25 Smoothest Operators in World Football

Imagine, for a moment, a team full of the smoothest operators in world football.

Quite a thought, isn't it?

They might not be the toughest team, but they would play the sexiest football known to man. From front to back, every player would operate as part of a bigger whole and contribute his best moves when called upon.

That's what I'm putting together today: a 25-man roster of the smoothest operators in world football.

Why 25? Well, because ranking 25 of anything is always fun.

And this should be fun.

1. Goalkeeper

Check out some saves here, here and here.

Smooth.

2-5. Defenders

So, yeah, we're only going to have four defenders on the whole roster.

Hey, it's not a real team, you know?

Plus, since we'll be playing total football, everyone will be expected to defend.

We'll take Ignazio Abate, Maicon, Sergio Ramos and Nemanja Vidic (pictured).

Yeah, that'll do nicely.

6-10. The Barcelona Contingent

The Best Team Of All Time, right?

Real Madrid might have something to say about that, but we'll leave it there for now. Because we really want their players.

Especially Leo Messi. Of course.

We'll also take Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and David Villa.

This is getting good.

11-13. The Obligatory Brazilians

We already have Maicon, but we need some more Brazilians.

Neymar is going to be the next big thing. Count him in.

Did you see the move Leandro Damiao pulled off recently against Argentina? We have to include him.

And while we're at it, give us Alex Pato.

14-16. More South Americans

Brazilians aren't the only South Americans who can play some smooth football.

For our team, we want the Uruguayan duo of Luis Suarez (we'll ignore the racism controversy for now) and Edinson Cavani.

And we can't forget Sergio Aguero.

17-18. Portuguese Dribblers

We can't forget the Portuguese and their silky dribblers.

Cristiano Ronaldo—yeah, he's smooth. Annoying, but smooth.

Nani? Yes, please.

19-22. Crafty European Wingers

Every great team needs width. That's why we're including so many wingers.

Give us Franck Ribery from Bayern Munich, Wesley Sneijder from Inter, Theo Walcott from Arsenal and Eden Hazard from Lille.

23-25. Up Top

Mesut Özil burst onto the world scene with his brilliance at the 2010 World Cup. We think he'll be among the world's smoothest operators for several years to come.

To round out the team, we'll also take David Silva and Robin van Persie.