Best Starting 11 Today

A num­ber of play­ers can stake a claim for being part of the best team in the world at this early period of the Euro­pean domes­tic leagues. How­ever, very few play­ers stand­out the way those listed below have in terms of their con­tri­bu­tion to their team, their role as lead­ers, and cer­tainly their cru­cial involve­ment in their respec­tive clubs.

Goal­keeper: Gian­luigi Buf­fon– the Juven­tus and Azzurri cus­to­dian is back to his best and his out­stand­ing saves have ensured the Bian­coneri remain on course to qual­ify from their group in the Cham­pi­ons League as well as con­tinue to chal­lenge Inter­nazionale for the Serie A title. Buf­fon has con­ceded only one dubi­ous goal in Europe against Bor­deaux. He saved the Old Lady on numer­ous occa­sions both in the domes­tic league and Europe. A poll in a pre­vi­ous seg­ment of the web­site revealed that 65% of our read­ers voted for Buf­fon as the goal­keeper expected to be the best in South Africa (Please refer to The Best Goal­keep­ers in South Africa arti­cle writ­ten on Novem­ber 5, 2009). Buf­fon has also been instru­men­tal in Italy’s qual­i­fi­ca­tion to South Africa 2010.

Defense: John Terry, Car­les Puyol, Maicon Dou­glas and Gior­gio Chiellini– (Please refer to The Best Defend­ers Headed To South Africa piece writ­ten on Novem­ber 11, 2009)

- Terry is quite influ­en­tial and anchors the Chelsea defense which has con­ceded a mere eight goals in 12 Pre­mier­ship matches. He is one of the play­ers Fabio Capello will be rely­ing on to help Eng­land safely nav­i­gate through the group stage. Terry is one of the most respected and acclaimed defend­ers in the world. His name and that of Chelsea have been linked together since the Pre­mier League titles began to arrive at Stam­ford Bridge dur­ing the Jose Mour­inho era.

- Puyol is the cap­tain of a Barcelona side which won the tre­ble last sea­son and has con­ceded only seven goals in 10 la Liga matches up to this point.

- Maicon is the fly­ing right-back who not only retrieves the ball for Inter­nazionale but often starts attack­ing moves from his flank. He is one of the Nerazzurri’s most prized assets. The Brazil­ian has more votes than Terry, Puyol and Man­ches­ter United’s Vidic put together in our poll in the arti­cle men­tioned above.

- Chiellini is the player who adds steel to both Italy’s and Juve’s defen­sive line. He can score the occa­sional goal but is renowned for his solid tack­ling and tough approach to the game. He is expected to lead the line once Fabio Can­navaro retires. Almost half of our read­ers who voted in a poll chose Chiellini as the best defender head­ing to South Africa.

Mid­field: Lionel Messi, Cris­tiano Ronaldo, Marek Ham­sik and Xabi Alonso

- Lionel Messi is one of the main cat­a­lysts behind Barcelona’s tre­ble last sea­son and has con­tin­ued his dev­as­tat­ing form for his club hav­ing notched seven goals in la Liga this sea­son. His per­for­mances with Argentina are not as impres­sive but then per­haps that is down to Diego Maradona’s ill man­age­ment of the play­ers at his dis­posal as well as his debat­able choice of play­ers and tac­tics. When fir­ing on all cylin­ders, Lio is a night­mare for defenders.

- Cris­tiano Ronaldo could per­haps be the only player from the cur­rent best 11 to miss out on South Africa 2010. Despite injury, Ronaldo has already found the back of the net on five occa­sions in la Liga not to men­tion his four goals in the Cham­pi­ons League. He will be hop­ing that his coun­try will over­come his absence to beat Bosnia to qual­ify to the World Cup. The Por­tuguese hold a 1–0 edge after the week­end home win against the Bosnians.

- Marek Ham­sik is per­haps a sur­prise inclu­sion to many but he has been one of the ris­ing stars in Serie A the past cou­ple of years and has helped Slo­va­kia qual­ify to next summer’s World Cup. Ham­sik is a wanted man and elite clubs in Italy and Europe have shown inter­est in his cap­ture. It will only be time before he is snapped up by a big­ger club than Napoli. He has already scored seven goals in Serie A this sea­son includ­ing his brace in the stun­ning come-from-behind vic­tory against Juven­tus in Turin.

- Xabi Alonso has been severely missed by Liv­er­pool which lost much of its mid­field struc­ture when it sold the player to Real Madrid. The neg­a­tive results suf­fered by Liv­er­pool can­not be attrib­uted to the loss of Alonso alone but it is still a tes­ta­ment to his impor­tance and value to any team he plays for. Alonso recently stamped his author­ity in the friendly match against Argentina and led his coun­try to a win by scor­ing both of Spain’s goals.

Attack: Didier Drogba and David Villa

–Didier Drogba has already scored nine goals in 12 Pre­mier­ship matches not to men­tion the assists for a Chelsea team on top of the Pre­mier League. Drogba has the speed and phys­i­cal strength to out-muscle most defend­ers in Eng­land and Europe. He is a scor­ing threat in any match and can pop up to score a goal at any moment. He also led his coun­try Ivory Coast to next summer’s World Cup.

- David Villa has been in demand for the past cou­ple of years yet he remained with Valen­cia and his goals have helped his club to fourth place in la Liga’s stand­ings. Villa has already scored eight times in nine games played in the Span­ish league. He is one of the most dan­ger­ous attack­ers in Europe and the world. He will part­ner Fer­nando Tor­res in a lethal attack as they attempt to add World Cup 2010 to Spain’s tro­phy cab­i­net after secur­ing Euro 2008 for their country.

There are clearly other qual­i­fied play­ers who can make the list yet all those men­tioned above have played a key role for their club and/or coun­try. All the play­ers, except for Cris­tiano Ronaldo at this stage, will be par­tic­i­pat­ing in South Africa 2010.

Tagged as: Buffon, Chiellini, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, England, Fabio Capello, Hamsik, Italy, Maicon, Messi, Portugal, Puyol, Spain, Terry, Xabi Alonso