From Banks to Pele and Ronaldo: A World Cup all-time XI

Paris (AFP) – From the goalkeeping heroics of Gordon Banks to Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ and ‘O Rei’ Pele, AFP Sport selects a team of 11 of the greatest players in World Cup history:

Gordon Banks (England)

Banks was the goalkeeper when England won the World Cup on home soil in 1966, although he is best remembered for an incredible save, low down to his right, to deny Pele in a group-stage encounter in Mexico 1970. Banks, who spent most of his club career with Leicester City and Stoke City, eventually had to retire from professional football after losing the sight in one eye in a car crash in 1972.

Cafu and Roberto Carlos (Brazil)

Together, these two Brazilians revolutionised the role of the full-back, Cafu on the right and Roberto Carlos on the left. Right-back Cafu, who starred for Roma and AC Milan, played in the Brazil team that won the 1994 World Cup and was captain in 2002, by which time Real Madrid great Roberto Carlos was also part of the side. Both played in the 1998 final defeat against France.

Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)

Known as ‘Der Kaiser’, Beckenbauer was the first great libero, dominating games from the back in his role as a sweeper. The Bayern Munich legend played in the 1966 final, and then famously played with his arm in a sling during West Germany’s defeat against Italy in the 1970 semi-final, the ‘Game of the Century’. But he also lifted the trophy on home soil four years later when West Germany ended the dream of Johan Cruyff and the Dutch, triumphing 2-1 in the final in Munich. He later coached the West Germans to victory over Argentina in the 1990 final.

Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)

The archetypal Italian defender, Cannavaro combined his brilliant positional sense and reading of the game with a nasty side when required. A star with Juventus and Real Madrid amongst others, he captained Italy to glory in 2006, when the Azzurri overcame France on penalties in the final.

Zinedine Zidane (France)

A masterful playmaker, Zidane was arguably the greatest player of his generation. And he left his mark on the World Cup for two very different reasons. He scored twice in France’s 3-0 final win over Brazil as hosts in 1998 and is part of an elite club of players, along with Geoff Hurst, Vava and Pele, to have scored three times in World Cup finals — he also netted a penalty in the 2006 showpiece in Berlin, before later being sent off for an unforgettable headbutt on Italy’s Marco Materazzi in his last game as a professional. Indeed, Zidane is the only player — along with Cameroon’s Rigobert Song — to have been red-carded twice at a World Cup.

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