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Friday, July 16, 2010

World Cup musings - XI of the tournament

Following Spain's victory over Holland last Sunday it is time for me to announce my 'team' of the tournament based on the performances of the last four and a bit weeks.

Goalkeeper

Iker Casillas

One of the easiest selections to make. He deservedly won the FIFA golden glove and if there were any doubts over his position in the ultimate selection then they were dispelled in the final as he marvellously denied Arjen Robben mid-way through the second half.

Right-Back

Philipp Lahm

Lahm makes the XI despite a minor error leading to Serbia's goal in Germany's 1-0 defeat in the group stage. This was the only blot on the copybook of the tournament's outstanding right-back.

Tackling, pace, verve and steel define all great full-backs and Lahm displayed these qualities in abundance as he led Germany to third place.

Left-Back

Jerome Boateng

Boateng completes a German full-back paring in the team and looks a sound investement for new employers Manchester City following a £10.4 million move from SV Hamburg.

The left-back was outstanding in Germany's victories over England and Argentina, all this in spite of his preferred position being in the centre of defence.

Centre-Back

Gerard Pique

The Barcelona centre-half has to be at the heart of the defence following his peerless displays for Spain en route to winning the tournament.

How Sir Alex Ferguson must be ruing the day he let him leave for Champions League rivals Barcelona for a mere £4 million.

Centre-Back

Juan

The solitary Brazilian in the team is an indictaion of the disappointment Juan's illustrious colleagues served up at South Africa 2010. Juan was magnificent and even managed to get on the scoresheet with a fine header against South American rivals Chile in the last 16.

Midfielder

Andres Iniesta

Iniesta had a decent tournament but makes the selection primarily for his performance in the final where, despite being on the receiving end of some tough tackling Dutch opponents, he kept his composure to score the winning goal in Soccer City.

Midfielder

Xavi

Another strong showing at a major tournament from the midfield maestro after he performed so well for Spain at Euro 2008. Becoming one of the legends of the sport following immense success with both the national side and his club - Barcelona.

Midfielder

Thomas Mueller

The Bayern Munich winger was at heart of every German counter-attack and none more so than in the 4-1 destruction of arch rivals England in Blomfontain. He scored twice on that occasion to go along with goals against Australia, Argentina and Uruguay that earned him the golden boot.

Midfielder

Wesley Schneider

Imperious throughout in the hole behind the main striker, Schneider confirmed what we already knew - Real Madrid made a huge mistake in letting him go in the summer of 2009.

Schneider now stands alone as the best player in the world in his position.

In spite of a quiet display in the final, when he was generally eclipsed by his midfield rivals Xavi and Iniesta, Schneider was the architect behind Holland's best chance of the match - putting Robben through on goal with a glorious through ball, only for the Bayern Munich winger to fluff his big moment.

Striker

David Villa

Villa looks a bargain at £37 million, which is what his new club Barcelona have just laid out for the prolific striker, based on his performances at this summer's World Cup.

Not only was he Spain's talisman as he scored five goals to end the tournament as joint top scorer, he was a scorer of great goals as excellent strikes against Hinduras and Portugal put him in contention for goal of the tournament.

Striker

Diego Forlan

Named FIFA player of the tournament Forlan looks a completely different player to the one who was at Manchester United in the early part of the decade where he was so poor he seemed more like Forlorn than Forlan.

However, a move to La Liga in Spain re-ignited the Uruguayan's career, culminating in this year's World Cup as he played a key role in helping his national side reach fourth place.

Subs Bench

Honourable mentions must go to Sergio Ramos and Ashley Cole (England's only decent performer at the tournament) for their sterling performances, as well as Spain's Carles Puyol, who narrowly missed out on the ultimate XI.

Furthermore, Holland's Arjen Robben and Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger fail to make the cut primarily due to high-profile errors in their final games in South Africa.

Finally, Luis Suarez misses out mainly because of his 'hand of the devil' moment against Ghana.

Talking of which, their star player, Asamoah Gyan, hitherto impressive, will be best remembered for his penalty miss following Suarez's callous act. This, though, is a dis-service to someone who starred for his country as Ghana made the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history.