Topic: Best XI with no senior international experience

[CornerFlag]

I'm gonna fill one in later, but who would be in your best eleven that never had a call-up to their national squad, or who simply never played for one?

[Xabi Gerrard]

I don't know if they'd make a best XI but Steve Bruce and Mikel Arteta were both good players who never got an international cap.

[kavah]

Had to google it because I was thinking Chris Lawler and Phil Parkes but both played for England (4 & 1).

I'll nominate Craig Johnston on the right

[Gerry Attrick]

Jimmy Case would surely be in there.

[CornerFlag]

Had to google it because I was thinking Chris Lawler and Phil Parkes but both played for England (4 & 1).

I'll nominate Craig Johnston on the right

Yeah it's one to make you think, especially given guys like Joey Barton and Seth Johnson are in there, takes a lot of searching!

[elbow]

Had to google it because I was thinking Chris Lawler and Phil Parkes but both played for England (4 & 1).

I'll nominate Craig Johnston on the right

Craig played for Australia I’m sure.

[CornerFlag]

Craig played for Australia I’m sure.

Nah, called up for England though but never played in the senior team

[S]

Di Canio? I'm a bit too young to have remembered watching him weekly, so I've only got those two incidents on either side of the fair play spectrum to go on.

[mikey_LFC]

Carlo Cudicini
Kenny Swain
Steve Bruce
Sylvain Distin
Fabio Aurelio
Jimmy Case
Leon Britton
Paolo Di Canio
Steed Malbranque
Robin Friday
Mark Robins

Took ages searching for names. Centre Backs, Right Backs and Keepers are hard to come by I found.

[Lone Star Red]

Mikel Arteta and Mark Noble?

[Xabi Gerrard]

A few big names I found via googling;

Bert Trautmann
Albert Stubbins
Chopper Harris
Kevin Campbell
Howard Kendall

[Iska]

Carlo Cudicini
Sylvain Distin
Paolo Di Canio
Steed Malbranque

Mikel Arteta

I always wanted an England manager to go a bit mad and, even if only for one game, pick an entire XI of these guys who technically qualify through 5 years' residence.  And then get them to all stand silently during the national anthem.  Just watching the fume would be incredible.

[CornerFlag]

Some good names, I'd throw in a couple like Billy Bonds, Kevin Campbell, Steve Ogrizovic, Kevin Nolan, Stefan Klos...

[Hazell]

Craig played for Australia I’m sure.

Yeah he was very big Down Under.

But his wife disagreed.

[CornerFlag]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bill-shorthouse-stalwart-of-the-finest-wolves-side-934143.html

There's a good write-up of a guy I'd never heard of before, I'm sure some of the older guys here could fill in on what they heard (saw?) of Bill but sounds like he was another who would maybe slot into the LB position.

[kavah]

There are plenty that didn't get capped because of The War:

On the left. Hansen/Hanson! Our own derby hatrick hero -  Adolf "Alf" Hansen that is, obviously he dropped the Adolf pronto in the 30s (A regular for the National baseball team too!)

"A slip of a lad he was not entirely a one-footed player but it was that left boot which put fear into the hearts of goalkeepers when they saw Alf prancing down the wing."

born Hansen... He was always reported in the newspapers as Hanson

http://www.lfchistory.net/Players/Player/Profile/651

or his Brother in goal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Hanson

Centre forward, Goal Machine,  Albert Stubbins.

[_00_deathscar]

I think a good place to start would be the Spain golden generation team - particularly in midfield. There must have been a few talented lads that couldn’t get a look in. I mean David Silva barely played!

Keepers too - from Canizares to Casillas (with Pepe and Valdez as back ups).

Italy too for keepers - from Toldo to Buffon etc and even going back before that.

[Xabi Gerrard]

I think a good place to start would be the Spain golden generation team - particularly in midfield. There must have been a few talented lads that couldn’t get a look in. I mean David Silva barely played!

Keepers too - from Canizares to Casillas (with Pepe and Valdez as back ups).

Italy too for keepers - from Toldo to Buffon etc and even going back before that.

Just the 118 Spanish caps and 6th on their all time list. But apart from that he barely played! 

[So… Howard Philips]

Just the 118 Spanish caps and 6th on their all time list. But apart from that he barely played! 

Perceptions hey?

[_00_deathscar]

Just the 118 Spanish caps and 6th on their all time list. But apart from that he barely played! 

Haha - I meant relatively around that period when Xavi, Busquets, Alonso, Iniesta were ever present. Sure he'd have come on as sub a few times, started a few games (friendlies and qualifiers etc) but he wasn't the lynchpin of that team. 49 of his appearances have come since a couple of that quartet retired.

You know what I mean to say though - in that context, look for players worse than him who were still talented but barely got a look in, or worse still were never called up. Reina for instance, if he were English or something he'd have a ton more caps than if he were Spanish.

On that note, Silva has a very, very good goalscoring record for Spain. Goals to games ratio wise, it's comparable to Fernando Torres'. Silva is in fact 4th on their all time list on goals scored.

[Gerry Attrick]

Haha - I meant relatively around that period when Xavi, Busquets, Alonso, Iniesta were ever present. Sure he'd have come on as sub a few times, started a few games (friendlies and qualifiers etc) but he wasn't the lynchpin of that team. 49 of his appearances have come since a couple of that quartet retired.

You know what I mean to say though - in that context, look for players worse than him who were still talented but barely got a look in, or worse still were never called up. Reina for instance, if he were English or something he'd have a ton more caps than if he were Spanish.

Xabi Prieto is somebody worth mentioning I think.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

Was gonna say Steve Bull, but fairly sure he got a couple of caps, still astonished that he never got a chance in the First division/Premiership.

[Iska]

I think Steve Bull even went to Italia 90.  Pretty sure he got a winner against Scotland too in one of the last Home Internationals.

It seems remarkable now that Steve Bruce never got a call up.  His best years weren’t even a good England era.

[Xabi Gerrard]

It seems remarkable now that Steve Bruce never got a call up.  His best years weren’t even a good England era.

There were actually some quite decent English centre backs in those days despite it being a poor England era - Adams, Pallister, You'll Never Beat Des Walker, Wright, Bould, Keown. All of them would probably be the best current England centre back by a mile. Still weird that Bruce didn't even get 1 cap though.

[Sheer Magnetism]

Arteta, Bruce and Kendall are all good shouts, as is Carlo Cudicini. There are also a few of these in the decades gone by, back when it was still relatively rare for players to cross borders.

Horst Blankenburg: first choice sweeper for Ajax during their golden era in the first half of the 70's but was kept out of the German team because Beckenbauer played in the same position. Never capped. Delio Onnis: five-time top scorer in Ligue 1 in the 70's and 80's, 363 career goals but again, never won an Italian cap.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

There were actually some quite decent English centre backs in those days despite it being a poor England era - Adams, Pallister, You'll Never Beat Des Walker, Wright, Bould, Keown. All of them would probably be the best current England centre back by a mile. Still weird that Bruce didn't even get 1 cap though.

Madness that we didn't sign Des Walker back then, absolute Rolls Royce of a defender

[1892tillforever]

Stefan Klos won the champion league as Dortmund's keeper and was never capped for Germany; he had to deal with Ollie Khan tbf.