Originally Posted by
Supreme feet
GK - Given
RB - Finnan
CB - Cunningham
CB - Collins
LB - Harte
RM - McAteer
CM - Roy Keane
CM - Cullen
LM - Duff
CF - Robbie Keane
CF - Morrison
Subs: Bazunu, Kiely; Doherty, D. O'Shea, Egan, G. Kelly; Kilbane, S. Reid, Holland, Kinsella; Quinn, Obafemi.
If we were playing the World Cup final tomorrow, that's what I'd pick. You'd have to go with top-flight experience, lads who played against internationals week-in, week-out, and had been part of a successful qualifying campaign, and done it against the likes of Portugal and Holland.
Cunningham was very hard-done-by to lose out to Staunton in that WC, imo, and would be a good foil for Collins. Finnan is nailed on. Harte for his set pieces and the paucity of better defensive options. Cullen just about gets in over Holland, though I'd be tempted to try Steven Reid beside Keane for the box-to-box athleticism and power he had back then, and the freedom Keane would allow him to get forward and unleash his cannon of a right foot. McAteer gets in on his form/goals in qualifying. Morrison over all of our current strikers, he'd scored over 60 career goals in the First Division before that World Cup, aged 23; Quinn didn't have 90 minutes in him, and Duff was much better on the left.
So, a 9-2 split in the starting lineup, and 16-7 in favour of 2002, with some recency bias. I think that just about reflects where we are now. 2002 wasn't a limited squad that fluked its way to the last sixteen. It was a very talented, experienced, tough, well-balanced group, well into its development, with several elite-level players, and others with elite club-level and prior WC experience.
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