The Ryder Cup of Football – Who would you pick?
This subject was first mentioned in passing on the hotbed of football chatter that is Twitter. With Europe beating the USA in the Ryder Cup in the golf, what if there was a Ryder Cup of football? Imagine a football tournament in which the finest managers from each continent are summoned to name a first eleven of players to represent each continent – Africa, Asia, Europe, North/Central America and South America, and they then all go head-to-head in a Ryder Cup-esque tournament to decide the world’s best footballing continent.
During the World Cup a lot was made about it being ‘Africa’s World Cup.’ Similarly, as South America represented in force with four of the eight quarter-finalists, talk was of the Latin continent’s dominance of the competition. And, ultimately, with Spain, the Netherlands and Germany all in the semi-finals, the story again reverted back to the might of the European heavyweights.
So with those continental battle lines drawn, which players would be called up to represent their continents in such a competition? If you were drafted in as the Colin Montgomerie of your region, the man in charge of choosing the squad, who would you pick?
I’ve been pondering this question for a few hours and here are the teams I would pick for each region. Unfortunately for all you Oceania lovers, the depth of quality isn’t really there and so I’ve left them out of this Ryder Cup of football. Feel free to pick an eleven in the comments below if you so wish. I’d just pick New Zealand’s entire first team.
Africa (CAF)
Essam El-Hadari (Egypt) – Ahmed El-Mohamady (Egypt), Kolo Toure (Côte d’Ivoire), Madjid Bougherra (Algeria), Isaac Vorsah (Ghana) – Michael Essien (Ghana), Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire), Mohamed Aboutreika (Egypt) – Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Peter Odemwingie (Nigeria)
Europe (UEFA)
Edwin Van der Sar (Netherlands) – Ashley Cole (England), Gerard Pique (Spain), Carles Puyol (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany) – Florent Malouda (France), Xavi (Spain), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – David Villa (Spain)
South America (CONMEBOL)
Julio Cesar (Brazil) – Maicon (Brazil), Jorge Fucile (Uruguay), Lucio (Brazil), Maxi Pereira (Uruguay) – Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Ramires (Brazil), Ronaldinho (Brazil) – Lionel Messi (Argentina), Carlos Tevez (Argentina), Diego Forlan (Uruguay)
North / Central America (CONCACAF)
Tim Howard (USA) – Pablo Barrera (Mexico), Oguchi Onyewu (USA), Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Maynor Figueroa (Honduras) – Michael Bradley (USA), Clint Dempsey (USA), Wilson Palacios (Honduras), Giovanni Dos Santos (Mexico) – Javier Hernandez (Mexico), Bryan Ruiz (Costa Rica)
Asia (AFC)
Mark Schwarzer (Australia) – Cha Du-Ri (South Korea), Tulio Tanaka (Japan), Lucas Neill (Australia), Luke Wilkshire (Australia) – Ji-Sung Park (South Korea), Tim Cahill (Australia), Chung-Yong Lee (South Korea) – Keisuke Honda (Japan) – Shinji Kagawa (Japan), Jong Tae-Se (DPR Korea)
What teams would you pick? And who would win the Ryder Cup of Football? Have your say below.
(Photo via proforged on Flickr)
African Football, Europe, Football in Latin America, Ryder Cup of FootballShare This Post!
About Jonathan F
The boss of this here... Creator and Editor of Just-Football.com, world football analyst, watcher, freelancer and all-round enthusiast. French football analyst for Football Radar. Write for FourFourTwo, have also written for ITV, When Saturday Comes and others.
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That African team would comfortably beat the CONCACAF and AFC sides. I even cobbled together a competitive CAF 2nd XI:
Enyeama – Pantsil, John Mensah, Yobo, Taiwo – Mikel, Song, KP Boateng – Gervinho, Gyan, Tshabalala
That’s a pretty damn good second XI Chris! Question is, could the first XI beat Europe or South America? I happen to think they could beat South America, but Europe would be tough…
Great piece Jonathan. In the build up to the Ryder Cup, this was something I thought about as well though I created a Europe verus Rest of the World squads featuring 22 different nations.
I’m almost tempted to spend my day off creating these sides in FIFA 11 and playing it out.
As for my picks, I tend to agree with the bulk of the squads.
For Africa, I’d personally find place for Nadir Belhadj at left-back and probably John Obi Mikel in midfield.
For Europe, Evra would be left-back. Robben would replace Malouda and Rooney would either replace Villa up front or join him at the expense of Wesley or Andres.
South America; yup. Pretty much fine though I don’t think Ronaldinho is needed. Maybe fill in another holding midfielder or even Kaka if Ramires is going to sit.
What did Landon Donovan do that he didn’t get into the North American team? He’d be straight in there and then I’d tell Jonathan de Guzman to catch a grip of himself.
And finally Asia. I don’t know enough about Asian football to even know any players behind those mentioned in that team. Maybe Ryan Nelson at centre-back and Shane Smeltz up-front simply because he scored against Italy?
Good job all round though.
A common problem with fantasy teams is that with so much attacking talent available people end up picking unbalanced sides.
By which I mean, you can’t pick a midfield with Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder. I mean you *could* but they’d be so vulnerable to an organised side. It’d be like Germany v Argentina.
I’d drop Malouda, play Iniesta inside left and pick Alonso.
Hmm I take your point on board Ben but is that European side really that unbalanced? Take Spain – their midfield isn’t the most defensive or physical, ball retention is the key. So I think it could work.
Xabi Alonso is one I agonised over though, its a decent shout.
No Donovan in the Concacaf side? I’d pick him over Dos Santos in a heartbeat.
My Conmebol side would be: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Marcelo; Mascherano, Ramires; Messi, Kaka, Forlán; Tevez.
And I also think that maybe that UEFA side is too unbalanced. I think I’d take Malouda off in favour of a more defensive-minded player as well.
I’d fancy Europe to win out of these teams, though I think the Asia team is quite strong and could cause some shocks. The choice of Jong Tae-Se is an interesting one though, can’t think of any replacements off the top of my head but not sure he’s really shown he is a top level footballer yet.
I can’t help but laugh (in a harmless manner) at some of these line-ups, primarily the two biggest: Europe and South America. It’s your opinion, though, and that should at the very least be respected.
Fucile at LCB though…speechless. *hint* David Luiz
and I’d trade Forlan for the in-form Porto wide forward, Hulk.
As for European XI on form and personal opinion on the best at the moment:
Ronaldo – Kerzhakov
Malouda – Van der Vaart – Huddlestone – Krasić
Mathieu – Chiellini – Carvalho – Ramos
Adler
Mathieu?? Speechless…!
Some good choices for your Europe XI there Matieo, but I’d still take my XI over yours in eighteen holes of football any day
Pablo Barrera isn’t a defensive player, why would you place him as a left back??? Ronaldinho is a monster
Barrera is at right back…
Could the Asian XI be a bit too offensive maybe? I’d be tempted to drop one of the more attack-minded players for someone like Makoto Hasebe, who does more defensive work in midfield.
I’ve got a lot of hope for Jong Tae-se. He’s got good technique and is a great finisher, maybe the Bundesliga is the stage he needs to show it?
I think Asia could put some interesting teams on the field.
A balanced team:
———–Schwarzer
Du-Ri–Nakazawa–Neil–Nagatomo
——–Hasebe—Ki
JS Park—-Cahill—Kagawa
———–Kennedy
A technical and attacking lineup:
———-Schwarzer
Du-Ri–Tanaka–Neil–Nagatomo
——JS Park–Wilkshire
CY Lee—-Kagawa—–Kewell
———–Honda
The down-a-goal-with-10-min-left team
———–Schwarzer
Du-Ri–Tanaka–Neil–Nagatomo
——JS Park–Honda
CY Lee—————–Kagawa
——Kennedy–Cahill
That asian XI would get murdered. No defensive covers in midfield and not to mention we will also get murdered on the flanks with cha du-ri at the full back position. I would bring in Ryan Nelson at centreback and push lucas neill to rightback. I would play a midfield 3 of Hasebe, Park and Cahill flanked by Lee Chul Yong and Keisuke Honda with Park Chu Young the long striker up front.
Schwarzer
Neill – Nelson – Tanaka – Wilkshire
Hasebe
P ark JS – Cahill
Lee CY Honda
Park Chu Young
I think its a pretty good Asian XI all things considered! But yeh, Hasebe is one who could definitely make the team.
wHO CARE!
No love for Chile?
Just kidding, good choices there even if I’d have left out Ronaldinho, Ramires and Fucile though.
On the other hand, you’re not serious about van der Sar are you? Surely Casillas, Cech or Buffon should be there?
This is true Santiago, no love for Chile. I’m ashamed of myself
Considered Alexis Sanchez, but he’s made a poor start to the season. Considered Jara or Medel but they didn’t quite make the cut. Sorry!
As for Van der Sar, I rate him above any of the three keepers you’ve mentioned, Casillas running him very close.
No Michel Bastos for South America? He better be first in line riding the bench!
Where would Bastos fit into that team? He isn’t the best left back…