What if, instead of playing West Ham United or another foreign club in it's annual All Star Game, the MLS pitted it's best players against a Premier League All Star team?
There is already a PFA Team of the Year, voted for by players in the league, but appearing in its ranks represents little more than a consolation prize for not winning the Player of the Year Award.
If the Premier League is so keen to promote its status as the World's best league, why not add some additional players to the selection and send the squad, along with the Manager of the Year, on a money-spinning jaunt around the world every summer? Hey presto, there's your 39th game.
The concept would no doubt be condemned by clubs who would be deprived of their best players for a few days of pre-season. If there were, however, some share of the profits on offer, the Premier League and its members might be able to come to an agreement.
So who should make a Premier League All Star Team? The MLS uses a four-tiered voting system with fans, players, managers and the media each contributing 25% of the total votes.
Here at Row ZZ, we had our own vote and came up with the following squad of 20 (3 Goalkeepers, 6 Defenders, 6 Midfielders and 5 Forwards) along with a manager and assistant. We have automatically included the 2008 PFA Team of the Year members in our squad.
Goalkeepers
David James/Portsmouth (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Edwin van der Saar/Manchester United
Petr Cech/Chelsea
Defenders
Bacary Sagna/Arsenal (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Rio Ferdinand/Manchester United (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Nemanja Vidić/Manchester United (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Gael Clichy/Arsenal (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Joleon Lescott/Everton
Patrice Evra/Manchester United
Midfielders
Cristiano Ronaldo/Manchester United (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Steven Gerrard/Liverpool (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Cesc Fabregas/Arsenal (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Ashley Young/Aston Villa (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Niko Kranjcar/Portsmouth
Gareth Barry/Aston Villa
Forwards
Emmanuel Adebayor/Arsenal (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Fernando Torres/Liverpool (2008 PFA Team of the Year)
Wayne Rooney/Manchester United
Dimitar Berbatov/Tottenham Hotspur
Roque Santa Cruz/Blackburn Rovers
Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson
Assistant: Arsene Wenger
What do you think of this squad? Any glaring omissions? How would it fare against the undefeated MLS All Stars? Watching Ferguson and Wenger work together on the sidelines would at least be entertaining.
Oh, and for the obligatory Halftime Musical Extravaganza, how about a Battle of the Bands - USA vs England? Kaiser Chiefs vs Killers? Jonas Brothers vs McFly? Comment with your suggestions now!
1 comments:
Scrap the Charity Shield, which is absolute rubbish, and stage an all-star game against a team from an invited league. Also run a futures game for under-21 stars, skills contests, veterans vs celebrities game... that kind of thing. It'd be great.
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