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The FC Edmonton keeper and Canadian International reveals the ten South American players he would most like to play with to form his ideal starting eleven.
Related:
My Perfect Ten: Doneil Henry
RB – Maicon, Manchester City – He is a right back who really gets forward a lot and who is very attack oriented because he is Brazilian. I still remember a goal he scored in the World Cup where he came down the right side and took a shot with the outside of his foot when he was pretty much on the line and scored.
CB – Mario Yepes, A.C. Milan – He’s a big presence, who late in his career joined the biggest team he has played for and he did very well. I think that was due to the fact that, like a goalkeeper, he plays a very experience oriented position. I think he is a great presence in the back and will make any goalkeeper feel secure.
CB – Luis Amaranto Perea, Cruz Azul – Another solid defender who has had a great career in Europe. Not too many Colombians last in Europe for a very long time, but he is one who played for Atletico Madrid for a very long time and who has done very well and had a lot of success.
LB – Rafael, Manchester United – A young kid who has impressed me from the very beginning. He is a good overall player and the fact that he is at one of the biggest clubs in the world and has stayed there gives hope to guys like me. I’m happy that he is a young player who has done so well.
CM James Rodríguez, Porto – Another young kid who is just brilliant. He has been playing really well for Porto over the last couple of years and has come onto the Colombian Men’s National Team and worn the number 10. To wear the number 10 after Valderrama and to have done as well as he has is very impressive. He is a kid who is younger than I am and I think he has the potential to be as good as Valderrama.
CM Javier Mascherano, Barcelona – Look at the clubs that he has played for. He has great vision and is just a great holding midfielder in general. He is a consistently solid player. Even when he went to a team like Barcelona, he started on the bench because they have such a great team. But he made his way into the starting lineup and has never left since.
RM – Javier Zanetti, Inter Milan – He brings experience. He’s 39 years old now and has consistently played and excelled at the highest level. He’s won the Champions League and done well in World Cup qualifiers for decades. For a guy to keep playing at his age and to so well, I think he embodies what a captain and a veteran player should be. He is just wonderful to watch and he would be the captain of my team.
LM – Esteban Cambiasso, Inter Milan – I’ve always like him. He has been a hard worker and has played every position on the field. He is like Zanetti in the sense that he has been around for a while playing at the highest level of football in the world and has consistently done well and had an impact. And when I say that he has had an impact, I don’t mean it is because he has scored. For the regular fan who doesn’t know too much about the finer points of soccer, they would probably watch him and say that he is a guy who never does anything. But as a keeper who really appreciates the art of defending like I do, he is an overall great player who has always done his job and been solid at the highest level.
F – Lionel Messi, Barcelona – The fact that he just broke the record for goals scored in a calendar year pretty much says it all. He is an amazing player who is brilliant to watch. Messi is what players like Gretzky and Crosby are to hockey. He turns people who aren’t fans into soccer fans. He is equivalent to what Vince Carter did when he won the NBA Dunk competition, what Michael Jordan did when won all those Championship rings and what Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are doing today. They make people who don’t watch basketball into NBA fans. Messi does that for football. He amazes people into becoming soccer fans.
F – Falcao, Atlético Madrid – He is just unstoppable right now. Falcao is a great player who works hard, grinds out every game and leaves everything on the field. He is a versatile striker who can shoot with both feet, head the ball and run with the fastest and keep up with the fittest players. He has brought hope to Columbia with respect to the World Cup.
Lean more about David’s Charity organization, Kick It Again, at http://kickitagain.ca and his upcoming Celebrity Futbol clinic at http://www.futskills.com.
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