• Greatest Teams

Putting on a United front

Kris Akabusi anchored an unlikely relay victory © Getty Images

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What makes a great team? In conjunction with Samsung Mobile, ESPN picks its Greatest Teams in the history of sport.

GB 4x400m relay, 1991 World Championships
When Great Britain's 4x400m men's relay team lined up at the 1991 World Championships, it took a brave man to back them for the gold medal. The US squad were reigning world champions, and they were anchored by the newly-crowned 400m king Antonio Pettigrew.

However, as Kris Akabusi - the man who ran Britain's own anchor leg - explains, there was plenty of reason to be confident. "All of us were good at what we did," an enthused Akabusi said. "John Regis was the European champion, 200m. Roger Black, European champion, 400m. Derek Redmond, British record holder, 400m. And Akabusi - the main man - European champion, 400m hurdles."

A big decision had to be made though. Who would compete with Pettigrew on the final leg? "Originally, Black should have been the fourth-leg runner because he was silver medallist at the World Championships," explained Regis. "But we knew from the very first leg, we needed to be in contention with the Americans."

"[The plan was] give the third leg to big John Regis," said Black. "If you've got big John Regis, with his little ears, huge nostrils and two chests, up your backside for 400m, you will not be thinking about your running style!"

Mind games were every bit as crucial as lap times and baton changes, and no more so than when Akabusi set off on the final leg behind Pettigrew. "I remember saying to Regis, 'Johnny, don't give me that baton two metres up! Give me it either 10m up, or two behind!'"

Akabusi stayed on Pettigrew's shoulder into the last 100m, where he suddenly powered ahead of the world champion to shock the world. "The bottom line is, on the day, we delivered because we were confident, but we weren't complacent," said the hero Akabusi.

"If you dare to win, and you're brave enough to do something different and take a risk, you can achieve the ultimate," Black concluded.

1981 US Ryder Cup
The accumulated glories of the 1981 US Ryder Cup team struck fear into the heart of their European opponents before the action had even commenced. The presence of so many decorated stars, each of whom had won enough to demand respect from their team-mates, was a terrifying sight to come up against.

Between them, Dave Marr's team (featuring the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller) had clinched 36 majors, including three of the four contested that season - and they underlined their superiority by storming to an 18½- 9½ win, the biggest defeat a European team has suffered at the hands of America.

A key member of the European team, Sandy Lyle, recalls how tough it was to take on such a star-studded squad at Walton Heath. "It was a daunting week when you looked at the American side on paper and the amount of tournaments that that one team had accumulated - and majors [too]," he said. "We always felt down the line that they might just overpower us down the stretch, and in the end it was a whirlwind win for the United States."

With no Seve Ballesteros in the European team, omitted for playing too much in America, the path was set for a team that had 36 major titles between them to hand out a lesson in golf - extending their winning run to 12 matches.

1972 Miami Dolphins
Considered by many to be the best team to ever grace the gridiron, the 1972 Miami Dolphins hold the unique honour of being the only team in modern NFL history to go an entire season (including the playoffs) unbeaten.

They successfully navigated the regular season with only a few real scares, before defeating Cleveland Browns (20-14) and Pittsburgh Steelers (21-17) on the way to completing a 17-win season with victory over Washington Redskins (14-7) in a fraught Super Bowl VII. It was a success built on unity of purpose as much as individual ability - even after starting quarterback Bob Griese went down injured in the fifth week of the season, the team rallied around veteran back-up Earl Morrall to continue their charge until Griese returned for the Super Bowl.

Griese's offence got the plaudits, but it was the defence - branded the 'No-name Defense' by rivals due to its supposed lack of stars - that provided the real foundation for victory every week. Critics have subsequently pointed to a straightforward schedule in an attempt to diminish the Dolphins' success, but their head coach Don Shula - the most successful in NFL history - believes the team's subsequent results undercut any such debate.

"It was a perfect 17-0. How can you say, 'but' about 17-0?" Shula said recently. "Then we're 15-2 the next year with that same team. So that's 32-2 in a two-year period of time. And the year following that, we only lost four games."

A tradition of US sporting culture allows each victorious Super Bowl team to design the ring players are awarded for their victory. Miami's success was record-breaking but, perhaps appropriately, the ring the players received ended up being rather understated. It's perhaps further testament to the achievement that no team has managed to replicate it - with New England Patriots coming closest in 2008 before losing in the Super Bowl.

"If it happens, I'm going to be the first guy to call that coach and congratulate him," Shula said. "And our players will do the same thing. But until it happens, that's a record we're proud of."

Steve Batchelor and co put hockey on the back pages in the UK in 1988 © Getty Images

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US Postal Racing
Lance Armstrong, brain, lung and testicular cancer survivor, won the Tour de France on seven occasions, but no matter how good the rider, winning the most demanding event in sport cannot be done alone.

Armstrong freely admitted that before he was diagnosed with cancer he did not put 100% into his career, but the fear of losing his life at the age of 25 forced him to into a stepchange that saw him become the most famous man on two wheels.

And with hunger driving him on, he and his team director Johan Bruneyl set about pulling together a team capable of shielding Armstrong during three weeks of torture - allowing him to attack his rivals on the punishing mountain stages.

"Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone," Armstrong, who held team-mates such as George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Viacheslav Ekimov in the highest regard, said after winning his seventh title.

A great team needs a strong leader and in Bruneyl, the team that started life as US Postal Service before being rebranded Discovery Channel and later RadioShack, they had a man who left nothing to chance in pursuit of glory. Attention to detail meant routes were scouted well in advance to seek out the places to attack and to defend. "Without him there'd never have been a Tour victory, ever," Armstrong said of Bruneyl.

Armstrong's win in 1999 was viewed by many as a fluke, an amazing fluke but a fluke nonetheless. His major rivals at the turn of the century were Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantini, but both missed the 1999 Tour. They were back in 2000 hunting Armstrong who had a "target on his back".

The US Postals shepherded their team leader through the first nine days before hitting the slopes of the fearsome Hautacam. The weather was horrendous but Armstrong was put into position to attack and powering away up the climb he took the leader's jersey by beating his main rivals by upwards of seven minutes. It was a springboard to Tour victory.

Five more Tour wins followed, cementing Armstrong's position among the pantheon of cycling greats, but he could not have done it alone.

GB Hockey Team, 1988 Olympics
After the England football team's disappointing performance at Euro '88, the Great Britain hockey team became overnight celebrities when they upset the form book to become Olympic champions in Seoul.

Having scraped through the group stages, they met red-hot favourites Australia in the semi-finals. After letting a 2-0 lead slip, it looked like Britain's hopes of gold were fading, but with just two minutes remaining, Sean Kerly completed his hat-trick to seal an unlikely 3-2 victory.

"The dreadful prospect of extra time in that sapping heat was almost unbearable," Kerly recalled. "I played a one-two with Imran Sherwani, and I was too exhausted to reach it with an authentic shot, so I lunged at the ball - it was half-dive and half-bellyflop."

Britain were just 70 minutes from gold, but they had to beat West Germany, who had already beaten them in the group stages and had not lost to Britain in 30 years. But in front of a 12,000-strong crowd in Songnam Stadium, Britain achieved the unthinkable.

Kerly set up Sherwani for Britain's opener before netting his 15th Olympic goal from a penalty corner. When Sherwani scored his second from Steve Batchelor's cross, commentator Barry Davies could barely contain his excitement: "Where, oh where were the Germans? And frankly, who cares?" he screamed.

Heiner Dopp's 59th-minute goal was a mere consolation as Britain secured a 3-1 victory to claim Olympic gold for the first time since 1920. The team became household names overnight.

"When we came home, people started comparing what we did in Korea to what England's football team did at Wembley in 1966," defender David Faulkner said.

ESPN's series on the greatest teams in sport is in partnership with Samsung Mobile Project Team Work.

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