Thursday, June 19, 2008

Teams by Letter

I decided to make teams of current soccer players whose names all start with the same letter. Here are the teams I have completed. The team name of each team is my favorite starting with that letter.

Atletico Madrid
GK: Marco Amelia
DF: Abidal, Alex, Agger
MF: Xabi Alonso, Ambrosini, Anderson
FW: Sergio Aguero, Amauri, Adebayor, Adriano

Botafogo (sorry Benfica, but Botafogo are from Brazil)
GK: Gigi Buffon
DF: Bonera, Bocanegra, Wes Brown, Gareth Bale
MF: Ballack, Brocchi
FW: Babel, Boriello, Ballotelli, Berbatov

Crewe Alexandra
GK: Iker Casillas
DF: Cafu, Ashely Cole, Chivu, Cannavaro
MF: Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Camaronesi
FW: Cruz, Crespo, Crouch

(Iker had to work for his spot, because I had Cudicini, Julio Cesar, and Coupet to choose from)

Dynamo Kyiv
GK: Dida
DF: Digao, Demichelis, Da Costa
MF: Davis, Diarra, Diego, Deco
FW: Drogba, Di Natale, Del Piero

Espanyol
GK: Elftheropoulos
DF: Emanuelson, Eboue, Emerson, Evra
MF: Essien, Ernst, Elano
FW: Eto'o, Eduardo, Ezquerro

Fenerbahce
GK: Frey
DF: Favalli, Rio Ferdinand, Ferreia
MF: Flamini, Frings, Figo, Fabregas
FW: Faith, Farias, Luis Fabiano

Gremio
GK: Given
DF: Grosso, Gilberto, Gallas
MF: Gago Gattuso, Gerrard
FW: Govou, Gomez, Gilardino, Giggs

Heerenveen
GK: Hildebrand
DF: Hyypia, Hurtado, Hinkel
MF: Hargreaves, Hassan, Hleb, Hemdani,
FW: Thierry Henry, Higuain, Huntelaar

Internacional (I would have picked any team to avoid putting Inter)
GK: Isaacson
DF: Ibarra, Ismael, Inamoto, Inler
MF: Iniesta, Ince
FW: Invanov, Inzaghi, Ibrahimovic, Iaquinta

Juventude (I'd do anything to avoid writing Juventus)
GK: James
DF: Jankulovski, Juan, Johnson, Jonathan
MF: Jenas, Joaquin, Jorgenson, Jurado
FW: Jo, Jerome

Kilmarnock
GK: Kasey Keller
DF: Kaladze, Robert Kovac,
MF: Niko Kovc, Niko Kranjcar, Kuyt, Kaka
FW: Klose, Bojan Krkic, Kalou, Roy Kean

Liverpool (my English team, I guess)
GK: Lehmann (sorry Loris, you're not experienced enough)
DF: Lahm, Luisao, Lucio
MF: Lampard, Leyva, Lulinha, Ljungberg
FW: Lucarelli, Larsson, Lopez

Milan (Forza Milan!)
GK: Jose Moreira
DF: Maicon, Maldini, Makelele, Materazzi
MF: Mascherano, Mancini, Maniche
FW: McBride, Mutu, Messi

Newcastle
GK: Nikopolidis
DF: Nelson, Neville, Nesta, Nasuti
MF: Nihat, Nani, Nakamura, Nedved
FW: Nacho Novo, Neymar


I'll finish the second half of the alphabet later!
Here it is:

Oldham Athletic (there aren't a lot of teams starting with O)
GK: Ochoa
DF: Massimo Oddo, Ortiz, Osorio, John O'shea
MF: Ovalle, Owamoyela, Ortega
F: Michael Owen, Oliviera, Osvaldo

(The players on this team aren't as obscure as they may seem. O'shea plays for Man Utd., Oddo for Milan, and Ochoa is one of the best Mexican goalkeepers and plays for America.)

Penarol (you won't see me rooting for Nacional!)
GK: Pletikosa
DF: Pique, Puyol, Pannuci,
MF: Pele, Pirlo, Park Ji Sung, Petit
FW: Pato, Pavlyochenko, Podolski

Q
I really can't find 11 players whose names start with Q. Here is my starting 6:
GK: Quim
DF: Queudrue
MF: Quaresma, Quagliarella
FW: Quaranta, Quinteros

Rangers (should I have picked Real Salt Lake?)
GK: Pepe Reina
DF: Sergio Ramos, Riise, Rat, Rojas
MF: Cristiano Ronaldo, Robinho, Ribery
FW: Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rooney

Sao Paulo
GK: Stekelenburg
DF: Skrtl, Willy Sagnol, Alexandre Song, Senderos
MF: Seedorf, Schweinsteiger, Scholes, Sneijder
FW: Saviola, Shevchenko

Toluca
GK: Toldo
DF: John terry, Kolo Toure, Thuram
MF: Yaya Toure, Tiago,
F: Totti, Luca Toni, Tevez, Fernando Torres

Uwara Reds
Again, I cannot find 11 guys whose names begin with U. Here's my starting 9:
GK: Ustari
DF: Udeze. Ujfalusi, Upson, Urbano
MF: Umesaki, Uche
FW: Urzaiz, Utaka

Valencia (or Villareal. I honestly don't know the difference)
GK: Victor Valdes ( I know I should pick Van der sar, but VV is my favorite goalie!)
DF: Vidic, Van Bronkhorst, Van Buyten, Vermaelen
MF: Veloso, Viera, Veron
FW: Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Van Nistelrooy, David Villa, Van Persie

West Bromwich Albion Football Club (how grand!)
GK: Ian Walker
DF: Worley, Woodgate, Whittaker, Webster
MF: Wicky, Wagner, Whitehead
FW: Walcott, Wiltord, Washington

X
Are you kidding me? Here's some. Be happy with that!
DF: Xavier
MF: Xavi
FW: Francisco Xisco, Francisco Xisco (Football Database. com claims they are different people, but they are both 21 and born 1 day apart. I'm skeptical!)

York City (They play in Confernece National, the league below division 2)
GK: Yorke (This guy is actually a striker who plays for Sunderland)
DF: Yobo, Yanbaev, Yepes, Young
MF:Yacob, Yakin, Yeste, Yang, Yu, Yakubu

Zenit
GK: Zieler
DF: Zambrotta, Javier Zanetti, Zapata, Zauri
MF: Cristiano Zanetti, Zableta, Zinha, Zokora
FW: Zamora, Zurawski

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"Hockey ought to be sternly forbidden, as it is not only annoying but dangerous." Halifax Morning Sun, quoted in Michael McKinley's Hockey - A People's History