Six-a-side battle: England v Rest of the World
PRESENTING OUR REST OF THE WORLD TEAM
Ian McLeish, Editor-In-Chief
This six-a-side team made up of players with nationalities other than English can be summed up in three words… attack, attack, attack! It feels a bit remiss not to include some of the legendary defenders who have hailed from overseas and across the British Isles, players like Stam, Vidic and Buchan, but when faced with the opportunity to combine the legendary no.7s Best, Cantona and Ronaldo, difficult decisions have to be taken. And with the fearsome pairing of Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane guarding the net, who’s worried?
Big Schmikes would be the ultimate six-a-side sweeper keeper – that huge frame would make the goal seem minuscule, and his abilities in one-on-one situations would be a challenge for even the greatest strikers. Keano would be the perfect foil in front of his old no.1, primed and ready to mop up any attack while redeploying his old box-to-box sensibilities to charge forward when the opportunity arose.
It surely is every Reds’ fantasy to imagine a situation where Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo and George Best were somehow team-mates and sharing the same pitch, so please indulge me for the purposes of this scenario. Creativity, power, speed, craft and ingenuity in abundance. The small-sided game requires an instinctive approach and an ability to conjure moments out of nothing, and in this combination of French, Portuguese and Ulsterman, it is there in abundance. They were players who could combine with team-mates with devastating effect, or go it alone when the situation required – perfect for 6v6.
And up front, Denis Law – one of United’s greatest-ever goalscorers and a legendary predator who could smash home every type of goal conceivable. It is admirably attack-minded for my opposite number to choose Wayne Rooney as a sweeper-keeper in nets for the England selection, but I think the goalkeeping novice would have rather a busy baptism of fire when faced with this front four.
The only conceivable way this team could lose – in my opinion – is if the action got a bit heated because let’s be honest, there are some players in this team who had a reputation for being slightly on the hot-headed side. In their United careers, this six shared a mighty 25 red cards between them, so who knows whether they’d all escape the sin bin?
