Best starting 7 water polo team I could come up with

Now, I guess nobody really knows or cares about water polo, but I DO! So out of boredom I decided to create a list of starters that I'd have on my dream team. Here are them in descending order of ability IMO. It goes in order of name; postition; year I'd want him from; country.

7. Alessandro Calcaterra; 2 meter man; 2008; Italy

So who is this guy:

Well he was only the top scorer in the 2008 Beijing Olympics! He had 27 goals in 8 games, an average of 3.375!!! Granted, a bunch of them were 5 meters and a lot were against not-so-strong teams, but seriously, if you screw up on 2MD one tiny bit or if your drop isn't fast enough, he'll score. No joke. The fact that he scored in all 8 of his Olympic games is a testament to that. 

Pros:

He's a tough player. He's big and can set against anybody, and he's hard to contain, as evidenced by how he's one of the few in the last olympics who scored in every game. Hell, he was put on the Olympic All-Star team despite his team placing 9th out of 12. He's physical, and he gets the job done. If Italy had more guys like him, they'd totally win more games. 

Cons:

He's physical. This gets him into trouble a lot. While he was the Olympic leader in goals, he was also the Olympic leader in offensive fouls (I think). He's rough, and he gets called for brutalitities and misconduct fouls a lot. If he could tone it down some, it would be pretty close to perfection.

6. Aleksandar Sapic; Driver; 1996-2008; Serbia

So who is this guy:

Well, he is arguably the best offensive player in the world. He led his team to 3 consecutive medals, was the high scorer in 2 of his Olympics and second high scorer in the past 2008 one. He's a phenominal shooter, and pretty much if you foul this guy outside the 5, he'll score. Oh, and he's married to a widowed Russian mafia bride. BADASS!!!! 

Despite this, I wasn't sure if I should put him on this list, but I figured the pros outweighed the cons. You'll see why below. 

Pros:

Well he has a bullet hard shot, he reads goalies well, he's huge and dominating, and he's pretty smart overall. He's definitely a great player.

Cons:

His attitude. He knows he's a good shooter, and he tends to think he's a one-man show. His behavior after Serbia lost to USA in the semi-final game exhibits this. He pissed off his fellow goalie/teammate Denis Sefik so much that Sefik punched him in the face and threw him down some stairs, causing Sapic to break his leg and miss the bronze medal game. Also, Sefik broke his hand, rendering him unable to compete for the medal as well. And Serbia solidly trumped Montenegro 6-4 to claim the bronze medal WITHOUT Sapic, which says quite a lot. Sure, he's a great player, but he needs to realize that everyone around him is also great. Also, despite being dominant, he can get shut down by competent defense. A perfect example of this was in the final rounds of the last Olympics; Sapic managed to score only 1 goal in 2 games against great opponents. Against weaker teams like China, Sapic can unload and score 9 goals, but he can usually only pull of 1 or 2 against the likes of Spain or USA.  

5. Tony Azevedo; Driver; 2000-2008; USA

So who is this guy:

He's currently the best player on the USA men's roster. He's also considered (by Americans) to be the best player in the world (I would respectfully disagree, but he is frigging amazing). His list of water polo accomplishments are astounding. He starred on his high school team for four years, gaining All-American acollades each of his 4 years and being CIF SS player of the year for 3 years. For those who don't know, CIF SS is the toughest water polo conference in the nation, and being the best player in it as a sophmore is no easy feat. He ended up with 423 goals during his four year tenure (which is about 106 goals per season on an average of about 30 games, about 3 or 4 goals per game). He was so good that he made the junior national team, and he was the top scorer at the World Championships on that team. He was so good that he then made the senior national team when he was 17 years old, and then he was so good that he was named to the Olympic team when he was 18. And not only that, he was so good that he scored 13 goals at the Olympics as an 18 year old.  WOW! And this was before he went to college. Definitely one of, if not THE best high school players ever. 

He got a full ride scholarship to Stanford, where he then became the most dominant player in college history, winning the prized Peter Cutino award for 4 STRAIGHT YEARS!!! For those who don't know, it's given to the top college player in the nation. He smashed the previous Stanford scoring record and ended up with 332 goals during his 4 years. 

After college, he played an important role on the US national team, scoring 15 goals in the Olympics. He's then won tons of MVP accolades and has scored a shitload of goals, all of which (at the moment) culminated in a silver medal at the recent Beijing Olympics. Oh, and he netted 17 goals in that tournament, including 4 in the Championship game against Hungary. FYI scoring 4 goals in a game is like scoring more than 20 points in basketball. 

Pros:

Well, he didn't win all those awards just out of the blue. He's FUCKING GOOD. He's quick, he's smart, he gets open for shots, and he's a hard worker. Leading a not-as-talented team of Americans to silver is pretty amazing. 

Cons:

HIS PENALTY SHOTS. He's great and smart on the field, but his penalty shots are usually pretty bad. Obviously this isn't that big of a deal because you can just have Sapic take the penalty shots, but this is a pretty big weakness. He's a great player, but not necessarily the best shooter. Still though, 17 goals in an Olympics despite not being the best shooter is a great accomplishment. 

4. Gergerly Kiss; Utility; 2000-2008; Hungary

So who is this guy:

He's one of the best, most versitile lefties of the decade. 'Nuff said. 

Pros:

Well, obviously he's a lefty, so he's special in that regard. He's solid all around with a Hungarian shot. He's smart, and he knows how to step up. Watching the Athens Olympic gold medal final, Kiss was the one keeping them in the game at the start with 3 goals in the first quarter. Without Kiss, the team wouldn't have had the momentum to come from behind and win that game against Serbia-Montenegro. Also, being a great player on a team of great players has taught him the value of teamwork over dominating one-man-shows. Oh, and Kiss is a remarkably good 2 meter man, so in case Calcaterra gets kicked out or something, Kiss would be a good backup.

Cons:

Some games, he can be really laggy, sort of relying on his teammates. Can't blame him though because Hungary has so many great players. But for him to be the best player he can possibly be, he needs to consistently step up and score some goals. 

3. Tibor Benedek; Driver; 1992-2008; Hungary

So who is this guy:

He's also a member of the Hungary team that won 3 straight gold medals. In 1992, he actually tied Estiarte in goals, which is no easy feat. Since then, his country has churned dominating tournament performances, and each Olympics Hungary seems to be THE team to beat. He's also been a significant impact on the Hungarian team for 5 straight Olympics. CRAZY!!!

Pros:

This steroid infused guy is big, strong, smart, and a good shot. He's also left handed, and he's arguably better than Kiss at the perimeter, although he's not as versitile. 

Cons:

Well, he got in trouble like 10 years ago because of steroids. I think he's gotten better with getting away with it now, but if he screws up like that, it'll kind of suck. But overall, he's been astounding as a player. His only weaknesses would be the same as with Kiss, as in not stepping up as much as he should. But overall, he's a pretty dominant perimeter player. 

2. Craig Wilson; Goalie; 1984-1992; USA

(I couldn't find a picture of him. SORRY!!!)

So who is this guy:

Well all teams need a goalie, and Craig Wilson is arguably the best goalie in recent Olympic history. He was the top blocker in all 3 Olympics he competed in, and he helped team USA earn 2 back-to-back silver medals. 

Pros:

Well, he's pretty much everything you'd expect a goalie to be. He blocks, he commands defense, he makes good passes, and he makes good steals. He's great at reading shooters, and he blocks everything you'd expect him to and makes some amazing blocks you'd expect to go in. This is about as good as a goalie can get. 

Cons:

Well, a brick wall in front of the cage would obviously have been better...

1. Manuel Estiarte; Driver; 1980-1996; Spain

So who is this guy:

Of course this list won't be complete without the best water polo player of all time. Estiarte competed in a record six Olympics, and he was top scorer in 4 of them. In his fifth, his team won a gold medal, and he competed in his last one when he was 39. He scored a record of 127 goals during those six olympic tournaments, and he entered his first Olympic competition at age 18 and ended up the top scorer with 21 goals. Seriously, he makes Azevedo look like a preschooler learning how to swim for the first time.  

And get this: he did all this despite being 5'8 and 145 pounds. This is in a sport where the average Olympic player is 6'3 and 200 pounds. WOW!

Pros:

EVERYTHING! He's got a bullet hard shot, he swims very fast, he plays smart...he's pretty much everything you'd dream of in a player. Defenders knew back then that when you went up against Spain, the last person you wanted getting the ball was Estiarte. Man this guy could SCORE. But the thing that put this guy above everyone else was his heart. Inarguably, during a game, he had more heart than anybody else on the field. That's why he was consistently a dominant force during his games. Estiarte proved that it's not the size of the man, but the size of his heart that controls one's destiny. 

Cons:

It's hard to criticize the best player in the history of the sport. Obviously his size would be considered an issue, but that didn't seem to faze his scoring ability. In fact, it sort of helped him, since it made him quite a bit more nimble than the average player. His one flaw that he eventually corrected was learning to depend on his teammates. In 1996, despite not being the top scorer of the Olympics, his team won gold. To put that in perspective, his previous 4 Olympics, he was the top scorer, but the closest he ever got to winning was a silver medal in 1992, and he hadn't won a single medal before then. Just goes to show that a one man show cannot win Olympic tournaments. Team efforts are far more effective. Look at Hungary; you can't really point to a stand-out on their team because of the depth and teamwork they exhibit. They're ALL amazing players, and none of them are greedy; they all try to help each other score. Once Estiarte got used to that, his team won, which says a lot about how to succeed in the sport. Anyways, that's pretty much his only potential flaw, and he definitely fixed it when it counted. 

Well, anyways, that's my list. Of course teams have more than seven players, so here would be my next six to complete my dream team Olympic roster:

8. Tamas Kasas; Driver; 1996-2008; Hungary

9. Peter Biros; Driver; 2000-2008; Hungary

10. Georgios Afroudakis; 2 meter man; 1996-2008; Greece

11. Guillermo Molina; Driver; 2004, 2008; Spain

12. Terry Schroeder; 2 meter man; 1984-1988; USA

13. Alexander Tchigir; Goalie; 1992, 2004, 2008; Germany

With that, I'm pretty sure my team would beat your team.