FIFPRO World XI Shortlist

Evening folks.

So, that FIFPRO World XI Shortlist, eh? This writer is of the opinion that it's an absolute joke. There are some players on the list who simply should not be there for 2011, while there are some glaring omissions. So many glaring omissions, in fact, that I reckon you could put together a pretty decent team out of them. Here goes:

GK: David De Gea (Man Utd, Spain U21)
RB: Maxi Pereira (Benfica, Uruguay)
CB: Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
CB: Adil Rami (Valencia, France)
LB: Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid, Portugal)
DM: Diego Perez (Bologna, Uruguay)
CM: Toni Kroos (Bayern Munchen, Germany)
AMR: Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
AML: Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Argentina)
AMC: Marek Hamsik (Napoli, Slovakia)
ST: Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, Argentina)

Pretty strong, eh? Additionally, this line-up, unlike most of these "fantasy teams" would actually work as a team. The addition of Diego Perez as the midfield destroyer would offer freedom to both full-backs, who are extremely adventurous, to roam forward. The attacking wide players, Gotze and Lavezzi, are interchangeable, and swapping them would add even more creativity to a talented attacking central midfield (where Kroos and Hamsik are also interchangeable, offering different styles of support to Higuain), and also create even more space in attacking wide positions for Maxi and Coentrao. There's a pretty handy collection of subs available, too:

GK: Justo Villar (Valladolid and Paraguay)
DFs: Diego Lugano (Paris S-G and Uruguay), Alvaro Pereira (Porto and Uruguay)
MFs: Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid and Turkey), Luka Modric (Tottenham and Croatia), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona, Argentina), Arturo Vidal (Juventus, Chile)
STs: Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona, Chile), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese, Italy), Pedro (Barcelona, Spain)