Merry Christmas to all....And the best 11 of the decade

Merry Christmas to all....Been working long hours, so my blog has suffered from my absence.The blogging football world may have benefited though..:).

Dominic Raynor and the writers at Soccernet.com have selected their team of the departing decade.Click the link if your interested.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=717519&sec=reviewofthedecade&root=reviewofthedecade&cc=5901

Italy fared very well in this opinion piece.And deservedly so.It was a great decade with a European Final painfully lost to France in a Golden Goal moment along with a redemptive World Cup victory in Germany 06 against the same French side.Proving the soccer Universe also strived for balance this decade.

What made me most happy with this selection was the selection of Andrea Pirlo as the best Central midfielder in the last 10 years.Pirlo has always been seen as a great player but never mentioned in the conversation as the elite play making midfielder.

 John Brewin Posits that:

The deep-lying playmaker has been another position very much in vogue during the decade. Its best exponent, ahead of the likes of Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Juan Roman Riquelme, Paul Scholes and Juan Sebastian Veron, has been AC Milan's Pirlo. Metronomic in his rhythm and balletic in his ability to get out of tight situations, Pirlo won two Champions Leagues with Milan and a World Cup with his country during the decade.

   


The article wraps up with the Soccernet staff making its selections.A fair and insightful piece.

Merry Christmas