Euro 2004 Best XI

Edwin VAN DER SAR

After Juventus dropped him in favor of Gigi Buffon three years ago and signing for mediocre Fulham,
the lanky 'keeper had practically said "goodbye" to the highest stages of European football. At age
33, van der Sar who is arguably the strongest 'keeper in Europe when it comes to football skills,
had a remarkable tournament behind one of the weakest back lines of all 16 participants. Even
though the Dutch lost their close battle to the Czech's, van der Sar put on a scintillating display of
goalkeeping. His crucial saves against Mellberg's penalty and numerous saves against Portugal even
had Holland on the brink of making the Final.

Marek JANKULOVSKI

A tireless runner who holds it down in the centre of the pitch for Udinese but helps out at left back
for the Czech Republic just as nicely. Joining Napoli at age 23 he had to play in Serie B in his 2nd
year in Italy after the "Il Ciuccio" were relegated. Snapped up by Udinese he had two impressive
seasons at the Friaul and he wanted to use the Euro as commercial for himself. Which he did with
ever-improving play, his best match being the Semifinal loss to the Greeks. It will be interesting to
see whether he becomes even better in a (left) midfield role after Nedved's retirement.

RICARDO Alberto Silveira CARVALHO

The Porto defender missed out on a personal triple just by centimetres. After having claimed his
second straight league title and an unbelievable Champions League after the club had already taken
the UEFA Cup the year before and just missing out on the Portuguese Cup, Ricardo Carvalho and his
men only had to surrender to the Greeks in the Final. While many experts think of Jorge Andrade
as the Portuguese cornerstone in defense, I prefer Ricardo Carvalho because he is a much better
passer of the ball and a "cleaner" defender, i.e. he doesn't foul as much. Jorge Andrade's own goal
against the Dutch also helped me make that decision.

Traianos DELLAS

Even though he only managed a total of 22 league appearances in his last two seasons at Roma,
Greece coach Rehhagel, who always had a soft spot for huge defenders, stood by his "Colossus
of Rhodos". And Dellas paid him back big time: He marshalled a Greek defense that only allowed
four goals against in qualification and even managed to step it up even further successively shutting
out defending Champions France, title favorites Czech Republic and hosts Portugal in the Tournament. His thumping header against the Czech's threw the door into the Final wide open and after already
having rendered Raúl, Henry and Baros useless, the blunt Pauleta was naturally no challenge for the
1,97m defender.

Giourkas SEITARIDIS

The Greek right back who is joining Porto on a €4 million transfer already had Taggart screaming
"Who the f*** is this Giourkas?!?" as early as March 2001 after the then 19-year-old nobody had
just smashed a mighty 25 meter strike past a hapless Barthez as his Panathinaikos side tied
Man United at home. Offers by Monaco and Valencia for the son of Dimitris Seitaridis, a former star
striker for Panathinaikos, were logically subsequently rejected and Seitaridis eventually made the
transition from the Greek U-21 side to the senior team without problems. At this time having just
turned 23 years old, Seitaridis is completely sound defensively but jaw-dropping are his surges down
the right wing. When he starts one of those inimitable solo runs, there is no stopping the rapid and
technically skilled defender.

Theodoros ZAGORAKIS

Before the Euro, few people outside Greece (and Leicester for that matter) will have known the
combative Greek captain. Even though he is the most capped current Greek international, having
appeared over 80 times for his country, the performances of his team have not really made him
happy, missing out on two consecutive Euro's (1996 and 2000) and two World Cup's (1998 and
2002). Being dependable as a Swiss watch, Zagorakis has never missed more than a hand full of
matches during any season in his 15-year-career and now at age 32, he is experiencing it's
absolute pinnacle. The overall leader in tackles of the tournament has crushed the guts of players
like Deco, Raúl, Zidane or Rosický, taking away their enjoyment of the game with his aggressive
play. He delivered the proof that he is more than just a destroyer when he made Charisteas's goal
in the Quarterfinals which dethroned the defending Champions France.

Cristiano RONALDO

Lined up to replace Beckham at Man United, this 19-year-old kid could had hardly have faced a
tougher task in one of Europe's premier leagues. In his first season with the Red Devils he featured
in 39 matches, scoring a decent 5 goals. With rough & tough Portuguese coach Scolari however,
Ronaldo was not having such an easy time. A fringe player by the start of the tournament, Scolari
soon had to realise that over-the-hill stars like Rui Costa or overrated mediocre players like Simão
would not be going to cut it for him and that he needed the creativity and ball control of Ronaldo.
The Madeira born teenager would bring much more than this to the table. Crucial goals like his
opener against the Netherlands and key assists like the pass to Rui Costa which finished off the
Russians made it impossible for "Felipão" to exclude him again.

Karel POBORSKÝ

The formerly long-maned winger with the brilliant right foot had pissed most of his promising
career down the toilet. Rewind. After bursting onto the scene with fellow later superstars Nedved,
Smicer and Berger at Euro '96 where he scored one of the greatest goals of all time with a brilliant
lob against a Vítor Baía who came rushing out, Poborský signed for Man United and spent the next
two seasons on the hard bench of Old Trafford. Realising he needed to leave, he picked Benfica as
his target who were currently "enjoying" an extended phase of huge unsuccessfulness. 29 years
old by now, he took heart and jumped ship to Lazio where he became one of the best wingers in
Serie A. And just when you had gotten accustomed to Poborský finally fulfilling his potential, he
calls it quits with the Romans and rejoins his old club Sparta Praha. Out of the confidence of having
returned home after a long journey, Poborský meanwhile (relatively) short-haired, played another
inspiring Euro, topped the assists charts with four goals created and helped his side to the
Semifinals only coming up short against eventual European Champions Greece.

Frank LAMPARD

Players are currently arriving and leaving at Chelsea like on a good day at Heathrow Airport but
this man is certainly staying put. One of the few English players to really impress me in the past
10 years, Lampard is hard-working and a dangerous goalscorer at the same time. And he showed
all of these qualities at the Euro, heading England into the lead against the French, made sure of
victory against the Croats with his one-man counter attack and last but certainly not least earned
England a penalty shootout with Portugal with brilliant turn-around shot in extra time. With
Beckham continually struggling for England, he would be a natural successor as captain as he is
already leading the younger players (Dyer, Hargreaves, Rooney) by example.

Milan BAROS

After scoring a total of two goals for Liverpool last season, who would have thought he would
become one of the MAJOR stars of the Euro? After breaking an ankle in last September, it took
Milan six months to recover and when was fit again struggled to break into Houllier's starting
eleven. Which might have been a blessing in disguise as he appeared to be in tiptop shape in
the 5 games he played en route to become the tournament topscorer. His biggest strength is his
unpredictability however. In one moment he is invisible and in the next he dribbles straight at the
defense more often than not capping it off with a match-winning goal (his goal-scoring record is
now an impressive 21/30 for the national team). Strong, with good pace and equally strong with
either foot, we will hear a lot of the 22-year-old forward in the future.

Wayne ROONEY

"Rooney, isn't that the little fat guy who plays for England?" a couple of my friends joked when
asked about the English striker before the tournament. Three weeks later, there isn't a football
fan in Germany (or Europe for that matter) who doesn't know who the "goalscoring goblin" is.
Those who did know him before, knew that he had a solid but not spectacular goalscoring record
for Everton, one of the lesser teams in the Premiership, at age 17. What even they didn't know
is that he has the pace to leave behind some of Europe's best defenders, the springs to elevate
his stocky 1,80m to head in goals against opponents much bigger than him, the prolificness of a
10-year-veteran (he only needed 7 shots for his 5 goals!) and the heart to track back every loose
ball and rough up defenders left and right. What even the most faithful Everton supporters won't
have known is the vision of the game, this 18-year-old kid has. The best example was the game
against Croatia where instead of blindly hammering the ball towards the goal (what could have
been expected of an 18-year-old in front of the open goal) but headed the ball on to Scholes who
was in better position for the equalizer. The only question remaining: What will Rooney become?
Another Owen? Or another Fowler?

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Most Valuable Player : Dellas (GRE)
Most Improved Player : Baros (CZE)
Rookie Of The Tournament : Rooney (ENG)
Coach Of The Tournament : Rehhagel (GRE)

Offensive Player Of Euro 2004 : Baros (CZE)
Defensive Player Of Euro 2004 : Dellas (GRE)
Goalkeeper Of Euro 2004 : van der Sar (NED)
Substitute Of Euro 2004 : Heinz (CZE)

For comments, additions and corrections, please mail
tim@soccer-europe.com

Tim Leidecker


Ronaldo	Lampard	Poborsky
(Portugal)	(England)	(Czech Republic)

Jankulovski	Carvalho	Dellas	Seitaridis
(Czech Republic)	(Portugal)	(Greece)	(Greece)