1. – On top of 17 international teams featuring some of the world’s finest players you have 3 Legend teams, can you please tell us more?

As you would expect, all 3 teams feature some of the greatest names from yesteryear. There is a German Legend team featuring the best players from the 80s and 90s, a USA team made up of the many of the players that did so well in 1994 and a team of players of mixed nationalities – we call them the World Legends.

2- Please tell us more about these World Legends.

It’s a very attacking team as you would expect, featuring some of the most skilful attacking midfielders, wingers and clinical finishers the world has ever seen.

Let’s start with none other than the most famous player ever to kick a football…. Pelé. He really needs no introduction after winning football’s top prize 3 times with Brazil, being his country’s all-time leading scorer and all his years in the role of ambassador for the “beautiful game”.

It was actually Pelé that referred to George Best as the “greatest player in the world” and we have the mercurial Northern Irishman in the World Legend team as well. In Pure Football, George is represented as the young, handsome winger that took the world by storm in a Manchester United shirt.

Alongside him is Dennis Bergkamp, the classy Dutch forward with a silky touch, almost telepathic vision and an eye for the spectacular and controlled finish. He’s a hero to both his countrymen and fans of Arsenal and Ajax.

Eric Cantona is another player that needs little introduction. The Frenchman was a controversial figure, but he will best be remembered for his outstanding goals and creative influence that finally ended Manchester United’s championship drought and set them on the road to continued dominance.

Up front is a household name in England. Gary Lineker was a lethal finisher that won the golden boot in 1986 and followed up that up with crucial goals en route to England’s heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Germany on penalties in Italy in 1990.

Also available for selection is Jari Litmanen, the long time Finland team captain who had stints at Barcelona and Liverpool, but will be best remembered for his many years at Ajax – especially in 1995 where he was part of the young team that dominated Europe.

Finally, in goal we have Peter Schmeichel, the Danish and Machester United No.1 throughout the nineties and regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper of all time.

An awesome lineup in the truest sense of the word!

3. – Tell me about the German Legend team

Germany are consistently ranked in the top five teams in the world, so we looked at some of the best players in the not too distant past when assembling this squad.

Because Germany were World Champions in 1990 it made sense to look at that era for our Legends and where better to start than the evergreen Lothar Matthaus who represented his country at an incredible 5 World Championships. Possessing a bullet-like long range shot and having an understanding of the game that allowed him to play both in midfield and defence, Matthaus was the perfect Captain.

Up front we feature the moustachioed striker Rudi Völler, another long-time national team servant as both a player and coach. His ability on the floor was matched with great movement and a strong aerial presence.

Pierre Littbarski provides the dribbling panache to this Legend team. A popular and flamboyant member of the successful West German team thoughout the 80s.

Like Matthaus, Völler and Littbarski, Andreas Brehme followed up heartache against Argentina in 1986 with victory over the same team again in the final in 1990. It was Brehme that scored the late winning goal from the penalty spot and wrote his name into German folklore. Although a consummate defender, his marauding runs down the right-hand side also provided a potent attacking threat.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was a classy player, not only scoring bags of goals throughout the late 70s and 80s, but providing plenty of assists too. His greatest moment came when his goals helped West Germany become champions of Europe in 1980.

The final piece of this extremely potent Legend team is the goalkeeper Bodo Illgner. The youngest player in this team, it was his penalty saving heroics in the 1990 semi-final against England that took them through to the final.

4 – Finally please tell us more about the USA Legend team

Soccer fans in the States will always remember 1994 as it was the year that they hosted football’s biggest event. The pressure was on to produce a team that would do the country proud and they did not disappoint by making it to the knock-out rounds, losing to eventual winners Brazil by a slim 1-0 margin.

They were led by inspired defensive performances by the flame-haired (and bearded) Alexi Lalas.

He in turn was backed up by great goalkeeping by Tony Meola and goal threat came from Cobi Jones and Eric Wynalda.

Claudio Reyna who went on to have a fine career in Europe also broke through in ’94 and was joined in the US starting 11 by Eddie Pope shortly afterwards.

All of the guys mentioned above helped boost the popularity of the sport in the US and are worthy of their ‘Legend’ status in Pure Football.