91Èȱ¬

Why - have you put strict rules in place. The best players are the best players - my favorite player was Bonaventure Kalou for the Ivory Coast and he only played as a sub in 2 games. The great thing about the world cup is that we can all see what happens and make our own mind up about football and footballers from all over the world - get rid of the rules and give us an interesting team

Bit harsh for Ferdinand to be right down there, I thought I played pretty well and didn't make as many mistakes as Terry in the heart of one of the better WC defences.

I also think Figo & Henry were highly over-rated; their contributions were negligible at best.

Personally although outside of your remit, my number one player of the tournament was Richard Kingston, who continued to amaze with a number of point-blank saves, outstanding.

How about the World Cup's Unfair Play awards, aka the Golden Elbow. Much more appropriate, I feel:

Surprised that Beckham escaped from the worst 10, but then there are some who'll support him, (or his looks), no matter how badly he plays.

Surprised at the omission of Grosso from the team of the tournament.

Mexico's Marquez deserves to be in the team of the tournament in front of Materazzi, he was superb.

Mexico's Marquez deserves to be in the team of the tournament in front of Materazzi, he was superb.

Ha ha ha
who voted for these?? KLOSE??!! Best player??!! Ballack??!! What exactly did he do all those games?? Lahm ahead of Zambrotta??!!

My Goodness?? This new system needs a good overhaul already!!

Like SKS, I am surprised by Grosso's omission. I thought he was outstanding throughout the tournament, particulrarly the semi against Germany. I was pleased to see Klose rated at number one - if he plays in 2010 I think he can challenge Ronaldo's record.

generally agree with overall ratings, but quite astonished to see Rio Ferdinand in the bottom 10. I thought he was outstanding in all of Englands games. England in fact went haywire against Sweden immediately after he was substituted.

This is a joke surely?

What did Riquelme do?
Torres, below Crespo?

Oh well, it says it all really.

With Lampard bottom, proves the point i made to my friends that the game against Portugal we should have gone 4-4-2 with Hargreaves or Carrick taking Lampard's place.
Lampard was stifling one of the worlds greatest midfielders in Gerrard who was having to cover Lampard when he kicking a ball at his Barn door and the ball leaving the farm!!
Well Done Italy, and Thanks Germany for a fantastic tournament!!

Quite clearly you didnt watch any of the Germans games Adrian, Klose and Ballack at the heart of everyone of Germany's 14 goals - making them top scorers in the world cup. I personally thought they were by far the best attacking team.

What did Riquelme do? Are you insane? He was awesome.

Glad Lampard was in the bottom, hes a great player but a huge let down. Also, Thierry Henry was just a farce. This system is crap if he got into the top 25!! He was a waste of space and a cheating bar steward. Should be ashamed of himself.

i agree with what some of your other posts - apart from Hargreaves' magnificent performance against portugal rio was one of our most consistent players. he defended well and can at least pass a ball.

Seems like a fair enough system to me. After all, if David Ginola was The best player in England in 1999 ahead of Roy Keane...!
And if Podolski can be named ahead of Ronaldo as young player due to too much simulation, but Zidane still wins best player despite an assault!! Personally enjoyed Zidane's instant justice by the way, as you might tell from my user name...
Cannot believe though that Terry was ahead of Ferdinand. That is totally ridiculous. Terry cost England 2pts against Sweden, almost cost them a goal against Ecuador, and was a liability who would have been banned from the semis even if England had managed to get there (second yellow: jumping into the back of someone leading with the arm on the halfway line... Doh!!)
Just to underline FIFA's ridiculous individual awards, Terry made their team of the tournement - LAUGHABLE.

I think this goes to show that you can't divorce a player from his team and the opposition they happened to face. Fantasy teams are a talking point, and not much more.

They say clubs should never buy players off the back of World Cups. Well, conversely we should never have expectations of players off the back of club footy!

Being italian,i'm pleased to see five men in the starting eleven.
But i notice that Lilian Thuram is missing,and he has been considered one of the best defenders of the tournament. And i want to remember another name: Arjen Robben...his standard in the round phase was nearly unmatched...
And Ballack in the starting eleven sound a bit odd to me...

You seem to all be fortgetting there isn't a system for voting and for best players...just how they qualify for the team. Say Torres had got 9 out of 10 then he still wouldn't be in the team as Spain only reached the quater finals. Don't forget these aren't Fifa's scores, these were made by us...so even though ou think something...obviosly 90% of the nation/world disagree.
I am an Arsenal supporter and not a great fan of either Terry or Ferdinand...all these people saying Terry was was rubbish ferdinand was brill are all man utd fans, Terry saved us on an occasion of times..most notabily his goal line clerance????How many of you remember that? That is not sayin Terry was not to blame for any goals aswell. Ferdinand however frequently looked as if he was dreaming of his bed, often havin to run back when he finally realised his full-backs were being attacked. How can you blame one centre back for a goal but not the other, if the player gets past both of them? Preferbaly myself..if England were playing 3-5-2 wiv 2 full bakcs Terry would be my man in the middle, and i don't like the guy cos of that Blue shirt he reprents all the time.

You seem to all be fortgetting there isn't a system for voting and for best players...just how they qualify for the team. Say Torres had got 9 out of 10 then he still wouldn't be in the team as Spain only reached the quater finals. Don't forget these aren't Fifa's scores, these were made by us...so even though ou think something...obviosly 90% of the nation/world disagree.
I am an Arsenal supporter and not a great fan of either Terry or Ferdinand...all these people saying Terry was was rubbish ferdinand was brill are all man utd fans, Terry saved us on an occasion of times..most notabily his goal line clerance????How many of you remember that? That is not sayin Terry was not to blame for any goals aswell. Ferdinand however frequently looked as if he was dreaming of his bed, often havin to run back when he finally realised his full-backs were being attacked. How can you blame one centre back for a goal but not the other, if the player gets past both of them? Preferbaly myself..if England were playing 3-5-2 wiv 2 full bakcs Terry would be my man in the middle, and i don't like the guy cos of that Blue shirt he reprents all the time.

You seem to all be fortgetting there isn't a system for voting and for best players...just how they qualify for the team. Say Torres had got 9 out of 10 then he still wouldn't be in the team as Spain only reached the quater finals. Don't forget these aren't Fifa's scores, these were made by us...so even though ou think something...obviosly 90% of the nation/world disagree.
I am an Arsenal supporter and not a great fan of either Terry or Ferdinand...all these people saying Terry was was rubbish ferdinand was brill are all man utd fans, Terry saved us on an occasion of times..most notabily his goal line clerance????How many of you remember that? That is not sayin Terry was not to blame for any goals aswell. Ferdinand however frequently looked as if he was dreaming of his bed, often havin to run back when he finally realised his full-backs were being attacked. How can you blame one centre back for a goal but not the other, if the player gets past both of them? Preferbaly myself..if England were playing 3-5-2 wiv 2 full bakcs Terry would be my man in the middle, and i don't like the guy cos of that Blue shirt he reprents all the time.

It really was unfair on Rio coz i honestly think he was loads better than Terry and a whole host of world cup defenders.
And, it was sych a traversty that Italy went on to win the cup after the great Grosso Dive against Australia.

What do you guys think of the FIFA rankings - vote your opinion here:

I think Italy should be No. 1

Now here is new FIFA World Ranking as 12 July 2006:

Top 20 Rankings as of July 2006 Rank Team Points
1 Brazil 1630
2 Italy 1550
3 Argentina 1472
4 France 1462
5 England 1434
6 Netherlands 1322
7 Spain 1309
8 Portugal 1301
9 Germany 1229
10 Czech Republic 1223
11 Nigeria 1149
12 Cameroon 1109
13 Switzerland 1028
14 Uruguay 985
15 Ukraine 961
16 USA 933
17 Denmark 927
18 Mexico 924
19 Paraguay 915
20 Côte d'Ivoire 909

Klose and Crespo as top strikers? That sums up why we didn't get the goals in this tournament we were hoping for.

Klose is an average Joe. I was in shock when he scored with his feet.

And Crespo flatters to deceive. Always.

Riquelme was rubbish. Ballack was little better.

Cannavaro was the main man. A superb tournament. He at least can feel proud of his contribution to Italy's triumph (Materazzi and Grosso cannot).

The best England player overall was Rio and he finishes in the bottom ten - says it all really!

Considering all that Ronaldo and his Portuguese team mates have had to endure it's actually very surprising to see that they have done quite well in the voting department, namely Ronaldo, Figo, Deco and Ricardo.

Imagine what could have happened if they had not been the World Cup crowd's ugly ducklings; the Dutch, English fans and UK TV commentator scapegoats, during the tournament?

Well the Fifa and most of English news papers and tv wanna control and cheating on people for voting they way but they have no right all of us we watch on tv and some went to germany and we are not Blind this football business they are destroing the sport it self they are a disgrace for football most of the best footballers have been booked unfairly we wanna see the best palyers in the world cupo knokig stages but some of them had to yellow cards that sould never hapens they are humans,but most of them are top class and to be a top class tournament we got to have the best plyers,The Sun News paper have been encouraging the fans to vote for Luis Valencia on fifa web site to vote for the best young player,they wanna take revenge on Cristiano ronaldo but that was very cheap,who are cheating the paleyers or the organisations like ffifa news papers etc??Ronaldo was by far the best young player aganst france ther was more than 3 palyers arround him and that penalty agasnts england that was fantastic,Lamapard and gerard need to have some lessons from Cristiano Ronaldo!

this is a wee wake up call for Aidrain

WHAT DID KLOSE DO, well is this apart from finish to scorer, apart from help a young strike partner find his feet after a couple of poor games. My friend if you critisce his place in the top ten you know very little about football.

I also thought lahm was one of the best full backs throught the world cup. i am surprised fringe was lower than ballack

you must be a man u or arsenal fan???? am i right

Ronnie: Fifa rankings aren't done by choosing who is top: teams score points for winning matches, qualifying for tournaments etc. So the reason Italy are second to Brazil is bacuse in the last 2 years (I'm guessing the time period), Brazil have overall been better.

Out of the 91Èȱ¬ starting 11, I'd have only picked 6. I wasn't impressed with Ballack at all, and a few others I thought were good but not outstanding. Players I'd like to see in the top 11 are: Saviola, Schweinsteiger and Rodriguez.

weird indeed. Anyone fairly acknowledge cannavaro was the best player with which I agree (btw i'm french). Also, what did Ballack do excatly? Good passing skills but less influence than Zidane or Pirlo for sure. Also, I agree since it was a world cup of defender, Thuram should be in the top 5. Not saying Klose was bad but certainly not the best one. And if Crespo's in how Maxi rodriguez can't when he was the best argentinian (Riquelme had 2 very good games and 2 very average ones). finally, just to defend Henry a bit (not the diving), he played well given the 4-5-1 formation and made lots of run to create space. You don't only judge a forward to the number of shots he made. Would have prefer to see him played alongside another forward though.

post 18: yeah ok fair point. Wasn't saying Ferdinand was especially good, just that Terry was slightly shown up at times on the World stage a la the way Ronaldinho knocked him on his arse and knocked Chelsea out of Europoe.
Glad you agree with my main point tho that the voting system was fair enough!
As for your 3-5-2 idea: get in; the best and most flexible system going - as long as you've got the players.

It's pretty harsh that Grosso is the only one of the Italy back four not to make the team! Considering he was playing pub football 5 years ago I reckon he was player of the tournament.

Riquelme - what does he actually do? He gets his face on TV a lot because he takes set pieces (a bit like Beckham) but how many killer passes from open play has he made in his career?

Ballack an Riquelme?? U gotta be kiddin'!!
Subs Ronaldo and Figo were way better...

There are some fair points from the majority of respondants, however I feel a lot of it is down to personal preference. At the end of the day I feel Italy lacked a lot of flair in the group games and scrapped through in others, but performed well against the Ukraine scoring 3 good goals. These tournaments a rarely about the best team winning and becoming world champions, buy which team string the right results together throughout the tournament. I would doubt many Italians would truly disagree that France were the better team on Sunday night, but in the end if you don't take your chances someone else will profit from it. France struggled to get the results during the group stages, but showed that tactically they could get it right against the Spanish who were good in the group stages, but conversely couldn't do it when the pressure was on. To sum up, look at Greece in Euro 2004, outsiders in the beginning, but ground out results and had a bit of luck when it mattered. These are what you need to win tournaments. England, practise your penalty taking for next time and you never can tell!!!

Top players= v. good, although it's madness to have e.g. Figo, Henry (both of whom were OK) above Pirlo, who was truly outstanding. Also surprised to see Zidane, Materazzi, Deco and Ricardo quite so high- in some cases voting seems to be more on rep (e.g. Zizou, Deco)than actual performances. Ballack did not impress me as much as he seems to have done others. Bottom players clearly a joke- what did Ferdinand and Robinson do wrong exactly? I didn't think Wiltord or Costinha had terrible tournaments either, although neither set the world on fire. One thing I do agree with is Lamps- down among the dead men. He was a joke in this tournament. His contribution was worthless in every respect.

Top players= v. good, although it's madness to have e.g. Figo, Henry (both of whom were OK) above Pirlo, who was truly outstanding. Also surprised to see Zidane, Materazzi, Deco and Ricardo quite so high- in some cases voting seems to be more on rep (e.g. Zizou, Deco)than actual performances. Ballack did not impress me as much as he seems to have done others. Bottom players clearly a joke- what did Ferdinand and Robinson do wrong exactly? I didn't think Wiltord or Costinha had terrible tournaments either, although neither set the world on fire. One thing I do agree with is Lamps- down among the dead men. He was a joke in this tournament. His contribution was worthless in every respect.

I cant believe someone said Lahm doesnt deserve a place.I think he has been the 2nd best influential defender after Cannavaro..I mean just watch the matches against Italy and portugal.He must have made atleast a dozen crucial tackles..without any foul..he didnt get a yellow card too,like cannavaro(as far as i remember).

Not for nothing is Mourinho after Lahm..

Infact i think he is the best young player of the tournament ahead of ronaldo and podolski.

Just a word for all you morons out there who know nothing about football - How can you say Riquelme was rubbish? did you watch Argentina? I am tired of reading biased comments on these sort of postings - I hate the Argies too but the man was sheer class. Everything came through him - he must have touched the ball 3 times every minute of every game - he hardly misplaced a pass - England would die for a player like that - (Carrick was the nearest thing but wasnt picked against Portugal because we had a duffer manager). Pirlo did it for Italy - always making space for himself and wanting the ball - then choosing from a long list of options of how to distribute - he made all their important goals.
For God's sake lets give credit where it is due and lets look forward to a new England era with no Beckham or Lampard - Downing on the left, Lennon on the right, Gerrard and Carrick in the middle - any decent wing play in the world cup would have decimated any team - come on ENGLAND!!

It's amusing to see the complaints about the voting system not working, when it's down to the gen public to vote for the players themselves. It's a bit like Eurovision - where the voting has got far more biased since the voting panels were scrapped and the man in the street got the chance to have his say.

I cant believe someone said Lahm doesnt deserve a place.I think he has been the 2nd best influential defender after Cannavaro..I mean just watch the matches against Italy and portugal.He must have made atleast a dozen crucial tackles..without any foul..he didnt get a yellow card too,like cannavaro(as far as i remember).

Not for nothing is Mourinho after Lahm..

Infact i think he is the best young player of the tournament ahead of ronaldo and podolski.

Stop whinging lagerland thugs. Again, another poor tournament. Forget about underachieving, Engerlund are rubbish. Not the best World Cup i have ever seen but Germany vs Italy semi final and Argentina vs Mexico were the best games. Top English player during the tournament, Hargreaves. Rest were forgettable. As for the team of the tournament, Klose has to be included. Ballack too. Lahm as well. Grosso and Ronaldo should be in it. Zidane and Riquelme too. Cannavaro was my man of the tournament, he's been the best defender in the world for a number of years despite playing in a poor Italian team.

Riquelme deserved to be in the FIFA 23 men squad, hes the most unselfish attacking midfielder around, makes the most passes, creates opportunities for his team mates. Football aint always about scoring goals and dribbling is it? Thats why Ronaldinho was a huge flop I was also impressed with Fabio Grosso, fantastic left back with an eye for a goal. Don't forget Ze Roberto too!!! Best brazilian player in the world cup. Overall best player goes to Fabio Cannavaro, best defender in the world! better than Terry

Why are people slating Riquelme and Gerrard?

Without Riquelme Argentina would have ceased to function completely, let me just remind you of the match against Germany, nearly a minute after Riquelme was subbed, the Argies started an irretrevable slide.

And Gerrard? I thought the lad worked hard in most games and was prevented from shining by the ball greedy tactics of his fellow midfielders, stick hargreaves in with him and change out beckham for lennon, then we will see the Gerrard who is the destroyer of hopes and dreams at Liverpool

Team of the World Cup:

1. Lehman
2. Zambrotta
3. Grosso
4. Canavarro
5. Thuram

6. Gattusso
7. Pirlo

8. C Ronaldo
9. Maxi Rodriguez
10. Zidane

11. Klose

Most Overrated team

1. Barthez
2. Cafu
3. Roberto Carlos
4. Ferdinand
5. Terry

6. Carrick
7. Roanldiniho
8. Beckham
9. Ballack

10. Pauleta
11. Rooney

Cannavaro was undoubtedly the best player of the tournament. Not just a couple of the matches, like some players that have been included (particularly Zidane), but of the tournament. He kept his performances at consistently high levels and marshalled the best defence in the tournament, as well as lifting the trophy at the end of it. What more evidence do you need?

Well, Ronadinho has gotta be in the bottom 10. he was a nightmare to watch, circling around the ball and never tackling. He was rubbish for a man of his class.

in post 44 I forgot Lampard in the most overrated..........hell you can only pick eleven. I'm sure most people will agrre though that Frankie boy should be the first name on that particular list. In for Ballack then......

anyone who thinks rio ferdinand had a good tournament is a complete moron!! I don't support a premiership team so i have no bias, but terry, rio, sol and robinson were all poor throughout. and as for rio being a good passer of the ball......what a joke, run 10 yards and chip it up to the lone striker to chase, maybe the defense should watch a few videos of how the italians pass the ball, apart from that, well done ashley cole, solid, and also to the 6 right backs!!! sack mclaren now, bring in klinnsmann, an attack minded coach!

Nice (and appropriate) to see so many Italians in the top team considering the snide comments and faint praise which they received throughout the tournament from the meedja in general and the TV commentators in particular. Despite the French team being thoroughly talked up by the pundits, the fans have voted with their heads.

Zidane had his moments and probably deserved the sympathy vote as player of the tournament for all the entertainment he has given over the years (headbutt or no headbutt!), but most would agree that the standout player was Italy's Cannavaro.

Sure, France had plenty of possession during the final but apart from the dive which produced the penalty (and it was a dive - minimal if any contact - if Motson and Lawro had not been so obviously rooting for Thierry Henry's team, it might even have been mentioned as a dive), how often did the French really look like breaching the brilliant Italian defence? Whereas the Italians hit the bar and had what would have been a winning goal chalked off for an offside situation no different from the situation in which Buffon saved from Zidane late on.

Plus any team which knocks in all 5 penalties under that kind of pressure (not to mention the hostile crowd) deserves the trophy, especially a team which along with the hosts gave us such a brilliantly entertaining semi (the REAL final for many of us).

So well done, the Azzuri - always nice when the underdogs stick it to their critics. Italian club football may (as we were reminded every five minutes) be in crisis but on this showing, they will bounce back quickly.

I feel that Rio Ferdinand being in the bottom 10 no way relates to the world cup hea had. I know Rio has had an indifferent season at domestic level and I think he would be the first to admit that, however I feel this has overshadowed many peoples views on his world cup performances. I thought in general he had a stronger world cup in general than John Terry and I do not think him being placed in the bottom 10 comes anything close to justifying his performances.

Lets also remember that the ratings cast are based on the players own standards they have set for themselves. Lampard obviously didn't have the greatest world cup but he was by no means the worst performer there. If the managers were being rated where would Erikkson figure?

Nobody mentioned essien, appiah, and mensah. Grosso was great thorughout. Rodroguiz of Argentina too. My player however was hargreaves who the english press shouldn't have been in the england team. He really made them look foolish and unable to know a good player. Great performance, hargreaves.

I completly agree with what Darius wrote in post 45 about Cannavaro being the best player in the tournament.Although Zidane did play brilliantly in the KO's,Cannavaro was consistent throughout the tournament & should have been given the golden ball.I also thought Andrea Pirlo had a fantastic World Cup.

I think it is an absolute disgrace that Ballack was voted the 5th best player of the tournament, a disgrace! Some would argue that Beckham was better than him, no that's going too far, but anyway he surely wasn't as good as great performers like Pirlo and Henry! And, he was injured for 2 games! Come on guys, what are you doing?!

Completly agree with post 49.I've been an azzurri fan all my life & July 9 also happened to be my birthday...best present I ever got was the sight of Cannavaro on the podium with the cup.

i midfield without micheal essien is no midfield peroid

Rio a good passer??? Yeah I suppose he's good at passing the ball 70 yards down the pitch. Rio was the main culpret for our awful long ball tactics. Every time he had the ball, he just hoofed it up field hoping that the poor isolated rooney might get on the end of it! I agree that he was one of if not our best player when defending but not so sure about the range of passing?!?

SKS, putting Lehman ahead of Buffon is a joke. You must be Arsenal fan. I agree Lehman had an excellent tournament but better than Buffon? Beckham is not as bad as you guys think...He made the best of lousy Sven's tactics. If it were not for him then England would probably meet and got burnt by Germany instead. Having said that, I think Lennon is the best England player and Beckham as captain should have realized this and made way for him to be involved in more games.

Ballack was definitely overrated. Pirlo, Riquelme or Zidane are way better. Although I don't agree Klose is the best player, I think he's definitely top ten. Again Cannavaro should be the best. Thuram, Sagnol and Abidal should be up there as well but perhaps lacking international exposure cost them.

My team would be:
Buffon
Zambrotta
Thuram
Cannavaro
Grosso
Zidane
Gatusso
Riquelme
Maxi Rodriguez
Klose
Henry

Disappointing 3:
1) Lampard
2) Ronaldinho
3) Ronaldo

i do agree with you frodo. i still think essien is the most underrated midfielder in current world football. ballack?lampard? carrick? i think the best midfielders we can have would be essien, gerrard, pirlo, makelele. most of the others come second.

This is quite a good set-up but missing a key player! Fernando Torres! He is an amazingly talented footballer! and lets face it hes gorgeous! Ronaldo should be higher up the list! Hes awesome. Harry Kewell did his fair share of sound play too!

What about Patrick Vieira? He played wonderful games during the entire World Cup and if he hadn't been injured during the final France would have won the World Cup.
Concerning Zidane, even if this act in final was not good, he was the best player of the world cup (against Brasil he was the only Brasilian on the field!). I have only the regret that players like Materazzi still exist (Get racism out of football).

how can you say essian is good he is possibly the most over rated player on the planet, i think the team should be

buffon
lahm
cannavaro
zambrotta
thuram
ribery
riquelme
pirlo
sweignsteiger
henry
klose

emran you are completely correct i agree with you with everything.

EmRaN, look at the teams everyone is picking as their best of the world cup. Buffon played behind the best defence in the competition....by some distance.

Lehman played behind a somewhat dodgier defence, but did not make a single mistake when he was caled upon. Not only that, many 'experts' had him down as a weak link. What a great performance.

EmRaN, you probably are right about Buffon having a better tournament, but in a penalty shoot out you'd have to pick Lehmann.

I thought nost of the players in the worst ten had decent tournaments... lampard excepted of course, he was awful.

What exactly did Robinson do wrong? Both our goals were conceded due to lousy defending, and as or not saving a penalty, well, neither did Buffon or Barthez but they're not in the bottom 10.

well i am suprised at the fact that the lazy bum LAMPARD even gets a mention as one of the players of the tournament.....my opinion is that whoever of you fools that have even mentioned him must have been day dreaming while ENGLAND played...LAMPARD IS THE REASON ENGLAND NEVER PROGRESSED.

I agree with those who say Cannavaro was best player of the tournament. His contributions are reminiscent of the great Baresi of the late 80's/early 90's. Yes, Zidane had an above average tournament, particularly during the France/Brazil match, but he was not as consistent as Cannavaro in all matches.

For the critics of Italy, I think it is quite instructive that in all the earlier postings here, not less than 5 Italian players (not all defenders) feature as part of the first 11. I think we should give kudos to them. Yes, not the most outstanding Italian team that ever played a world cup, but having 10 different players scoring 12 goals (including defenders!) and conceding only 2 goals (one an own goal and the other a penalty) is no mean feat.

What more does a team need to be deserving?

Well done Italy!

I agree with those who say Cannavaro was best player of the tournament. His contributions are reminiscent of the great Baresi of the late 80's/early 90's. Yes, Zidane had an above average tournament, particularly during the France/Brazil match, but he was not as consistent as Cannavaro in all matches.

For the critics of Italy, I think it is quite instructive that in all the earlier postings here, not less than 5 Italian players (not all defenders) feature as part of the first 11. I think we should give kudos to them. Yes, not the most outstanding Italian team that ever played a world cup, but having 10 different players scoring 12 goals (including defenders!) and conceding only 2 goals (one an own goal and the other a penalty) is no mean feat.

What more does a team need to be deserving?

Well done Italy!

I look forward to seeing FIFA's World Team XI.

Now let me see Zidane and Materazzi play in the same team :))

What about Willy Sagnol....i cant believe he hanst been mentioned. For me the best full back in the tournamnet. Fantastic going forward and great tracking back and making last ditch tackles (unlike lahm). He would be in my team of the tournament.

'What did Klose do'? Well, scored 5 goals in 6 games and became the tournament's top scorer. Actually. Some of the reaction to this table is as laughable as the table itself...

These ratings can't help but remind of the equally faulty FIFA world team rankings. "Collating" raw numeric data often gives a very distorted outcome. A thin veneer of "computer-generated" objectivity doesn't mask the fact that subjective criteria are usually more germane to any such ratings. Take the example of the "hugely impressive" Miroslav Klose for instance. His highest ratings score came after a relatively easy shutout win over a modest Group opponent, Ecuador. His lowest score came in his team's most important match of the tournament, the semi-final defeat to Italy, in which he and his team were held scoreless. Performances need to be weighted to reflect the significance of the match in which they occur; and the overall averages likewise. As long as the ratings don't - or can't - they can only continue to mislead and dissapoint.

buffon is simply the best.no opponent beat him in open play?zidane may be good,but how does he react to intimidation?awfully?!

I believe Time magazine once named Hitler Man of the Year, not because he was a great guy, but because he had the biggest impact. In that vein, Materazzi deserves Man of the Tournament. He meets the requirement. In one game alone he fouls leading to a penalty, he scores Italy's only goal, he gets the tournament's best player sent off, and he makes his spot kick in the end.

By the way, very funny shirt out for Zidane. . Probably popular with Italians.

The best player Bastian Schweinsteiger

The fact that Lampard is rated as the worst player is no surprise. In fact, if the bottom 6 were made up of English players I would have no argument.

On the other hand, it's a pity that there isn't a rating for the single game performance of the tournament. At the top of my list would be Hargreaves in the game against Portugal. Although he played in a second rate team under a third rate manager, he managed to put in a performance that was truly world class. I've watched the game more than once now and right from the start it is Hargreaves doing most of the good things on the pitch. Not only that but he got better and better and better as the game went on - especially after the midfield changed from 5 to 4 after Rooney was sent off. As the rest of the team faded, he gained strength - a testament to his fitness, technical ability, and mental will. And all of this after weeks of unreasonable and, at times, quite viscious criticism from fans and media alike. The lad was brilliant. (Of course, to those of us who watch the Bundesliga even on a semi-regular basis, his performance came as no surprise.)

If there was a Golden Heart award I think Gattuso would win it hands down. Sure he's not to the most talented player in the world, but he really made a difference in Italy's midfield. He ran and ran throughout every match as well as encouraging and inspiring his fellow team mates. No wonder he's the most loved player in Italy.

Have any of you actually been watching the world cup?

Fabio Cannavaro was by far the best player of the tournament. And did anyone actually hear of a player called Pirlo? Hello, he was awesome.

Its an absolute outrage to put in Materazzi as the second central defender after what he said to Zidane.

What did Juan Roman Requelme actually do in this tournament? And to pick Crespo as the second striker is all wrong. His 'goal' against Mexico wasn't even his. It was an own goal. So that shouldn't count towards his tally.

And why is everyone going on about Zambrotta? He only got in the team because Italy's first choice right back scored an own goal.

This is what I think the team of the tournament should really be:

1. BUFFON Italy GK
2. SAGNOL France RB
3. LAHM Germany LB
4. THURAM France CB
5. CANNAVARO (c) Italy CB
6. MAXI RODRIGUEZ Argentina RM
7. SCHWEINSTEIGER Germany LM
8. PIRLO Italy CM
9. ZIDANE France CM
10. PODOLSKI Germany CF
11. KLOSE Germany CF

As subs I would have LEHMANN (Germany), GROSSO (Italy), MEIRA (Portugal), GATTUSO (Italy), TORRES (Spain).

Guys, there is no point throwing a fit about the team that has been chosen, this is the team based on HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE'S OPINIONS, not one person's team. This lends it credibility.

Hi,

unfortunately for me I had my Bucks night just before the world cup started, and as a joke my good "friends" locked me in a cellar cupboard, I have only just been released after 3 weeks, it seems that the 2 people responsible were so drunk that they totally forgot about what they had done, they told everyone else at the party that I had gone for a walk & had doubts about getting married!
being rather drunk myself, I fell asleep in the cupboard and the two responsible for putting me in it, left town,
luckily for me there was some cheese and water available to sustain me throughout my ordeal, I tried yelling, but I was in the cellar so nobody heard, I tried to break out but it was a very well built cupboard and was unable to make any progress, my father luckily came down into the cellar to get some wine and I was able to make enough noise for him to hear me & release me! after my interviews with police about my dissapearance, and explaining to everyone what happened, I was surprised and also not surprised to hear that Italy had won the world cup, I was very dissapointed to have missed it.

Whatever said and done, it has finally been proved to the world that ronaldinho is jus one of those players who cannot perform at the highest level: the champions league final, and the world cup.... which indicates that he s overrated cause a great player performs at every stage.. take zizou for example, bar the last moment of madness, he was pure magic.. i was jumpin for joy when he so easily flicked the ball over ronaldinho in the brazil game, jus lettin them know that he was still the king and the rest of them were just pretenders to his throne!!!

Could zinedine zidane be half goat, half french?,
the reason why i ask is that I saw a documentary and I swear, I saw a goat do exactly what Zinedine did, except it was with another goat and not a football player?

I think the best team of the tournament was Ghana, because though they played against three great opponents and the officials the were just marvelleous.Provided there will be good officiating in South Africa 2010, the world should watch for Ghana. AYEEKOO BLACK STARS!

team of the tournament:
Buffon
Zambrotta
Cannavaro(c)
Ayala
Lahm/grosso

Gattuso
Pirlo
Zidane
Maxi Rodriguez

Torres
Klose

Also if Lampard was not playing in the England team, you would have seen the best midfielder in the world being given his desired role....in Steven Gerrard.

The only dispute I have with the majority of comments here are that I would have rated Gattuso over Cannavaro. Not that Cannavaro was anything other than outstanding, but his influence (by the nature of his role) was limited to defence.

Gattuso was tackling back, well, and then driving a largely reluctant Italian front-line forward ahead of him. Pirlo was creative and technically astute, but Gattuso matched his ability in most games and just plain did more.

A lot of the voting, particularly for the England players, I think reflects their performance not against the other players, but against peoples' expectations of what they should have achieved. Hence the normally overrated Rio Ferdinand was judged harshly, the normally and understandable highly rated Lampard and Terry were both rated badly for failing to live up to the billing. (Lampard really, really failed to achieve what he normally does.)

I think it's good to use the voting system to get lists and teams like this. Some of the players in the bottom 10 are there because they always came on as a sub (like Wiltord, who did nothing wrong but nothing spectacular either). Others, like Carlos, Lampard and Adriano were there on merit.

I'd also stick Totti in there. The Italian team had to carry him for large parts of the competition and yet if they got a free kick he was always the man taking it, often shooting from 40 yds or so. Clearly here we have a player more concerned with his image than the team (much more so than Beckham).

As for the top 25, i think most of the top performers at the world cup are in there and it's interesting to see that left-back is one of the most closely contested positions. Lahm was outstanding; he defended well and made telling contributions further up the field (along with a great goal). Grosso was also very good, and i'd like to mention Ashley Cole, who got better with each game he played and was one of the brighter points of a generally dire England campaign.

Some people seem to think it's unfair for Ronaldo to be marked down because he was guilty of "simulation". Would these people also like it if he was entitled to handle the ball? Diving is a form of cheating, and even though Ronaldo is far from alone he is one of the players who goes to ground most easily. Players do deserve to be marked down for cheating. As an Arsenal fan i was gutted to see the way Henry reacted to an elbow in the chest against Spain. I do sympathise with him to some extent because at least he was being fouled at the time. He under-performed because he's not a lone striker, much like Rooney. Unliked Rooney he didn't stand on someone else's delicate bits.

I did really enjoy the world cup though. It was won by the defences, but there were very few dull teams. It wasn't marred by the cynicism that ruined Italia '90 (for example). The hosts played a huge part as well, and their attitude to fans should be an example to future hosts of major sporting events. I didn't make it out to Germany for the world cup, but i've been there in the summer for each of the last 2 years and it's a fantastic country. Can't wait to get back to Berlin and admit that Bayern were right to keep picking Hargreaves after all!

excuse me people, the italian team.. for me they weren t the best in the tournament so drop it.. it was shown by the fact that in the finals they weren t confident bout passing and instead were solely dependant on long balls, set pieces, and gettin 10 outfielders behind the ball every time france got posession.

To be very honest there were a lot of teams who played much better football than italy, and none better so than their final opponents.. to dominate brazil, spain and italy is no joke...

People keep talking about how 'the 91Èȱ¬' list is wrong. And saying things like 'have any of you actually watched the World Cup?' Well clearly the hundreds and thousands of people who rated the players which led to the team of the tournament had been watching the tournament. Its not a 91Èȱ¬ team, its the general public's team.

Its hard to think of a more democratic way to get to the general impression of the team of the tournament as people see it. The only way its inbalanced is because English players are judged more harshly than others by the Great British public and hence they make up a number of the bottom 10 when they maybe don't deserve to. Frank Lampard didn't have a great tournament but the worst player there? But that's what the people think, so who am I to argue...

but whatever said and done, i congratulate the azzuri for gettin the 4 stars on their chest, and gettin within jus one of the brazilians... and btw, i m not biased, cause i m not a french fan.. i m jus speakin upon what i saw..

LEHMANN

GROSSO CANNAVARO MARQUEZ LAHM

FRINGS ZIDANE PIRLO RIQUELME

TORRES KLOSE

Just how better than Italy was France, if they were not able to score a goal (not a penalty) within the run of play?

And for those who say Italy won because Zizou had to leave, Zizou played a whole 117 - 120 minutes and did not score save the penalty. Even if he was around to take the spot kick in place of Trezeguet would he have stopped Italy's five penalties from entering the net? I guess not.

I think both teams had their moments (As Zizou nearly scored during extra time, so did Luca Toni and Pirlo at other times). France just happened to be ahead at the time Zizou left.

All these rantings against Lampard must be from Gunners! Lampard had the highest shots on goal in the whole tournament. How then can he be ranked so low? As for Riquelme, he was outstanding especially against Germany, then incredibly Pekerman substituted him in what must be one of the worst managerial decisions in the whole tournament.

Cannavaro was the reason Italy won the world cup thanks to his awe-inspiring displays in the heart of defence. And Zidane was the reason France got to the final, so because those 2 players got their teams to the final that surely makes them the players of the tornament along with other obvious incredible displays. Klose was easily the striker of the tornament however his semi match was very disappointing for someone who had lit up a team in every other game. Personally i thought this world cup was disappoiting however with no new stars really making a break-through on the world stage, and loomking at the top playes all of them are experienced players at top clubs. Compared to Japan/Korea i thought this tornament was dull. In japan/korea there were plenty of surprises such as USA,Turkey,S.Korea and Senegal all in the semi's. Those are the things that make a world cup exciting and when teams like those get to those rounds there better players get noticed and stars are made. That didnt happen this time with every team in the quarters a team with good world cup pedigree.

I have to take exception to Lahm. He proved to be a quality defende in the qualifying stages but once elimination hit he faded. Against Italy, he played a horrible first half, giving away the ball at least four times with clumsy, nervous touches. Ferdinand showed more composure, Grosso was wonderful but also more noticed because of the offensive parts of his game, Carvalho, Thuram. Definitely other choices available.

Maxi Rodrigues also may deserve notice. Great run for him.

Hey, you forgotten Pirlo!!

Lampard bottom of ratings. He may not have played like he does for chelsea but at least he got in a position to have shots at goal albeit not scoring. what about that ronaldhino who passed to the opposition more than 47 times during the tournament showing he is a brilliant player individually but his team work is useless

I agree that Cannavaro should be the best player of the tournament. His performance was excellent and very consistant in all the 7 games. Same for Buffon really. Are we forgetting the importance of a good goal-keeper? Probably Buffon was the secret of Italy's triumph in this world cup. Some of his goal keepings were crucial (see the final for example). I'd like to remember the best goal-keeper in the history of the World Cup is Walter Zenga who took Italy to the semifinals in '90. Both Buffon and Cannavaro would deserve the title of best player of the tournament rather than Zidane who played just ONE brilliant game: France v Brazil. One game is not enough.

Wess - you clearly don't know who Klose is, then. I'd imagine the only time you've ever seen him play was at the 2002 World Cup (given the comment about scoring with his feet).

In no way is he average. He's scored 10 World Cup goals now and last season in the Bundesliga he scored 25 goals in 26 games - something that I'd say is beyond an "average" player.

To all of those who feel the need to defend the rating given Lampard:

At least he put himself in positions to take shots, you say. Not only that but he had more shots than anyone else at the tournament, you say. Well, I say, the fact that he didn't even come close to scoring with even one of those shots in any of his games proves that his rating is very well deserved.

And then there are the other factors. He gave the ball away on a regular basis with errant, poorly judged passes; He was bundled off the ball with ease; and he generally strolled around the pitch as though he was playing a game of golf rather than football. In other words, he was lumbering, ponderous, error prone, and ineffectual. I do hold my hands up on one issue, however. Eriksson was to blame for always picking this out of form player. Lampard shouldn't be blamed for that.

Where are the US players? Were they at the Cup? The pre-Cup hype said they were 6th ranked in the world!

it seems to me that this so called "best world cup eleven" consists of the players which the T.V pundits constantly talked about. surely players like maniche of Portugal or appiah of Ghana perfomed better than ballack?

Rio was one of a very few England players who performed. Hargreaves and J. Cole being the others who rose above mediocrity.

Lampard was really poor. Well spotted Sven.

Of course Klose deserves to be in there. He deserved to be in the top 3 FIFA placings as well, but never was. The method used by the 91Èȱ¬ here is a fair method and proves this, plus 5 goals, a MOM in the second round game where he didn't score but assisted for both Podolski's goals, and all round was excellent and easily the best forward at the tournament.

As for Riquelme, look up the stats. More assists than any other player. Quite amazed actually that no-one has provided an analysis of his contribution, since he was such a big name going into the tournament.

Interestingly, a lot of the criticism levelled at Beckham could also go to Riquelme. He can't tackle, head, run fast, dribble, score all that many goals, doesn't get about the pitch, basically he can pass really good.

Overall, the team selected above looks a very fair reflection of the World Cup. In my own team of the tournament I got 6 of that starting 11 right, and included a few more of the others on my bench. A bit surprised to see Materazzi in there, also Ballack, but they must have played well when it mattered.

I thought Argentina should have kept Crespo on against Germany, also why did they take Riquelme off?

my team starting goal and ending right winger.
1.Ricardo (port)
2.Frings(ger)
3.cannovaro(ita)
4.miguel(port)
5.zidane(france)
6.riqualme(arg)
7.c.ronaldo(port)
8.roben van perse(holl)
9.plodoski(ger)
10.arjen robbin(holl)
11.odonkar(ger)

to the pillock who said zambrotta only got in the side because zaccardo scored an own goal:

you're a pillock, you pillock

I believe Ribbery has been outstanding enough to make the first eleven

torres, schweinsteiger & podolski.my dream-team

imagine: Torres and Podolski(yes,him and not Klose, the younger ones are the better ones....) and from behind Schweinsteiger and Pirlo, it's a dreamteam

oh, I forgot Ribbery, how could it happen? Weird. He was stunning.

dats not on..lampard neva had a good world cup becoz of da standards he set 4 imself, if lampard waz da worst player der wot would u giv 2 ronaldinho he were fa worse, plus dem 2 have alredy proved it cumin 2nd n 1st in worlds best player respectively so back off

dats not on..lampard neva had a good world cup becoz of da standards he set 4 imself, if lampard waz da worst player der wot would u giv 2 ronaldinho he were fa worse, plus dem 2 have alredy proved it cumin 2nd n 1st in worlds best player respectively so back off

Italy was great. They had everything a team should have. Virtually anyone could score and defend for them and they all have excellent passing skills and ball control. They are the best team i've seen in a loooong time.

sorry but ronaldinho was well under par but nevertheless way better then lampard!

I think if Argentina had gone all the the way to the finals no man could have doubted that Joan Requalme could have come up the best player of the tornements. Up until the exit of Argentina the man provided his best display on field showing mature football