That's interesting that they consider the Final game unlike the WC. I think it's better. You could theoretically have 2 rival players "fighting" for the best player in the Final game.
Completely agree, WC02 Kahn named best player, makes a howler in the final, WC06, Zidane named best player, goes headbutt crazy in the final..... in retrospect those deeds cost thier team and would count agaisnt them for PoT.
Scratch previous, Griezmann named Euro Player Of Tournament http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/news/newsid=2389936.html
I thought Uefa own players barometer would decide the best of the tournament. I must agree that Griezmann is a better choice than Payet, although it is close call. But it is really unfair to put CR7 in the team of the tournament and leave Bale out. Nothing new coming from this kind of award, where the player status plays a big role in a accolade that should be based only on players performances in the tournament.
So Kroos (and Modric) is the successor of Xavi https://arxiv.org/pdf/1506.07768&ve...v9NiYpUcpYnnaQcBA&sig2=nhUvf1P8ryF0WsqVDvlVpw
Official UEFA Team Of The Tournament The team (4-2-3-1): Rui Patrício (Portugal); Joshua Kimmich (Germany), Jérôme Boateng (Germany), Pepe (Portugal),Raphaël Guerreiro (Portugal); Toni Kroos (Germany), Joe Allen (Wales); Antoine Griezmann (France), Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Dimitri Payet (France); Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal). In the past a 23-man squad was selected with Ronaldo (2004 and 2012) and Pepe (2008 and 2012) both previously picked twice. Ronaldo was also in the All-Time EURO 11 named before the tournament. The team was selected by UEFA's 13-strong panel of technical observers, led by UEFA chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu and including Sir Alex Ferguson, Alain Giresse, David Moyes, Packie Bonner, Mixu Paatelainen, Savo Milošević, Peter Rudbæk, Gareth Southgate, Thomas Schaaf, Jean-François Domergue, Ginés Meléndez and Jean-Paul Brigger.
Pretty decent team from UEFA. I would have gone: --------------Patricio Srna -- Pepe -- Bonucci -- Guerreiro ---Kroos -- Krychowiak -- Ramsey ----Bale --- Griezmann -- Payet Honourable mentions: Lloris, Buffon, Walker, Kimmich, Boateng, Chiellini, Fonte, Koscielny, Davies, Hector, Taylor, Allen, Adrien Silva, Modric, Iniesta, Perisic, Giaccherini, Nani, Ozil, Ronaldo, Hazard, Morata
I like Kroos , but i have never understood why a player is judged by the amount of passes he makes ...
yeah, I am not sure how they determine those. I would think pass efficiency has a higher weight vs other stat measures.
Kroos is a fantastic player. So is Gundogan if he is not injured. But has Kroos reached the level of Pirlo/Xavi? Not quite.
Pirlo was a different type of player. Less of spacing metronome. Not quite as strong and ball carrying too.
If you are a barca fan the answer is no. Kroos is 26, when Xavi was 26 - 10 years ago - he had not won a WC nor two CL titles with two different teams. Try to keep that into perspective.
I'm sorry but how does anyone pick Bale ahead of Ronaldo especially after their head to head game which Ronaldo was clearly the difference maker?
Pirlo by all means is not a tiki taka player, therefore he and his team never had to play that high pressing possession based football, that is the speciality of La Masia, which can't be replicated by any other team in the world. So it is quite unfair to compare a player outside La Masia to a La Masia player, because their perception about the game and space are different fundamentally. Although, not gifted with pace and strength, Pirlo's technique and vision are sublime. Back when he was back in Milan at his prime, he was just a superb superb player. No matter which team he plays, Pirlo is always the first one on the pitch to pick out a pass that goes to the right teammate at the right time. I'm a German supporter, I really like Kroos, I have watched him since he was loaned to Bayer Leverkusen. I think he is a bit stronger than Pirlo physically, but on the technique and vision side, especially the way how he perceives the whole pitch and dictating the pace of the game, he still have a quite long way to go to reach the level of Pirlo. Also, I think both Pirlo and Xavi are not famous for carrying the ball forward, even though they are superb in holding the ball at their feet. I think that is why they had Seedorf/Iniesta next to them to serve as the bridge between midfield and forward like Messi and Kaka,etc
Kroos may well have reached the level of Xavi at Kroos' age. But I think the question was whether Kroos has reached prime Xavi's level. The answer to that is surely no. Of course, Kroos is still young. He is not quite yet in the age range at which we expect midfielders to hit their prime. So it's wholly possible that Kroos will end up hitting the level of peak Xavi/Pirlo. I wouldn't bet on it, but it's not impossible, since he is very very good for a 26-year-old midfielder.
Lolz, seriously Puck??? I have to say that I have never reported any of the countless insulting/aggressive/offensive posts you have made towards me, let alone towards others as well. I thought it to be bad form to do so, even though I have legitimately felt you've crossed a line on many occasions. And I certainly haven't publicly lobbied for you to be banned. Seems that perhaps I should rethink those policies.
I think this is better than what the UEFA technical group put out. Don't know how they left off Bale. Also was surprised to see kimmich on the UEFA team although his inclusion may have been more down to a lack of solid performances from the other Right-backs who made it deep in the tournament. Only change I would make to your group would be Ronaldo over Payet. I think Payet had the edge over Ronaldo going into the semis, but then had two subpar games when it mattered most while Ronaldo was at least the difference-maker against Wales. Really all four of Ronaldo, Payet, Griezman, and Bale deserve to be there...just was a little surprised UEFA left out Bale
Difference maker is a very strong word. It was a good header by Cristiano - no question about that, but it's highly unlikely Cristiano could have done what Bale did for Wales. Bale was one of the players of the tournament. Cristiano's role was mostly that of a striker- and even in that department,he barely made the cut. Put Suarez in Portugal - Portugal would have topped their group. But that would have meant Portugal facing tougher opponents early on - so in a way, Portugal's toothless attack played a major part in winning them the Euro as their easy path to final was one of the main reasons why they won.
I don't even know where to start or if I even want to be part of this anymore but I'll say this much: Ronaldo's job was to score a goal vs Wales which he did but I don't recall Bale winning the match for his team. Yes, this means Ronaldo was the difference maker. Secondly, I don't recall anyone beating Portugal. That's right, they did not lose a single game. All this talk of the easy path but you haters seem to conveniently forget they still had to play the champion of the "champion stacked side"...LOL at everyone who thought it was game over after the Germany-France semi. By the way, didn't England get embarrassed by a small team from the "weaker side" too?