UEFA Announces 2009 Team of the Year Nominees.

UEFA have announced their annual Team of the Year submissions and, as one would expect, a quick glance nominates the theme as “Who would you nominate for substitution into the Barcelona starting lineup?“.

They say it’s the Team of the Year, the Team of 2009, but as football fans we’re conditioned to believe a “year” is not January to December, but rather the year’s opening kickoff to the final whistle. Which is why, whether subconsciously or consciously, with the fans voting this team will look an awful lot like the Team of 08-09 rather than Team of the 08-09 Knockouts, 83.3% of the 09-10 Group Stages & Some World Cup Qualifiers*.

* – Without a UEFA competition the magnitude of the Euros, you can be sure Champions League and domestic performances will dominate the basis of votes. Also makes it more even, as those not from Europe get a fair shake.

Unsurprisingly, should you so choose, you could nearly run out a Barcelona starting XI full with Pep on the sidelines. The only problem is Yaya and Xavi are dueling for a central midfield spot whilst attacking midfielder is the only spot devoid of a Catalonian shirt (Iniesta is out left).

UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona lead the nominations with eleven players plus coach Josep Guardiola in the running, while beaten finalists Manchester United FC have six players plus manager Sir Alex Ferguson facing the vote. In total, 23 clubs have players or a coach on the shortlist. There is no shortage of familiar faces among the nominees with ten of the 12 winners from 2008 again under scrutiny. In addition, Barcelona captain Carles Puyol, who has been selected in four of the previous eight Teams of the Year, is again up for selection. However, with the likes of VfL Wolsburg trio Edin Džeko, Grafite and Marcel Schäfer, Werder Bremen’s Mesut Özil, Miloš Krasić (PFC CSKA Moskva and Serbia) and Marek Hamšík (SSC Napoli and Slovakia) among those in the running for the first time, the list also has a fresh feel.

Hamsik gets the rare honor of nomination despite not playing in Europe either season – the same goes for Manuel Neuer.

Keeper: Edwin van der Sar (ManU), Julio Cesar (Inter), Iker Casillas (Spain), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Victor Valdes (Barcelona)

Right-back: Dani Alves (Barcelona), Maicon (Inter), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar), Javier Zanetti (Inter), Philipp Lahm (Bayern)

Central defender (two): John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (ManU), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Rio Ferdinand (ManU), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Dmytro Chygrynskiy (Shakhtar/Barcelona), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Bruno Alves (porto)

Left-back: Patrice Evra (ManU), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Aly Cissokho (Porto), Marcel Schafer (Wolfsburg)

Right midfield: Cristiano Ronaldo (ManU/Real Madrid), Dejan Stankovic (Inter), Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Marek Hamsik (Napoli)

Central midfield: Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool/Real Madrid), Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Sergei Semak (Rubin Kazan), Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Attacking midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Kaka (Milan/Real Madrid), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Zvjezdan Misimovic (Wolfsburg), Diego (Werder Bremen/Juventus)

Left midfield: Ryan Giggs (ManU), Franck Ribery (Bayern), Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Mesut Ozil (Werder Bremen)

Forward (two): Samuel Eto’o (Barca/Inter), Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg), Grafite (Wolfsburg), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Wayne Rooney (ManU), David Villa (Valencia), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter/Barca), Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), Marcus Berg (Groningen/HSV)*

* – Berg has undoubtedly been given a spot due to his whirlwind tour de goals performance at the UEFA u21 championships this summer.

Whilst picking the should-be team is always fun, it’s only so up until the point chairs begin flying and someone insults someone else’s dead mother. So instead we’ll delve into the psyche of the average football fan apt to vote in this type of thing (teenage-d, lives at home, still sees Proactiv as a viable product rather than annoying commercial, etc).

Of course this won’t stop at least one for deeming are selections stoopid are failing to read this little bit.

Goalkeeper: Iker is kind of a prizefighter world champion right now – someone will have to knock him out to take his throne. That has not happened. (Plus girls like him – don’t underestimate that.)

Right-back: Despite his ability to beat even gravity to ground, Dani Alves was The Piece which transformed Barcelona from good to great. Most fans likely realize this.

Central defender: These would be tough if not for the fact that both John Terry & Carles Puyol tend to do extraordinarily well in these things. One of the two has been in every team for the last five years, and they’ve even paired up two of the last four years. Lovers reunite.

Left-back: Evra. For reasons which are difficult to explain, but it will be Evra.

Right midfield: As with Iker, don’t underestimate the fangirls. Or guys who score lots of goals.

Central midfield: Can only be Xavi, yes?

Attacking midfield: A tricky one: will they go Gerrard or Kaka? Given Gerrard’s injury woes and the fact that Kaka has been mighty brilliant at times for Madrid, it’s likely to be Ricky.

Left midfield: It should be Iniesta, as it was he not Messi dubbed the best player in the world at times during Barcelona’s knockout run, but never underestimate the fan aspect and thus Ribery. Not that Franck doesn’t deserve consideration on his own merits, but he’s a name. They tend to do well.

We’ll still nominate Andres.

Striker: Lionel is red-carpeted into the team, obviously. One would like to think that Forlan’s staggering spring run in which he single-handedly lifted his club to Europe, as well as better than 1 in 2 ratio this year, would be rewarded, but he likely hasn’t made enough of a bang on the European stage. Could be Torres. Could be Eto’o. Could be Zlatan. Will almost definitely be a flip of the coin, and Eto’o sounds just as likely as any.

Coach: Pep’s debut and by some margin.

And so this is your predicted XI, rather than the XI we would choose (not a great deal far off, however).

Casillas
Alves, Terry, Puyol, Evra
Ronaldo, Xavi, Kaka, Iniesta
Messi, Eto’o

You can check back after January 8th to see how wrong we were.

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football