10. France 1998
France achieved only their first World Cup
trophy when the world flooded into
Western Europe and in France for the
World Cup in the late 1990’s. Zinedine
Zidane and Emmanuel Petit got the goals
in a 3-0 thrashing of Brazil in the final
that year but the likes of Laurent Blanc,
Fabian Barthez, Thierry Henry, Nicolas
Anelka, Youri Djorkaeff, Didier
Deschamps, Marcel Desially and Lillian
Thuram blended to make a new European
powerhouse in football. They would go
onto beat Italy in the European
Championships in 2000, only Spain have
managed such a feat since.

9. Real Madrid 2003
This Real Madrid side is one of four teams
in this list that didn’t actually win
anything. It is a controversial decision and
perhaps an unconventional decision but
the likes of David Beckham, Roberto
Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Iker
Casillas, Luis Figo and Ronaldo make for
one of the best designed teams of all
time and definitely for the best designed
teams not to win anything. Steve
McManaman played there for a bit too.

8. Hungary 1954
Hungary humbled England at Wembley,
becoming the first international side
outside of the United Kingdom to beat
them in the capital, winning 6-3 and then
went onto thrash them 7-1 in Budapest.
They were largely tipped to win the 1954
World Cup as they had remained
unbeaten for the previous 32 matches in
the run-up to the tournament. Ferenc
Puskas featured in the 8-3 thrashing of
West Germany, whom they would meet
in the final but suffered an ankle injury.
Without him they beat the two sides who
contested the previous World Cup final –
Brazil and Uruguay. Puskas would score in
the final but Germany overturned a two-
goal deficit to win the match, as
underdogs. They still hold the record for
the number of goals scored at a finals
which is 27.

7. Arsenal 2004
Any team to go the whole season
unbeaten in the best league in the world
deserves to be in this list and that’s
exactly what Arsenal achieved. The likes
of Henry, Ljungberg and Pires were the
trio striking fear into English hearts and
with all three in their prime, they enjoyed
49 matches unbeaten in the Premier
League, before having it ended at Old
Trafford in 2004.

6. Brazil 1982
The team that Brazil possessed were
impressing everyone and some were
predicting a return to the glory days of
their wins in 1958, 1962 and 1970. They
wouldn’t add a fourth World Cup in 1982
despite being one of the favourites at the
tournament and with the likes of Zico,
Socrates and Falcao they crashed out at
the second round where they lost to
eventual winners Italy thanks to a Paolo
Rossi hat-trick.

5. Holland 1970’s
How Holland didn’t win a World Cup in
the 1970’s, nobody will know. The brand
of total football that the likes of Johan
Cruyff brought to the world seemed like
the perfect brand to play. They reached
two successive finals only to lose to the
respective host nations in Argentina and
West Germany.

4. Barcelona 2010’s
Barcelona, especially under the guidance
of Pep Guardiola, have shone thanks to
Lionel Messi who recently picked up a
third Ballon d’Or, making the Argentine
the third person to achieve such a feat.
The likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David
Villa, Gerard Pique and Victor Valdes have
all hit their peak almost coincidentally the
same time and with an illustrious youth
system, Barcelona aren’t about to go
anywhere, especially after achieving a six
trophy haul in 2009.

3. Liverpool 1980’s
We all know that the likes of Bob Paisley
and Bill Shankly led Liverpool to their
brightest days yet. Bob Paisley almost
took a clean sweep of the trophies,
gaining three European cups along with
six league titles in his nine-year spell.
Before you knew it the likes of Alan
Hansen, Mark Lawrenson, John Barnes, Jan
Molby, Bruce Grobbelar, Ian Rush and
John Aldridge were blossoming into true
greats of the game and they soon
scooped another European Cup in 1984
and the lost the following year to
Juventus in the infamous Heysel Stadium
disaster. All in all, a truly astounding
team.

2. Manchester United 1999
Whilst the Liverpool side of the 1980’s
were the first team to achieve the
unconventional treble, Ferguson’s 1999
side pipped Arsenal to the Premier
League by a point before defeating
Newcastle United and Bayern Munich, all
within ten days of each other to cap off a
glorious treble. Ferguson received a
knighthood all down to the midfield which
turned the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul
Scholes, David Beckham and Roy Keane
into household names. If Yorke and Cole’s
partnership up front wasn’t good enough,
their replacements in Sheringham and
Solskjaer’s late goals in the Champions
League final sunk Bayern Munich to
complete the treble.

1. Brazil 1970
This team won pretty much the lot –
three World Cup’s to their name and
arguably the best player to ever live in
Pele guided them from the age of 17 to
his dwindling days, thrashing Italy in the
1970 final which featured that Carlos
Alberto goal to cap off a perfect
tournament and final for the Brazilians.
Many a great Brazilian team has been
manufactured but none like Pele, Rivelino
and Jairzinho who all scored in the 4-1
drubbing of Italy.
do you agree?
http://footballspeak.com/post/2012/06/10/10-Greatest-Teams.aspx

I still think Juventus team of 1996 shld be included

That's very true