As we move in to a new decade, which I’m gonna call the “one-ies”, I decided  to compile my very own football Team of the Decade.

I did have some encouragement from one of our regular readers, noob, and you can find his team of the decade on his blog. I like mine better =P

So tell me what you guys think of my team, or who your team would be. And be polite about it! =P

I’m going with my favourite formation, the 4-2-3-1 popularised by the awesome Zinedine Zidane-inspired French team of the late 90s and early “noughties”. I think “one-ies” sounds better.

Ianyway, the lone striker, interchangeable attacking midfielders and holding midfielders were positions arguably established by that French team, and pretty much every top club now employs such positions (if not the actual  formation) in their teams.

So here goes…

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon

Buffon's ability to marshall a defense is second to none.

This World Cup winning goalkeeper has been the only true constant in the much-lauded Italian defence of the past decade.

Even as Fabio Cannavaro’s career seems to be in decline and Alessandro Nesta has retired from the national team, Buffon is still considered one of the best in the business, if not the best.

The 6′ 3″ stopper marries his superb athleticism with super-human reflexes, but yet his most invaluable asset is his brain. His decision-making and excellent marshalling of his defense is often over-looked because of his glorious saves, but that mental ability is for me what has allowed him to consistently shine at the top for the past decade.

Right-back: Cafu

The Champions League with AC Milan is just one of the many trophies Cafu has won in his illustrious career.

One of the great mysteries in football is how there are always more attacking left-backs than there are right-backs. So much so, Rafa Benitez was willing to part 18million quid to have Glen Johnson. Just kidding. Benitez didn’t have a clue what he was doing.

But the Brazilian Cafu was simply unstoppable going forward. He timed his runs to perfection on the overlap, had the skill of a specialist right-winger and always knew what to do with the ball.

There really was no other contender in this position. Maybe Steven Gerrard, but he only played like 3 games there.

Centre-back: Fabio Cannavaro

Cannavaro with his trophy of all trophies.

Cannavaro started the noughties kinda playing second-fiddle to the more well-known Alessandro Nesta at Euro 2000. The Italian team at the time had everyone in awe as they employed their seemingly impregnable catenaccio defence, conceding only two goals en route to the final.

The match that I will remember most was their semi-final against a Holland side boasting Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Marc Overmars.

After losing two teammates to red cards early on, Cannavaro put on a defensive display like I had never seen before, shutting out the talented Dutch with a host of perfectly-timed tackles to force extra time and a penalty shoot-out, which Italy won.

The only blot in his noughties career since then would be his ill-fated spell with Real Madrid.

Centre-back: Paolo Maldini

Maldini was quite simply a defensive genius, perfect in every way for keeping the ball away from goal.

I was tempted to put him in at left-back, but in the noughties, I think he played more often as a centre-back.

Maldini was a supreme athlete, but more importantly, just as a striker has goal-scorer’s instincts, the former Italy/AC Milan captain had a natural defensive talent.

He always knew where the ball would drop, where the runs were coming in from, and his timing in the tackle was always impeccable. In fact, everything about him was impeccable.

Left-back: Ashley Cole

Ashley Cole, seen here after a hearing over his controversial transfer to Chelsea, remains one of the most hated footballers in England.

He might be one of the most hated footballers in England, but there is no denying that Ashley Cole at left-back is a force to be reckoned with.

His combination with Robert Pires down the left flank during Arsenal’s Invincibles period was simply breath-taking. They hugged that left touchline with the precision and balance of tight-rope walkers, and Cole was the one often bombing up to allow space for Pires and Henry to work their magic.

Over the years he has learned how to better channel his energy and running, and pretty much every opposing right-back would have a rough day in the office when playing against Chelsea these days.

Holding midfielder: Patrick Vieira

The former Gunners captain was a one-man midfield during his time at Arsenal, and he epitomised their "Invicibles" aura the best.

Sadly, the former Gunners captain’s career seems to be on an irreversible decline. But during his peak with Arsenal, he was the most complete central midfielder in the world.

He had skill, he had strength, he had stamina and boy, could he win the ball. He wasn’t really a holding-midfielder per se, but a box-to-box midfield general.

Citing the Invincibles season again, Vieira was a one man midfield. Wenger was pretty much playing a 4-1-5 formation as Vieira covered the entire midfield with those long legs of his, allowing those around him to pour forward and press from the top of the pitch.

For me, he has to be one of the greatest midfielders of all time.

Holding midfielder: Claude Makelele

Probably the most disastrous transfer ever was Real Madrid's flogging of Makelele to Chelsea. The "Galacticos" fell apart without the diminutive Frenchman.

These days, they call it the Makelele position. And for good reason. A measure of his worth to a team is how fast Galacticos of Real Madrid imploded the minute he left. Just like Vieira, he was pretty much doing the defending of an entire midfield.

But he wasn’t just a destroyer. His ability to win the ball, move away from a marker and make a pass allowed teams he played with to tick like clockwork. You could always count on his to break down the opponents’ attacks, pirouette out of trouble and release a quality ball into attack. It’s an ability that made him a formidable player, and the reason why Jose Mourinho called Makelele his playmaker (and I know that sounds a bit wrong).

Left-sided attacker: Luis Figo

The Portuguese genius signed off an illustrious career as a Serie A winner with Inter Milan earlier this year.

This was a tough choice for me, because it was either Figo or Cristiano Ronaldo. But while CR7’s transformation in the past five years from showboating kid to revered goal-scorer and most expensive player in history would seem to make him a shoo-in for a spot in the team of the decade, Figo was at his peak throughout the first half of the noughties.

Even during the latter half of the decade he was winning trophies with Inter Milan, showing that even if he could no longer beat 3-4 players routinely as he used to, he had the experience and quality to deliver passes and assists.

During his Real Madrid and Barcelona days he was unstoppable. He had the right physique, tremendous amounts of skill, and the quality and creativity to carve out opponents with through balls or crosses whenever he was crowded out from performing his trademark runs. And unlike most flair players, he was remarkably consistent.

He only just retired from the game in May 2009, after winning another Serie A title.

Attacking midfielder: Zinedine Zidane

This picture sums up how hard, or nigh impossible, it was to stop Zinedine Zidane, the player of the decade.

There could only be one. There’s nothing to be said about Zidane that hasn’t already been said. Either he was from another planet, or the gods designed him just to play football.

He was outrageously talented, extremely hard-working and always a team player. My choice for Player of the Decade.

Right-sided attacker: Cristiano Ronaldo

Thirteen goals in 12 games for Real Madrid, not to mention his phenomenal career with Manchester United, puts Ronaldo ahead of Messi at right-attacking midfielder - but only for this decade.

I changed my mind. It was supposed to be Lionel Messi on the right but I think no list of top players of the decade would be complete without Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo vs. Messi

Before you all start throwing Messi’s recent trophies at me, hear me out: Messi only broke into Barca’s first team during the 2006/07 season, and sadly, he spent much of the 3 1/2 years since then injured and trying to cope with his growing body.

Ronaldo had been around since 2003, almost never got injured and was instrumental to United breaking Chelsea’s dominance of the EPL during the 2006/07 season – when Messi was just getting warmed up.

So even though Messi is the best player this year by a mile, Ronaldo pips him when it comes to the decade as a whole. The coming decade, though, would no doubt belong to Messi. He is absolutely frightening, and I believe he will go on to join Pele, Maradonna and Zidane as one of the greatest of all time.

But let’s take a loot at Ronny’s decade. During the 2006/07 season, Ronaldo showed he could translate his undoubted skill and talent into wins. Not only did Ronaldo inspire United to their first EPL title in three years, Ronaldo won both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards.

The following season, he destroyed all expectations. Ronaldo scored 42 goals in all competitions, as United marched to a EPL and Champions League double. His record now at Real Madrid stands at 13 goals in 12 appearance – as much as opposition fans hate him, it’s hard to argue with stats like that.

Striker: Thierry Henry

His best days in Arsenal might be behind him now, but Henry was still an important part in Barcelona's Treble last season.

There were times during the decade when Thierry Henry was making things look way too easy. He scored many spectacular goals, but it was the things that he made look simple that impressed me most, like how he timed his runs, his immaculate finishing and his build-up play.

He hit 30 goals and above in five of the eight seasons he was with the Gunners – a phenomenal record that even specialist goal-scorer Ruud van Nistlerooy couldn’t match when they were both playing in the EPL (RVN had 150 goals between ’01 and ’06, Henry had 166).

And yet, Henry always managed to chalk up an impressive number of assists, particularly in the 02/03 season where he created 24 goals in addition to the 32 he scored.

Sub’s bench:

(In the same order of position) Iker Casillas, Lilian Thuram, Rio Ferdinand, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Carlos, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o.