Rank 14, WorldCupStory Club Index 22,399
Atletico Madrid World Cup XI Dream Team
| Atletico Madrid | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Country | WCups | Games | Mins | Goals | Capt | |
| GK | Leo Franco | Argentina | 1 | 1 | 49 | 0 | 0 |
| RB | Tomás | Spain | 1 | 5 | 405 | 0 | 0 |
| CB | Pablo | Spain | 1 | 3 | 270 | 0 | 0 |
| CB | Marcelino | Spain | 1 | 3 | 270 | 0 | 0 |
| LB | Ramón Heredia | Argentina | 1 | 6 | 540 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | José Luis Caminero | Spain | 1 | 4 | 315 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Tiago | Portugal | 1 | 4 | 298 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Maxi Rodríguez | Argentina | 1 | 5 | 495 | 3 | 0 |
| ST | Fernando Torres | Spain | 1 | 4 | 290 | 3 | 0 |
| ST | Christian Vieri | Italy | 1 | 5 | 431 | 5 | 0 |
| ST | Diego Forlán | Uruguay | 1 | 7 | 654 | 5 | 1 |
| 11 | 47 | 4017 | 22 | 1 |
It’s a curate’s egg of a team; a weak defence with little World Cup pedigree, supporting a highly effective and goal scoring attack.
It is a struggle to find an Atletico Madrid World Cup goalkeeper, and Leo Franco has a mere 49 minutes of action behind him. Across the back four, there are 3 journeyman Spaniards and an Argentinian from the class of 1974 which was not a great vintage. The one goal provided by Ramon Heredia can be seen as a bonus, but is not really needed given the consistent goal threat of the front six.
Across midfield, we have Jose Luis Caminero, from 1994, Portugal’s Tiago providing bite, and Maxi Rodriguez who looked far more assured in the World Cup for Argentina than playing at Anfield.
But the 3 strikers would really give a big headache to the opposition defence. This Fernando Torres comes with alice band and goals! Christian Vieri is Italy’s joint top World Cup goal scorer with 9 overall, and Diego Forlan’s 2010 performance in South Africa was good enough to win him the golden ball, as player of the tournament.
The big question is can the defence hold out against quality opposition? If so, this team would be in with a fighting chance against anyone, but I fear the answer to the question would be a resounding ‘no’.
