Pick the XI

[Panda]

Here's a new idea for you.

In this thread, you have to name the football team you'd field in accordance with the theme I decide.


Theme #1 is:

UNCAPPED ENGLAND XI

Name the 11 players you'd play in a team of English players who have never played for England.

You can do a team consisting of players who are playing today or you can do an all-time uncapped XI.


I'll start off with a current uncapped England XI:

Lee Camp (Nottingham Forest)
Martin Cranie (Coventry) (or Dan Gosling if he wasn't injured)
Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal)
Roger Johnson (Birmingham)
Gary Cahill (Bolton)
Leon Osman (Everton)
Jimmy Bullard (Hull)
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
Adam Johnson (Man City)
Bobby Zamora (Fulham)
Jermaine Beckford (Leeds)


The competition for places in the centre of defence and midfield was immense. There were at least half a dozen strong contenders for both.


Might look at doing an all-time uncapped England XI next...

[Razzle Dazzle]

GK: Ross Turnbull (Chelsea)
LB: Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal)
CB: Curtis Davies (Aston Villa)
CB: Gary Cahill (Bolton)
RB: Nedum Onouha (Man City)
LM: Adam Johnson (Man City) very closely follwed by Matthew Taylor (Bolton)
CM: Jack Rodwell (Everton)
CM: Jimmy Bullard (Hull)
RM: Mikel Arteta (Everton)
ST: Bobby Zamora (Fulham)
ST: Kevin Davies (Bolton)

[Razzle Dazzle]

all-time uncapped England XI turned out to be a lot harder than expected, this is the best i could come up with, being young and having little footballing knowledge before 1994 certaily did not help as you might be able to tell

GK: Tony Coton
LB: Julian Dicks
CB: Steve Bruce
CB: Steve Chettle
RB: John Ebbrell
LM: Howard Kendall
CM: Robbie Earle
CM: Billy Bonds MBE
RM: Ruel Fox
ST: Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson
ST: Kevin Campbell or Mark Bright

[Paddy]

How does Arteta feature in an England XI?

[Panda]

Apr 9, 2010 19:37:10 GMT 1 Paddy said:

How does Arteta feature in an England XI?

Because he's never played for Spain and has been in the UK long enough to be eligible. The same also applies to Manuel Almunia, except he's crap.

[wonderwall]

one of the best players not to play for england Steve bruce

[Razzle Dazzle]

Because he has never been capped for anyone and has played in england for over 5 years so he is eligible to play for England under the FIFA five-year residency rule. just like Deco, Pepe and Liedson for Portugal and Francileudo dos Santos for Tunisia. Pretty sure a Brazilian plays for Japan aswel but im not sure how that one came about all the others though were because of the FIFA five-year residency rule. Kevin Kuranyi for Germany might be another example however Arteta has stated he only wants to play for his home nation

[Paddy]

He is capped for Spain under 21 team.

[Panda]

Apr 9, 2010 19:50:54 GMT 1 Paddy said:

He is capped for Spain under 21 team.

Doesn't matter. FIFA changed the rules a few years ago so you can represent different countries at U21 level and senior level.

Onouha, who is in daz's team, has played for England U21s but has expressed an interest in playing for Nigeria at the World Cup.

Nigel Quashie played for England U21s but later played for Scotland.

[Panda]

Also Boro's Rhys Williams played for Wales U21s but now plays for Australia.

[Paddy]

Seems silly and not very loyal.

Should play for the countries team you were born in. (On birth certificate as being)

[Panda]

Apr 9, 2010 20:04:20 GMT 1 Paddy said:

Seems silly and not very loyal.

Should play for the countries team you were born in. (On birth certificate as being)

France would've been screwed in 1998...

[Paddy]

Just took them 8 years to be in the same position.

[Maximo Mark]

Oooh good question!

Lee Camp (Nottingham Forest)
Kyle Naughton (Tottenham)
Michael Dawson (Tottenham)
Ryan Shawcross (Stoke)
Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal)
Leon Osman (Everton)
Jack Rodwell (Everton)
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
Adam Johnson (Man City)
Kevin Nolan (Newcastle)
Bobby Zamora (Fulham)

[Panda]

I've gone down the daz route for my "all-time" uncapped England XI, basing it on the last 25 years as that's how long I've been watching football:

GK - Steve Ogrizovic
RB - David May
LB - John Beresford
CB - Steve Bruce
CB - Tony Mowbray
RW - Adam Johnson
CM - Paul Davis
CM - Jimmy Bullard
LW - Peter Beagrie
ST - Kevin Campbell
ST - Paul Rideout

I think I prefer the current uncapped XI...



I'll post a new team theme tomorrow...

[Panda]

Apr 9, 2010 18:50:20 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

all-time uncapped England XI turned out to be a lot harder than expected, this is the best i could come up with, being young and having little footballing knowledge before 1994 certaily did not help as you might be able to tell

GK: Tony Coton
LB: Julian Dicks
CB: Steve Bruce
CB: Steve Chettle
RB: John Ebbrell
LM: Howard Kendall
CM: Robbie Earle
CM: Billy Bonds MBE
RM: Ruel Fox
ST: Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson
ST: Kevin Campbell or Mark Bright

Ruel Fox won 2 caps for Montserrat!

[Elmer]

Robbie Earle played for Jamaica. I remember that cracking header he scored in the World Cup.

[Elmer]

Apr 12, 2010 22:58:18 GMT 1 Elmer said:

Robbie Earle played for Jamaica. I remember that cracking header he scored in the World Cup.

33 caps and 8 goals !!

[Panda]

Here's the next one to start thinking about:

STAYING AT HOME XI

Put together an XI made up of current players whose countries haven't qualified for this year's World Cup.

I have quite a few players in mind already but I'll let someone else go first this time.

[Shireblogger]

I've restricted my selections to one per nationality:-

GK: Given (Ireland)

RB: Mellberg (Sweden)
LB: Hughes (N.Ireland)
CB: Vermaelen (Belgium)
CB: Hyypia (Finland)

M: Rosicky (Czech)
M: Fletcher (Scotland)
M: Kranjcar (Croatia)
M: Giggs (Wales)

S: Adebayor (Togo)
S: Jones (Trinidad+T)

just missed out:
S: Arshavin (Russia)
M: Beckham (England)