If Dwight D. Eisenhower played soccer: center back, rated 87

Dwight D. Eisenhower as a soccer player: scouting report

Dwight D. Eisenhower would play center back, the position for a player who plans for everything that might go wrong. Before he was a five star general or a president, he was a football player at West Point, and Army even met Jim Thorpe's Carlisle team in 1912 while he was on the roster. That background shows in his card: his defending is the best part of it and his physical strength is right behind. He wins aerial duels, steps in front of strikers and makes clean tackles without fuss.

What lifts him above a pure stopper is organization. As Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during the Second World War he coordinated the work of many nations' forces at once, and a center back's real job is the same in miniature: keep the line level, hand runners off to teammates and talk constantly. His passing and dribbling both grade out well, so he can carry the ball into midfield when the opponent sits deep and pick out a fullback with a long switch. He also coached football teams early in his Army career, which explains the teaching instinct.

Shooting is his soft spot. Do not expect goals from set pieces beyond the occasional header. His next best spots are goalkeeper and fullback, which says a lot about how complete his defensive game is, and he later became famous for loving golf enough to have a putting green on the White House grounds, so the calm hands are real. For a drafter, he is a back line anchor. Pair him with a quick center back who covers the space behind, and build out from there.

Plays like A commanding center back who organizes the whole back line

Put Dwight D. Eisenhower in your lineup

11 rolls, a starting eleven, 38 matches. Can you go 38-0? Free, no account.