UEFA Announces Its Team Of 2009; Or: Barcelona’s Good.

UEFA has announced their team of the year for 2009, as voted by the fans, and as expected it looks an awful lot like Barcelona’s first team plus a couple of stragglers they invited to the Nou Camp. (Good stragglers, mind you.) And even more than that, the team was dominated by Spain, as only two participants earn their paychecks in a competition not named La Liga. At least currently.

Without further ado, the team:

Casillas
Alves, Terry, Puyol, Evra
Ronaldo, Xavi, Kaka, Iniesta
Messi, Ibrahimovic

Coach: Pep.

None of this is surprising and none of really that bad. In fact it’s better than the XI’s to which we’re usually privy – at least the ones voted on by fans.

And though everyone’s wearing their current kits, there are a couple of teams of Italian teams which add a say in matters – both sides of the Giuseppe Meazza to be specific – and Manchester United, who bump their contribution up to 1.5.

But this isn’t the important stuff. What we really want to know is…how well did we predict the winners?

Close. So close it hurts.

Predictions:

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

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.

There will be no lottery playing at The Offside Global Headquarters this evening.

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Category: World Football