European Team of the Decade

Following an interesting read on the BBC Website and the nudge of one of my fellow bloggers I thought I'd give the European Team of the Decade a punt.

Buffon - Still only 31 and now 100 caps for Italy, you can expect the big man to go on for sometime. An outstanding goalkeeper who has won the World Cup, UEFA Cup, several Scudetto and was on the losing side in a Champions League final for his beloved Juventus. Casillas was a close second but given his extra years of youth he will be a shoe-in for the next decade's team.

Thuram - Difficult one this, the big Frenchman was more late 90's/early 00's than massive during the latter stages of this decade, but his performances in the Euro 2000 and for Juventus and Barca (can't be bad playing for the two of them) made him one of the most consistent and committed performers.

Cannavaro - The only defender to win the Ballon D'or and for good reason, captained his country to World Cup glory and has been superb with Parma, Inter, Juve, Madrid and Juve again. Giving his countryman Maldini a run for his money at 36, Fabio was sadly injured just before last year's Euros, and Italy could really have done with one of the best defenders of the decade.

Maldini - Cannavaro is probably just edged out by this man, Champions League after Champions League, Scudetto after Scudetto, the only regret this bloke will have when he looks back is his decision to retire from international football, and miss his country winning the World Cup in 2006. He won't look at it that way though, he'll look at it as being able to preserve his club football until an astonishing 40 years of age, and being regarded in Milan as an absolute god.

Beckham - I love Becks but was a little surprised when both my buddy and the BBC's Phil Minshull had included Becks, but it soon dawned on me why. Forget all the haircuts, the missus, the nonsense that surrounds the man, he is an exceptional footballer, and a born winner. His determination and consistency over the years is unrivalled, and he's proved Capello, McClaren and Ferguson wrong on more than one occasion. Plus, he's English, we've gotta get one of them in there.

Zidane - Quite simply the best player I have ever seen. The old man talks about the likes of Pele, Maradona and Cruyff, but with the lack, and lack of quality of footage of these footballing giants it's hard to compare. A lot of things have been said and written about Zizou, not to mention THAT goal, and THAT headbutt, but I haven't been able to put it in to words any better than this: When you look at the likes of Beckham going to LA Galaxy, Cannavaro going back to an easy life at Juve, and English players like Sheringham falling down the British football scale, look at Zidane. The last match he ever played, was a World Cup Final against Italy where he was captain. There was no fall from grace or relaxing from him, his last ever game was the biggest game of all which shows how much quality and class he had right until the end. We all know what happened in extra time, it was a stupid stupid thing to do, but he set that World Cup on fire. My favourite moment was when in the quaters I think it was against Brazil, he flicked the ball over Ronaldinho's head, did a little swivel turn and layed the ball off. That was the lion telling the cub who was boss, utter class.

Viera - Helped Arsenal to 2 doubles in his time, the famous Invincibles season of 2004, Euro 2000 and numerous honours in Italy. A shame that his last kick for the Gunners was a winning penalty in the 2005 FA Cup final, and that he couldn't have stuck it out for a little while longer. Struggling with injuries and form of late, I still hold out hope that we'll see the big Paddy that graced Highbury brilliantly so often, one more time.

Seedorf - A slightly left field choice, but he remains the only man to win the Champions League with 3 different clubs, albeit the one with Ajax was in the 90's. Still only 31 Seedorf feels like he's been around forever, and all that time he's been performing superbly in Madrd and for both Milan clubs. He fell out with Van Basten as Dutch coach but now that he's gone it would be awesome to see him back in the mixer for the World Cup next year.

Raul - Outstanding goal scoring records for club and country, Raul is another who has been shunned from the international stage of late, but Del Bosque should reconsider. The captain of Real Madrid and one of the most natural goalscorers the game has ever seen, underrated as a just a goal poacher, he often drops deeper to link play up and is the only man from the old Galacticos to still be involved with the current side.

Henry - For me the best striker in world and probably the best player to have played in the Premier League. Pace, goals and assists, he's still doing it in Spain who won a ridiculous 6 trophies this year, he'll be hoping to bow out in South Africa in style.

Notable mentions - Nesta, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Totti, Ballack, Figo, Gallas, Bergkamp

Class of 2010? - Ronaldo, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Torres, Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Gerrard, Rooney.

A fantastic team I hope you'll all agree, I had to toss and turn with several decisions but this is what I came up with. Sad to see just the one Englishman in there, hopefully that'll be very different next decade. Take her easy.