Maradona

A selection of writers and broadcasters from The Athletic - plus a few other familiar faces - pick their all-time World Cup teams.

In my lifetime, only six nations (Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France and Italy) have won it, which leaves over half the team with either non-winners or historic champs that I’ve only ever encountered in the history books. I never really saw Pele or Maradona play, so they’re out, but I have done a lot of YouTube “research” on Cruyff, who becomes the on-pitch tactician/magician. I’ve abandoned caution (and balance) in midfield but I’m sure they’d be able to figure out what to do. At right-back, we have Stephen Tataw, the captain of the great Cameroon side that reached the quarter-finals in 1990. Honestly, this has hurt my head (and heart) so much that I really don’t want to talk about it. I tried to have a bias in here towards players I have actually seen play but that is quite difficult to do. Franz Beckenbauer sweeping (apologies to Lothar Matthaus), Carlos Valderrama orchestrating, Diego Maradona wreaking havoc in the hole behind a front three of Cristiano Ronaldo (sorry Eusebio), Davor Suker and Pele? Some decades ago in an assignment as a rookie reporter, I had to pick my favourite five players. This team reflects the fact that players’ legacies were defined by World Cups in the 20th century. So that’s two greatest players of this generation out of the way. I only got to see Carlos Valderrama at a World Cup and what’s not to like about a strawberry blond perm-and-tache combo. N’Kono was in the running because he inspired Gigi Buffon to become a goalkeeper.