LaLiga all-time World Cup XI
Leo Messi scored his first World Cup Knockout Stage goal in Argentina’s 2-1 win over Australia on Saturday night. Cristiano Ronaldo will no doubt want to redouble his efforts to match his nemesis once more, however futile it may prove to be in the eyes of many.
Messi’s goal was his ninth in World Cup finals, taking him past Diego Maradona and Guillermo Stábile in Argentina’s goalscoring charts. Only Gabriel Batistuta (10) is ahead of him. He has also played more World Cup matches than any other Argentine, or South American for that matter. Only two Germans are ahead of him in the appearance list.
It raises the question of who would get into an all-time playing XI from World Cups. Naturally, Brazil would feature heavily, with glorious sides conquering all in a record five victorious campaigns.
As with so many debates around players and constructing all-time lineups, it is impossible to please everybody. Nonetheless, here is an attempt at a Men’s World Cup XI. There is one important qualification: this is La Liga Lowdown, so all included players must have played in LaLiga at some stage of their careers. We have players who have scored multiple goals in finals, Golden Boot winners, winning-captains, and a couple of picks which may be up for debate.
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Iker Casillas
San Iker, the man who lifted the World Cup as Spain’s first and (so far) only winning captain. He didn’t concede a single goal in the knockouts, as Spain won narrowly in every round. The standout moment was that save against his former-Real Madrid team-mate, Arjen Robben, in the final. Had that gone in, it would have been the Dutch who were celebrating their first championship.
Fabio Cannavaro
Another Real Madrid player who lifted the famous trophy as captain, albeit he only joined Los Blancos that summer along with Fabio Capello. Cannavaro led the Italian defence, which proved to be the toughest of nuts to crack. The only goals they conceded in the tournament were an own goal and that Zinedine Zidane penalty in the final. Being held in Germany, Cannavaro was nicknamed Il Muro di Berlino, or The Berlin Wall by Italian fans. He won the Ballon d’Or that year before back-to-back LaLiga titles.
Carles Puyol
Another Spaniard in the team, Puyol epitomised the collective spirit of Vicente del Bosque’s team in 2010, defending for their lives and giving everything for their teammates. For Puyol, the iconic moment was the winner in the semi-final, the towering header against Germany which will live long in the memory of Spaniards, second only to Andrés Iniesta’s extra-time strike in the final.
Cafu
While another of Brazil’s marauding full-backs has a closer link to LaLiga, Cafu did play at Real Zaragoza for a single season in 1994/95, as a World champion too. The most-capped player in Brazil history (142), Cafu was a two-time winner and a runner-up, lifting the trophy as captain in 2002. Indeed, he is the only player in World Cup history to play in three consecutive finals (1994-2002). A tenuous LaLiga link perhaps, but an undoubted World Cup hall of famer.
Didier Deschamps
An all-French central midfield is anchored by the water-carrier. Deschamps was the glue which binded the team on home soil, beating the mighty Brazil in Paris in 1998. He went on to win the World Cup as coach two decades later, putting him in an elite club of three along with Mário Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer – the only men to win the World Cup as a player and as a coach. Deschamps is eligible for inclusion courtesy of the final move in his playing career, a season at Valencia.
Zinedine Zidane
One of the all-time greats of the game, with a connection to LaLiga that can rival almost anyone else on this list. Zizou was the talisman in 98, scoring a brace of headers in the final and winning the Ballon d’Or later that year. Then, at the end of his playing career, his five years at Real Madrid preceded the 2006 tournament in Germany. His performance in the quarter-final against Brazil was one of the best individual displays in World Cup history, and his career seemed set for a fairytale ending in the final. The audacity he showed to score a Panenka penalty with Gianluigi Buffon staring him down was followed by the infamy of being sent off for a headbutt on Marco Materazzi. The image of Zidane walking past the trophy, head bowed, is one of the coldest images in football history. He then enhanced his status in LaLiga by coaching Real Madrid to the historic three-peat of Champions League titles.
Johann Cruyff
One of only two players in the line-up who did not win the World Cup at any stage. A Barcelona legend as a player and coach, Cruyff’s Netherlands team brought Total Football to the World, the lineage of which is still in evidence in the modern game. A treble-winner of the Ballon d’Or and runner-up in the 1974 World Cup. He scored a brace in a thumping 4-0 win over Argentina before adding another to help defeat Brazil. They only fell to hosts West Germany. Curiously, he also played briefly for Levante in the Segunda.
Diego Maradona
The name speaks for itself. 1986 in Mexico. The most iconic goal of all time after the most infamous. Maradona dragged Argentina to the title almost single-handedly, and it earned him an untouchable God-like status among Albiceleste fans. A younger Maradona had already played for Barcelona and would later join Sevilla. He also led Argentina to the final at Italia 90, including a highly-charged match in Naples against the hosts Italy, where Neapolitans were torn over who to support. Argentina won on penalties with Maradona scoring the deciding spot-kick. He was sent home from the United States in 1994 after testing positive for a banned substance, but this cannot take away his legacy.
Leo Messi
Another who has not won the World Cup. Yet. The greatest of all time? Fairly or unfairly, many will only decide that at the end of this edition in Qatar. Messi is three games away from immortality. If he reaches the final, he will surpass Lothar Matthäus as the player with the most appearances in World Cups, and of course by winning it he would emulate Diego Maradona. As of right now his inclusion in this XI is potentially controversial, but with the LaLiga stipulation, of course he gets in. How could he not?
Mario Kempes
Another Argentine forward, another legend. Valencia fans will rejoice to see him in this lineup, and it is richly deserved. As Maradona did in 1986, you can argue that Kempes did similar in 1978, under arguably more pressure. In their home tournament, Kempes was tournament top-scorer as Argentina became champions of the World for the very first time. He scored braces against Poland and Brazil in the Second Round before another double in the final at Estadio Monumental, including the eventual winner in extra time.
Ronaldo
The original and the best. The phenomenon. From not playing a minute in the triumph of 1994 to the anguish in Paris in 1998, Ronaldo’s redemption was complete in 2002. Only Miroslav Klose (16) has scored more goals in World Cups than R9 (15). Ronaldo had ripped it up in LaLiga for Barcelona before his move to Inter Milan, where he soon became widely regarded as the best player in the World. In 1998 the expectation and pressure was immense, and he suffered a seizure on the day of the final. Despite being cleared to play after undergoing hospital tests, it was apparent he was not right. The ordeal had affected his teammates too, losing comprehensively to hosts France. He touched the sky in Japan and South Korea four years later, scoring a brace in the final to banish all the ghosts of the past. He joined Real Madrid that same summer.