Given the news of Ireland's friendly against England next summer we thought we'd share this effort again...
Shay Given's superior shot stopping ability gets him the nod over David 'safe hands' Seaman whose ponytail propensity to get caught off his line in big games counted against him. Dennis Irwin and Ashley Cole pick themselves in the full-back positions but there was much debate between the selectors over the choice of Tony Adams at centre-back.
Adams just about edged John Terry as the'stopper' to partner Paul McGrath. Both were outstanding centre-halves with 'off-the-field issues' but Adams was less obnoxious has the greater career longevity, enjoying some vintage seasons in his 30s under Arsene Wenger while it looks Terry's body is betraying him.
Roy Keane and Paul Scholes form a formidable central midfield partnership with Steven Gerrard 'controversially' selected ahead of 'Wor' David Beckham. However, Gerrard won PFA Player of The Year in 2006 playing mainly on the right and the Liverpudlian is more dynamic and less one dimensional than the former Manchester United star. Damien Duff gets in on the wing ahead of....Darren Anderton and Stewart Downing.
Wayne Rooney starts in the number ten role with Alan Shearer playing as the 'traditional English centre-forward'. Shearer's punditry career has been so awful that it almost makes you forget how great a player he really was, especially in his early years at Blackburn. The 'Geordie Messiah' scored a brilliant 112 goals in 138 games at Blackburn and was the star of their Premier League winning side of 1994/5.
Despite his 'whealer dealer' image, Terry Venables was a highly regarded coach and England very close to beating eventual winners Germany in the Euro '96 semi-final under his management. He was also in the running to land the Ireland job in 2007 before Eamon Dunphy memorably intervened.
