Sunday, July 18, 2010

World Cup Football 2010 Best Eleven

It has been a week FIFA World Cup 2010 finished. The one-month-long tournament kicked off on 11 June in Johannesburg, South Africa. Spain clinched the title for the first time and has become the only 8th football playing country to have achieved this feat.

A number of lesser-known player players like Asamoah Gyan, Giovani dos Santos got sudden stardom because of their impressive performances, while the star players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry were super flop.

South Asia Blog has made its own best eleven for World Cup Football 2010 considering the performance of the players in the tournament. Here is the South Asia Blog best eleven and substitutes for the FIFA World Cup 2010:

Formation: 4-1-4-1

Best Eleven

Iker Casillas (Spain), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Carles Puyol (Spain), Lucio (Brazil), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Netherlands), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Thomas Muller (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands), Mesut Ozil (Germany), David Villa (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Substitutes: Maarten Stekelenburg (Netherlands), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Jérôme Boateng (Germany), Mark van Bommel (Netherlands), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain), Messi (Argentina), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana

Goalkeepers

Spain captain Iker Casillas is the ultimate choice for the no. 1 position thanks to some of his match-winning performances, especially in the knockout stage of the tournament including his penalty save against Paraguay. Casillas conceded only 2 goals in total and both of them came in the group stage- meaning he did not concede any goal in the knock out rounds.

Dutch keeper Stekelenburg has been put among the substitutes ahead of Germany’s Manuel Neuer and Portugal’s Eduardo. Neuer and Eduardo both were impressive, but Stekelenburg deserves the place more because he was instrumental behind Netherlands’ progress to the semi final.

Defenders

The right back position goes to wingback Sergio Ramos. Some people may question this choice by stressing on the performance of Germany captain Philipp Lahm who has been put in the substitute bench. However, Ramos has been included mainly because of his attacking intent and contribution to Spain’s attack, without compromising his contribution to the defense. Brazilian Maicon was another strong candidate for the position.

Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst takes the left back position ahead of Germany’s Jérôme Boateng, Spain’s Capdevila and Portugal’s Fábio Coentrão. Boateng has been included among the substitutes.

In the center, Spain’s Carles Puyol and Brazil captain Lucio have been chosen. Another strong candidate Spanish center back Gerard Piqué takes a substitute place. Per Mertesacker and Joris Mathijsen were two other contenders.

Midfielders

Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger has clinched the only place of holding midfielder ahead of Mark van Bommel, Khedira, Busquets, Xabi Alonso and Felipe Melo.

Choosing two attacking midfielders was the hardest part. It was really hard to drop Xavi and Messi in the substitutes’ bench, but Sneijder and Ozil also deserve their places.

Golden boot winner Thomas Muller was the ultimate choice for the right wing position, while Andrés Iniesta has been placed among the substitutes. Robben and Giovani dos Santos were two other strong contenders for this position.

Spanish striker David Villa has been included as the left winger and people may question this decision, but Villa played in the same position in the first few matches of the tournament and playing Villa in this position allows the inclusion of two attacking midfielders. Podolski is among the substitutes, while Kuyt, Pedro, André Ayew and Jansen were all in the shortlist.

Strikers

Tournament’s best player Diego Forlan was an easy choice for the lone striker’s position. Germany’s Klose and Ghana’s Gyan have been included in the substitutes’ bench, while Luis Fabiano, Róbert Vittek and Luis Suárez were also in the race.


No comments:

Post a Comment