach to evaluating his suitability for the team.
-- John Aloisi's winning penalty vs Uruguay sent Australia to the World Cup Finals for the first time since 1974, making him a hero of their World Cup campaign, but in this alternative world, that goal might not even "exist".  In 2006, he was 31 years old scoring 10 La Liga goals that season, his most impressive output  during his 5 years in Spain. In the end, I retained him because I wanted to stay closer to the original team.
-- Mark Viduka led Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final, scoring 6 games in 9 games.  Overall, he only managed 16 goals in total that season for the club.  He was Middlesbrough's third scorer that season.
Mark Viduka with Josip Šimunić

Formation
Both Kewell and Christian Vieri sat on the bench.  In 2006, Kewell was a veteran, but he gave his way to Ronaldo who was an emerging star in Premiership.  Kewell might still be a better option in 2006, but this blog was an imaginary team that meant to put Ronaldo and Messi on the same lineup in a World Cup Finals.  Kewell gave his way to my "fantasy".  Some fans probably preferred to start Vieri to complete this ultimate fantasy.

This 3-5-2 formation allowed Kewell who was voted as the greatest Australian player ever to start along side Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo might want to play as a wing-forward, but he did play this position for Portugal during Euro 2016.  In 2006, Ronaldo was still the "showboat".  He had not developed his scoring prowess.  

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