[Profesor]

For me Croatia R.Kovac(Bayern)-Tudor(Juventus)-Simic(Inter)

 

[Mikey]

Very un-biased opinion no doubt! Of course, I will only back my beloved Azzurri.

 

[CUG]

italy- cannaavro, nesta, maldini, materazzi, iuliano, coco and panucci

argentina- samuel ayala zanetti sorin

france - thuram candela desailly christanval lizarazu

those three stand out more than others.

 

[dominic]

it is only ITALY. nobody else.

i could see a slight weak points in other defence.

solid defence, make no mistakes, and clear cut skills only italy has.

above all, look at goal keepers, buffon, toldo.

 

[Catenaccio]

Out of the teams in the world cup:

______________BUFFON______________
_______________(ITA)_______________

THURAM___SAMUEL___NESTA___LIZARAZU
_(FRA)_____(ARG)____(ITA)______(FRA)__

In terms of teams the best defence would be Italy followed by France.

...Midfield would be France.
...Attack would be France.

I'm sorry, but France is still the strongest team in the world. If only Italy had a better midfield.

If only Italy adopted the French (& Real M.) System they would be really Dangerous.

_______________BUFFON_____________

PANUCCI___CANNA___NESTA_____MALDINI

_________GATTUSO___FIORE___________

__MONTELLA_____TOTTI______DONI_____

_______________VIERI________________

I can't see why Montella cannot play as an attacking winger.

 

[Memorable]

I dont believe that France have the best midfield not withouth injured Pires. I would say that Argentina byfar has the strongest midfield just look at it...

 

[CaptainFire]

I agree, Memorable...
Veron, Riquelme, Aimar, Almeyda, Zanetti, Kily Gonzalez, Solari, etc., etc.

 

[vSnoop]

italy- cannaavro, nesta, maldini, materazzi, iuliano, coco and panucci

argentina- samuel ayala zanetti sorin

france - thuram candela desailly christanval lizarazu

those three stand out more than others.

i don't think that france has a good defense plus they have barthez.u will see what will happen to them in wc

 

[Mohammad]

french and italian defence

 

[Romano Belini]

Out of the teams in the world cup:

______________BUFFON______________
_______________(ITA)_______________

THURAM___SAMUEL___NESTA___LIZARAZU
_(FRA)_____(ARG)____(ITA)______(FRA)__

In terms of teams the best defence would be Italy followed by France.

...Midfield would be France.
...Attack would be France.

I'm sorry, but France is still the strongest team in the world. If only Italy had a better midfield.

QUOTE]

I agree with that defensive formation you gave above,except that you forgot Cannavaro who is the best defender in the woorld even better than both Nesta and Samuel. Take out Samuel and put Cannavaro in his place. Also take out Lizarazu and put Carlos there. Carlos is now alot better than Lizarazu. A lot better. he is faster attacks more and has a big heart to run a distance to tackle an opponant.

Your right France are by far the strongest team in the world even if both Argentina and Italy have better individuals.

Argentina easily have the best mid-field on paper but not on the pitch. France have the best mid-field on the pitch.

 

[boni]

someone actually mentioned Croatia for the best defese in the world!!! profesor what is wrong with you???
Nesta was the highest ranked defender in the World footballer of the year award. I guess that makes him the best defendet in the world. Together with Maldini and Cannavarro, how can you compare them to any other?
Another says France. Goodness me have you ever seen Silvestre and Dessaily in the middle? Its worse than Barca's defense for last season
And for the midfield, truly speaking, how can you compare
(Aimar,Veron, Simeone, Kily, Riquelme, Zannetti, Solari etc etc) to any other? Whichever way they are lined up, Arge have the best Midfield!!!

 

[HuxFlux]

GK: Italy
Def: Italy
Mid: Argentina
Att: Italy

Strongest team in the world: Italy

 

[IVO]

Croatia's defence gets no respect. I can understand that's not as well known as Italy's defence but statistically speaking it was the best defence in qualifiers.

Before anybody says that doesn't mean anything, sorry, yes it does. Even if our defence is great in the WC, even if it stops the best attacks, it'll be called a fluke and quickly forgotten. Tudor could have a great WC and easily be the best defender in the tournament, but that will also be called a fluke and just as quickly be forgotten.

In most of the major tournaments over the last 10 years, an "outsider" has done quite well, better than some of the "powers that be" so you can all forget about your "best teams on paper" because they don't mean a thing come the WC and it's been proven time and time again.

I'm pretty sure it was Effenberg who said Croatia had the best defence either in Europe or the world. But then who is Effenberg, you people are certainly more knowledgable about football than he is.

 

[Grinch]

Why not Croatia?

I don't see why it's so absurd to rate Croatia as one of the finest defenses in the world.

Kovac/Tudor/Simic may very well be the best three-man defensive line today. But the best basic four-man defense is undoubtedly Panucci/Cannavaro/Nesta/Maldini, with luxury reserves Iuliano, Coco and Materazzi.

France has an excellent 4-man defense, but if you don't count Desailly, none of their central defenders is really impressive. But of course, having Lizarazu and Candela for the left side is quite inspirational... Candela particularly is amazing.

 

[Romano Belini]

Listen Croatian defence fans

All those who said that Italy has the best defense is not because that they want to show off or because they don't like Croatia. It's because we have seen Italy in WC 98 and in Euro 2000. I mean defending for over 90 minutes against an attacking Dutch side is not easy. But Italy came through at Euro 2000. They defended for almost 75 minutes in every game during thr group stages in France 98 and against France defended awe inspiringly to take the game to penlties.

I'm sure Croatia have a great defence but it's just that we have not seen them together for a while so that's why many are saying Italy have the best defence.

Any way we'll see at the WC which team has the best defence. There'll be a few surprises!! wait and see. There'll be a team whoc will consider less goals than Italy Croatia or France.

Interesting ha?

Well that's WORLD CUP.

 

[Romano Belini]

Re: Why not Croatia?

But the best basic four-man defense is undoubtedly Panucci/Cannavaro/Nesta/Maldini.

France has an excellent 4-man defense, but if you don't count Desailly, none of their central defenders is really impressive. But of course, having Lizarazu and Candela for the left side is quite inspirational... Candela particularly is amazing.

To be honest Brother I actually think France have the best 4-man defense. THURMA-DESAILY-SILVESTRE-LIZARAZU is better than our defence of PANUCCI-CANNAVARO-NESTA-MALDINI.

Thuram is million times better than Panucci. Panucci is just a pansy. He is very poor.

If you don't count Desialy you can't count Cannavaro.

Okay your right if you say that we have better full backs but defenitely not if you say we have a better 4 man defence.

I just hope the Azzuri defenders are in thier best shape for the world cup. They are our greatest asset beside Totti Del Piero and Vieri.

 

[IVO]

Stating that Italy has the best defence isn't a put down to Croatia, but a few in this thread and in other threads where it's been discussed have dismissed any claim to a very strong defence by Croatia.

At France98, nobody talked about the Croatian defence. We weren't considered to be one of the better defences there. Coming into the semi final, France was regarded as having a powerful defence, having only conceded 1 goal on the way to the semis.

Croatia only conceded 2 goals coming into the semis so our defence was certainly one of the better ones in the tournament, despite not getting any acclaim for it. This time around, our defence is better than in France98 and if we were so strong in defence in that tournament, surely we'll be stronger this time around.

 

[Romano Belini]

IVO

I agree with you that stating Italy has the best defence is not a put down on Croatia.

I never really thought about the Croatia defnce of WC 98 actually so thanks for reminding me.

I'd actually say that Italy have the best defence because Italy always get outplayed by the opponants and thier defnders defend for the entire game. No other defnce has proved to be more worthy than the Italian defence over the last for years.

Italy win games mainly because of thier defence- other teams eg France and Argentina win games because of thier attack.

France will concede less goals than Croatia because France will outclass every teams thanks to thier mid-field and attack.

 

[BOban_2]

IVO...

leave these guys alone. Tudor (one of the best defenders in Italy and the best in Juve), Kovac (THE BEST man marker in Germany) and Simic (the guy who puts away the likes of Sheva, Batigol, Vieri,...) are crap. They don't count for much because they DON'T HAVE western names. Of course let's not forget that conceding 2 goals in the qualifiers and only 3 in an entire year does NOT count for much either