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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Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Tottenham Hotspurs All Time Team for British Isles (excluding England)

This blogger Artur Yanturin of Russia copied many of my blog teams.  This blog was one of them.  It was my Russia All-Time Team here.  His team was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.   His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram


Robbie Keane and Gareth Bale
Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Tottenham Hotspurs All-Time Team
Tottenham All-Time Team for English Players
Greater London All-Time Team
Tottemham Hotspurs All-Time Team for Foreign Players

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Tottenham Hotspurs' British Isles players(excluding England).  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Founded in 1882, Tottenham won the FA Cup for the first time in 1901, making them the only non-League club to do so since the formation of the Football League in 1888. Tottenham were the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960–61 season. After successfully defending the FA Cup in 1962, in 1963 they became the first British club to win a UEFA club competition – the European Cup Winners' Cup.  They won the UEFA Cup in 1972, becoming the first British club to win two different major European trophies. In the 1984, Spurs again won the UEFA Cup. In the 1990s the club won the FA Cup and the League Cup.  They had won a major trophy in each of the last six decades – an achievement only matched by Manchester United.
Danny Blanchflower and Bill Brown
Team
GK: Pat Jennings (N.Ireland)
Considered among the greatest goalkeeper of all-time.  The prime of his career was spent with both Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal.  In 1973 the Football Writers' Association named him as its footballer of the year. Three years later he won PFA's version of the award – he was the first goalkeeper to receive this accolade, and to this date remains only one of two, along with Peter Shilton. He earned 119 caps for Northern Ireland and went to two WC Finals. 

 GK: Bill Brown (Scotland)
Brown played for Dundee between 1949 and 1959, and for Tottenham Hotspur between 1959 and 1966. He was part of the Spurs team that won the "Double" of Football League and FA Cup in 1961 - the first club to achieve the feat in the 20th century. For the national team, he was also capped 28 times for the Scotland national team.

 GK: Neil Sullivan (Scotland)
Sullivan started his career with Wimbledon where he remained with The Dons for 12 years and made 181 league appearances.  In 2000, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur where he replaced Ian Walker as the starter.  From 2004 to 2007, he played for Leeds United. Between 1997 and 2003, Sullivan was capped 28 times by Scotland. At the 1998 World Cup,he was Jim Leighton's backup.

 RB: Stephan Carr (Ireland)
From 1993 to 2004, he played with Tottenham Hotspurs, winning the league Cup once. He played 4 years for Newcastle United.  He retired briefly before he captained Birmingham City from 2009 to 2013.  He was made the Premier League PFA Team of the Year twice: 2000–01, 2002–03. From 1999 to 2007, he played 44 times for Ireland.
Stephan Carr 
RB: Joe Kinnear (Ireland)
Kinnear  pent ten years with Tottenham Hotspurs, making almost 200 league appearances for them. He won four major honours during his time at the club: the FA Cup in 1967; the UEFA Cup in 1972 and the Football League Cup in 1971and 1973). In 1975, he moved to Brighton.  Kinnear was capped 26 times by the Republic of Ireland, scoring no goals. His debut came in the 2–1 defeat by Turkey on 22 February 1967.

CB: Colin Calderwood (Scotland)
Calderwood started his career in the lower reaches of the English Football League with Mansfield Town and Swindon Town. In 193, he joined Tottenham Hotspurs.  He finished his career with Aston Villa and Notting Forrest. For Scotland, he had 36 caps. He represented his country at Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup, playing in all three matches at the first tournament and two matches at the second.

 CB Mike England (Wales)
Mike England helped Tottenham Hotspurs to win the UEFA Cup in 1972 and reached the Final again two years later.  In his club career, he also played for Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff.  England played in the North American Soccer League with the Seattle Sounders from 1975 to 1979.  For the international football, he was capped 44 times for Wales and was also the youngest Welsh captain at one point.
Mike England
CB: Richard Gough (Scotland)
Gough enjoyed successes with Dundee United before moving to Tottenham Hotspurs.  Gough joined Rangers in 1987 and becoming the first Scottish player to be signed for over £1,000,000.  He captained Rangers to nine successive Scottish league championships. In 1996, he joined MLS. Gough played in 2 World Cups, 1986 and 1990, and captained his country in the 1992 European Championships, in his birthplace, Sweden.

CB: Paul Price (Wales)
In his club career, Price played for Welwyn Garden City, Luton Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Swansea City, Minnesota Strikers, Peterborough United, Saltash United and St Albans City.  With Tottenham, featured in both matches of the 1982 FA Cup Final and also played in the 1982 Football League Cup Final the same year.  He made 27 caps for Wales.  He was the first English born captain of Wales from 1982-84

LB: Chris Hughton (Ireland)
After making his professional debut aged 20, Hughton spent most of his playing career with Tottenham Hotspur, leaving in 1990 after 13 years. After relatively brief spells with West Ham and Brentford, he retired from playing in 1993. He earned 53 caps representing the Ireland, scoring one goal and starting in all three of Ireland's games at Euro 1988 in West Germany.

 LB: Mel Hopkins (Wales)
Hopkins was signed by Tottenham Hotspur at the age of 15. He made his debut in January 1952.  In total, Hopkins played 219 games for Spurs, winning the Double in 1961.  He moved to for Brighton in 1964. Between 1956 and 1963, he earned 34 caps, including playing for Wales for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they lost narrowly to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

 CM/DM/LB: Dave MacKay (Scotland)
Known for his toughness and passing abilities. He won the Double with Tottenham Hotspurs in 1961 and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963.  He was selected as one of the Football Heros stamp series to celebrate the 150 years of English FA. He also represented Scotland 22 times, and was selected for their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad. Mackay tied with Tony Book of Manchester City for the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award in 1969.
Dave McKay
CM/LH: Ron Burgess (Wales)
Burgess was a miner before becoming a footballer. He spent majority of his career with Tottenham Hotspurs.  He was the captain of Tottenham Hotspurs' League champion team in 1951. Burgess joined Swansea Town in 1954 as a player and played until 1956, taking over as manager of Swansea Town from 1955 to 1958. For Wales, he played 32 times and was the captain.

CM/AM:  Danny Blanchflower (Northern Ireland)
Danny Blanchflower is considered one of Northern Ireland's greatest footballers.  He won the Double in 1961 with Tottenham Hotspurs.  He won the FA Cup the following year, and then, a Cup Winners' Cup in 1963.  He was the PWA Player of the Year in 1958 and 1961. He also played for Aston Villa and Barnsley before joining Hotspurs. He went to the World Cup in 1958, where Northern Ireland reached the quarterfinal.
Danny Blanchflower
RW: Terry Medwin (Wales)
Medwin made his debut for his home-town team Swansea Town in 1951–5. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 1956, and played there until 1963. He helped the club win the Double in 1961, and he also appeared for them in the 1962 FA Cup Final.   In total he earned 30 caps and scored 6 goals for Wales from 1953 to 1963.  At the 1958 World Cup Finals, he scored the game-winning goal in the first round play-off which sent Wales to the quarterfinals.

RW/LW:  Gareth Bale (Wales)
Bale began his professional career at Southampton. Bale moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2007. In 2011 and 2013, he was named PFA Players' Player of the Year.  His transfer to Real Madrid in 2013 was believed to be the most expensive in history.  He won two Champions League title with Real Madrid.  He scored the winning goal in the 2014 version. In 2016, he led Wales to reach the semifinal of Euro 2016.
Gareth Bale
LW: Cliff Jones (Wales)
Jones was the best left winger in the world during the early 1960's. He won the Double with Tottenham in 1961-1962.  He also won the 1963 Cup Winners' Cup. He also played for Swansea and Fulham.  He played 59 times in all for Wales, scoring 16 goals. He went to play at the 1958 WC Finals in Sweden. He also was the hero of Wales' 1955 victory over England.  

LW: Tony Gavin (Ireland)
From 1978 to 1987, he was a member of the successful Tottenham Spurs side of the early 1980s, winning two successive FA Cups in 1981 & 1982, and also the UEFA Cup in 1984.  Later, he played for  Sheffield Wednesday and Swindon Town.  Between 1982 and 1989, Galvin won 29 caps for the Republic of Ireland, starting all 3 games in Euro 1988.

 AM/CM: John White (Scotland)
John White was a legend with Tottenham Hotspurs. He won the "double" of League championship and FA Cup in 1961 - the first club in the 20th century to do so.  He won the FA Cup again in 1962 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963, the first ever European trophy for an English club.  He died at the age of 27 in 1964.  He played 22 times for Scotland.

 FW: Taffy O'Callaghan (Wales)
Taffy joined Tottenham from Ebbw Vale in 1925, making his debut for the first team in 1927. He helped the team achieve promotion back to Football League First Division at the end of the 1932–33 season and in the following year was a key member of the side known as the ‘greyhounds’ as they played with speed and style. 
He also played for Leicester City.  His first cap for Wales was won in May 1929 and he went on to play a further eleven times at International level.

 FW: Steve Archibald (Scotland)
Steve Archibald played for a number of clubs in England and Spain.  His best stint was with Tottenham Hotspurs, where he won two straight FA Cup between 1980 and 1982. He joined Barcelona in 1984, helping the club to reach the final of European Cup in 1986.  For the national team, he was capped 27 times. He played in two World Cup Finals in 1982 and 1986. He is a member of Scotland's Football Hall of Flame.
Steve Archibald 
FW: John Cameron (Scotland)
Cameron began his career with Ayr Parkhouse, before moving to Queen's Park in early 1895.   He joined Everton in 1895 as an amateur, and then turned fully professional. He had been one of the highest earning footballers of the day.  In May 1898 Cameron was signed by Frank Brettell as a player for Tottenham Hotspur. When Brettell left in 1899, Cameron succeeded Brettell and became player-manager for Tottenham.  He was capped once for Scotland.

FW: Sandy Brown (Scotland)
Sandy Brown earnt his nickname as the "Glenbuck Goalgetter" as a 15-year-old playing for Glenbuck Athletic.  During the 1900–01 season, Brown scored 15 goals during Tottenham's FA Cup run, including a goal in every round, which resulted in the club becoming the only non-League team to win the Cup.  He also played for Portsmouth. Middlesbrough, Luton Town,  Kettering before returning to Scotland with first Nithsdale Wanderers, then Ayr United. Brown won one cap for Scotland in 1904. 

 ST: Alan Gilzean (Scotland)
From 1954 to 1964, Gilzean played for Dundee in Scotland. From 1964 to 1974, he played for Tottenham Hotspurs. He first formed a famous partnership with along side Jimmy Greaves and followed another partnership with Martn Chivers.  He won the 1967 FA Cup and 1972 UEFA Cup. He then played briefly in South Africa for Highland Parks.  He played 22 times for Scotland between 1963 and 1973.

 ST: Robbie Keane  (Ireland)
Robbie Keane is the all-time leading scorer and cap record holder for Ireland.  He went to the World Cup Finals in 2002, and participated at Eyuro 2012 and 2016.  He had played in Italy, Scotland, England, and the USA. Most of his stints were short, including a dream move to Inter Milan.  His most famous stints was with Tottenham Hotspurs, where he won the League Cup in 2008.  At the end of his career, he played in the MLS with LA Galaxy alongside Landon Donovan and David Beckham.
Robbie Keane  

Honorable Mention
John Duncan (Scotland), Ben Davies (Wales), Jack Kirwan (Ireland), Simon Davies (Wales), Jimmy Robertson (Wales),

Squad Explanation
-- Seven players are also on my Tottenham Hotspurs All-Time Team.  They are Pat Jennings (N.Ireland), Dave MacKay (Scotland), Gareth Bale (Wales), John White (Scotland), Cliff Jones (Wales), Danny Blanchflower (Northern Ireland) and Ron Burgess (Wales).  
-- At the time of writing, Tottenham Hotspurs has not played against Liverpool  at the Final of the 2018-2019 Champions' League Final.  The outcome of the match would not affect this blog. Ben Davis (Wales) is the only non-English British player on their roster.  He is on my honorable mention for this blog team, but his career is too young to be seriously considered for this team at this moment.  
-- Tottenham Hotspurs won both the league and FA Cup in 1961. The "Double" winning team in the 1961 had many non-English British Players as compared to the current team. Bill Brown (Scotland), Danny Blanchflower (N.Ireland), Mel Hopkins (Wales), Dave Mackay (Scotland), Cliff Jones (Wales), John White (Scotland) and Terry Medwin (Wales) from the 1961 team made this team. Four of whom were also on my all-time team.  By contrast, no English player from the 1960-1961 season made my all-time team.  Only one player from the 1961 team made my Tottenham All-Time Team for English Players team.
-- Tottenham Hotspurs won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963. Dave MacKay was a star player, but he missed the Final through an injury. I also took Danny Blachflower the captain, John White, Bill Brown and Cliff Jones.
-- In 1971, Tottenham Hotpurs won the UEFA Cup.  Joe Kinnear (Ireland), Mike England (Wales) and Alan Gilzean (Scotland) played on that team.
-- Danny Blanchflower, Pat Jennings and Gareth Bale have won the FWA and/or PFA Player of the Year.
-- Danny Blanchflower was the PWA Player of the Year in 1958 and 1961.  He captained Tottenham Hotspur, most notably during its double-winning season of 1960–61. 
-- Bob Brown and Pat Jennings are among the greatest ever keepers for Tottenham.  There are not many choices for the third keeper.  Neil Sullivan was a starter at one point. He also won Tottenham Hotspurs Player of the Year award in 2001. He is probably the only realistic option.
-- Stephen Carr was named Tottenham Hotspurs Player of the Year twice. 
-- Richard Gough played only a season with Tottenham Hotspurs, but he took the captaincy and led to the team to the FA Cup Final. 
-- I struggled to find the 4th centerback.  Paul Price (Wales) took out of the last spot because of he won the 1982 FA Cup.
-- I took Chris Hughton and Mel Hopkins over Bill Whatley on leftback.  Houghton is a member of the club's Hall of Flame. Of course, Ben Davies needs many more years before he is seriously considered. 
-- Taffy O'Callaghan and Terry Medwin are members of the club's Hall of Flame.
-- John Cameroon scored over 130 goals for the club.  He also served as player-manager at one point. I also selected another old-time, Sandy Brown.
-- Steve Archibald had a storied career over here.  He was the league's top scorer in 1981.  He also won two FA Cups.
-- Robbie Keane scored over 120 goals here. He was named Tottenham Hotspurs Player of the Year three times.

 Formation




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