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CNN/SI users sound off on club soccer Top 10

Posted: Monday August 16, 1999 05:25 PM

Many users feel English squad Arsenal, led by Dennis Bergkamp (left), should be at the top along with rival Man United. Shaun Botterill/Allsport

The CNN/World Soccer Top 10 poll of club football teams worldwide kicked off last week, and CNN/SI asked readers to voice their opinions on the best ten club teams in the world. The new, weekly feature generated tremendous response. Below is a selection of some of the best. Check back next week to see the response to this week's Top 10.

It is good to see Man U getting the recognition they really deserve for their incredible season last year. Living in South Florida, one constantly hears how good the South American teams are, and admittedly they do have three teams in your top ten. But Man U rules supreme. Bring on the world club championship!
-- Bevan Harms, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.

Man. United on top is fine, but I believe that Boca Have been the best team in South America for some time. Fiorentina looked awfully impressive in dismantling my prized Villans in the Gotham Cup, and let's not forget D.C. United, who won the Inter-American Cup over Vasco. At this writing, Rangers have surprised me by going two up on Parma, so they should be in for now, and until Barca start making it back into the knockout stages of the Champions' League, I'll say they are over rated, even though I love them and the rest of the Spanish League. My top ten right now would be 1. Man.U. 2. Boca Jrs. 3. Bayern Munich 4. Palmeiras 5. A.C. Milan 6. Lazio 7. Fiorentina 8. D.C. United 9. Dynamo Kyiv 10. Glasgow Rangers
-- Michael Batson, Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.

How can you not consider any club outside of Europe or South America? How about DC United, the CONCACAF Champions and InterAmerican Cup winners!?
-- Willy Calderon, Bristol, England

I'd like to say that any classification method is no good at all. I'd like to give 2 examples:

1 - UEFA final: in 3 minutes the title has changed (and, in my opinion, the worst team in that game won Manch Utd). Bayern was better during all the competition, lost the last game and probably because it lost the 1st position also.

2 - Palmeiras won Copa Toyota Libertadores in a penalty kicks decision (the same way that Palmeiras beat Corinthians in quarter finals). But where is Deportivo Cali in his ranking? Why Corinthians is there?

I know that result is the most important thing here, but its hard to classify teams from different countries in 2 or 3 tournaments besides the national leagues, trying to find a correlation among the competitions.

Soccer is not tennis that every week we have a championship and it's possible to compare the players, so i enjoyed the idea of making a ranking but I don't believe at all in this ranking or any other ranking.
-- Fabio Cuppo , Sao Paulo,Brazil

I can't understand how you could forget River Plate from Argentina, the club which won there a trichampionship and the Supercup of South America. River has 27 cups in Argentina 10 more than Boca.
-- A Genuth , Israel

So Man U won the treble last year but let's face it. They won each of the trophies by the skin of their teeth. The won the league on the last day of the season. They won the FA Cup but needed replays to beat Chelsea and Arsenal. As for Champion's League, that was their least impressive success of all. They won two matches and tied four in the group stage. Luckily, they got two out of form Italian teams in the quarters and semis and required a miraculous late strikes to defeat Bayern Munich after being dominated for 90 minutes. Bayern should be on top despite losing two cup finals. They won the German League with play of matches to spare. No other team dominated their league as much as Munich.

Another point: Lazio should be ahead of Milan by virtue of losing out of 1st place on the last day of the season and by winning the Cup Winners Cup.
-- Travis LeBlanc, Oklahoma City, Okla., U.S.

I can not believe that River Plate from Argentina do not enter in this list. It is amazing!!!! River is the most important team of the argentine football history. If we count all the points obtained during the Argentinean football history, River is the first, and the second one is hundreds points below it!!!! River was the best football team of the WORLD during 1998.
-- Silvana Milocco, Uppsala, Sweden

I guess the only thing that surprised me was that Deportivo Cali wasnt anywhere to be found on the list. It was the runner up to Palmeiras and by a very close score and in general it put up a great fight in its national league and the Copa Libertadores. And many of its players shined in the Colombian national team.
-- Mario Ramirez , Maracaibo, Venezuela

I cannot say I am surprised by the results, most of them at least. An outrageous triple by Man United last season, almost automatically gives them highest place in rankings. Italy's dominance with three teams just exemplifies the strongest league in Europe, and absence of French clubs leaves no surprise at all. The only surprise is Real Madrid, after a rather weak season, while Barcelona got what it deserved. Germany's Bayern fell short of triple last season and fell short of first place in rankings respectively.

I do not have any comments about three clubs from South America because of my little knowledge of them. So have we forgotten about any of the clubs, I don't think so, "That's just the way it is today!"
-- Andrew Topouria , Tbilisi, Georgia

Looking at some of the big off-season acquisitions in addition to last year's performances it is hard to believe that Fiorentinia is being ignored. Look for them to be the best team in "series A" this season just as they were last season before some major injury problems. They feature an experienced defense and arguably the best front line in the world which includes the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa, Enrico Chiesa, and Majatovic; this will be the team to beat in my opinion.
-- John Tome, Lisbon, Portugal

An objective "top 10" would include only European Clubs, which is where all of the World's top players, many of them South American, perform. Your list looks like popularity contest results. To think that teams like Palmeiras and Corinthians, which have practically no Brazilian internationals, are better than Arsenal, Fiorentina, or Chelsea is absurd. Last year's Libertadores Champion (Vasco) could not even beat DC United of MLS, why not place them in your Top 10?
-- Baptista, Washington DC, US

Once again a ranking list of the "top" something is out, and a list of the top teams as usual will have no consideration of African clubs. It comes as no surprise though, but my only concern is that we have all become accustomed to thinking quality football is only played in Europe and South America; which I assure you is not the case.
-- Steven, Lusaka, Zambia

The first shock i received upon viewing the Top 10 was to see Real Madrid at 7. That is a joke as they accomplished nothing last season. AC Milan should be 4 as they won the world's most difficult domestic league, Serie A. Barcelona should follow. Behind the Dutch flavored Catalans should be Lazio. First of all due to their Cup Winners' Cup triumph and then a 2nd place in Serie A. Parma should closely trail the Romans as they won the UEFA Cup in convincing style. As for the rest, it all looks fair. I am sure that it will only be a matter of time until the team of this decade, Juventus, will regain their rightful place as number 1 club in the world!
-- Juventino 10, Sydney, Australia

Apparently Dynamo Kiev did not warrant a place in the top 13,-this after beating no. 7 Real Madrid in last year's Champions League Q/F and making absolute mincemeat of no. 4 Barcelona in 1997. One wonders how a "smaller" clib would have been placed had they won the Champions League. Probably behind an English, Italian or Spanish team who would get top places on the strength of their budgets rather than results.
-- Alex Maevsky, Melbourne, Australia