Mario Gomez, Pirlo in the first two games was outstanding as was David Silva { silva will get player of the tournament } Contreau for Portugallo, Nasri and Mandzukic. Who else?
Schweinsteiger - he is the motor of the German team Honorable mention: Hummels - wow, dude can dribble
Im expecting a big Knockout stage from Super Mario. He could get the best player of the cup cos I can see him going beserk now that he got his first goal. Silva or Mario for player of the torunament.
ye was gonna add him 2 assists vs holland might have set up podolski not sure hence why i didnt addd him. He's an absolute gun!
My team with the group phase over: ---Casillas Debuchy--Hummels--Agger--Coentrao Gerrard--Pirlo--Iniesta Silva--Gomez--Ronaldo
Ronaldo was Portugal's worse player in the 2nd game and was anonymous against Germany (although the latter not really his fault). So many better players in the forward position instead, in what has been a high-scoring tournament so far (last 2 days not withstanding). I'd probably go with Dzagoyev or Arshavin. Russia might've choked Saturday, but were one of the top 3 teams in the tournament and played great attacking football until that point and deserve one player at least in the group-stage best XI. If not those 2, then certainly Xavi who is the main reason Spain has only allowed a few scoring chances against so far (with Iniesta moving to forward where he has played all tournament).
arshavin was good in game 1 but shit after that, dzagoev scored a couple of goals and looked ok, ronaldo was a game changer vs holland though!
I've grown to hate Pepe over the years with all his unnecessary antics, but he's been unbelievable this tournament. Others who have impressed me: Hummels, Gomez, Schweinsteiger, Coentrao, Nani, Agger, Kvist, Krohn-Dehli, Poulsen, Sneijder, Kerzhakov (Advocaat is an idiot for subbing him), Pilar, Iniesta, Maggio, De Rossi, Marchisio, Modric, Rakitic, Srna, Terry, Husiev, Ibrahimovic, Debuchy, Cabaye Note: I didn't have anyone from Greece since I only saw one of their games (sorry Greece)
On paper, the only Greek who's any good is Kyriakos Papadopoulos. He was an absolute beast for Schalke last season, and he can develop into a world-class center half - a lot of big clubs are chasing him. He played well vs Russia.
According to the 'Capello Index', the best players in the group stage was : Top-20 : Michael Krohn-Dehli (average score 70.21) Pepe (69.93) Mario Gomez (69.03) Petr Jirazek (68.87) Mats Hummels (68.27) Alan Dzagoev (68.11) Francesc Fábregas (67.79) Olof Mellberg (67.71) Andrea Pirlo (67.61) David Silva (67.50) Philipp Lahm (67.41) Danny Welbeck (67.33) Joleon Lescott (66.95) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (66.89) Daniele de Rossi (66.45) Daniel Agger (66.24) Claudio Marchisio (65.75) Steven Gerrard (65.58) John Terry (65.52) Sergio Ramos (65.41) http://www.capelloindex.com/en/ranking-player/league/3 The problem with an index like this is of course, that your performance will seem better on average if your up against weaker teams, while it is more difficult to impress and do well against real World class opponents. .
My team for the tournament so far: -----------------Hart----------------- Ramos--Hummels--Lescott--A.Cole -----------------Pirlo----------------- Walcott-------Modric---Krohn-Dehli ----------Mandzukic-Gomez--------- Subs: Buffon Terry Chiellini Gerrard Ozil Silva Ibrahimovic
Good call on Krohn-Delhi who has played very, very well, but you whiffed on Ramos who is playing centre defense with Puyols out. I haven't seen a great keeper performance out of anyone and Cech has been distinctly average. My team: ...........Buffon Selassie....Hummels....Pepe.....Cole ......Hubschman.....Pirlo Dzagoev..............................Silva .....Ibra......Gomez Sub: Salpingidis