In hindsight, I think it should be Hernández over Laxalt. Maybe it's Laxalt's Ronaldinho style run that got to me. What's your idea on the XI?
I'll settle on this in the end Team A Ospina (Col); Pavard (Fra), Yoshida (Jpn), D.Sanchez (Col), Rodriguez (Swi); Modric (Cro), Pogba (Fra); Mbappe (Fra), E.Hazard (Bel), Inui (Jpn); Cavani (Uru) Team B Sommer (Swi); Varane (Fra), Mina (Col), Godin (Uru); Trippier (Eng), De Bruyne (Bel), Kante (Fra), Coutinho (Bra), Cheryshev (Rus); Griezmann (Fra); Kane (Eng) Team C Lloris (Fra); Fernandes (Rus), Alderweireld (Bel), Stones (Eng), Marcelo (Bra); Rakitic (Cro), Brozovic (Cro), Isco (Spa); Musa (Nig), Lozano (Mex); Lukaku (Bel)
Difficult to conclusively say but I'd have this: Courtois as goalkeeper. Had some good games against Japan, Brazil, France and also England (both games). Defenders in front of him not always fantastic. Golden Glove is deserved I think. Made more saves than anyone else and 4.5 saves per goal conceded is very good. Right back either Trippier or Vrsaljko. Vrsaljko absolutely crucial for Croatia. One of the main reasons (together with Perisic) why they won against England. Undecided about the left back. None of them really impressed me. Hernandez of France finished the tournament with a good impression but was awful against Uruguay (just as Umtiti with iffy interventions and needless give-aways of the ball - they showed that on TV very well I thought). Was tilting for Varane as a lock but the final didn't convince me and looking at twitter I wasn't the only one. Varane, Mina, Granqvist, Godin, Thiago Silva are all proper candidates (Mina without the goals is maybe surpassed by Davinson). Maybe also Lovren, as odd as that might sound. Modric is maybe a bit overhyped lately, but still a lock. PDG1978 his comparison with Iniesta is an interesting one and not that far off. Certainly not one to ignore. The Golden Ball thing was decided by a five men jury and it seems that Van Basten was strongly in favor of giving the award to him. He said: "He’s reading the game, he’s guiding how the game progresses, he’s guiding his team and I think having a player like him in a team brings you far". Parreira apparently wanted, it is said, to give the Golden Ball to Griezmann. Oddly, kicker rated Rakitic higher. Kante dissapointed a bit in the final, Croatia was also targeting him, but was quite possibly still France's best player. I paid close attention and focus on whether and how France improved after he was off, and imho the answer is 'no'. Still favor Coutinho as the third midfielder, but can also see case for Pogba. Is someone to divide the opinions. See here and here. For the attack I go with Mbappe, Hazard and Lukaku/Mandzukic. If you add it all up then secretly Mandzukic played a consistent tournament... Harry Kane very lucky, though he was (very) good for one half against Colombia.
Saw this after I typed my attempt, but this is done pretty well and I agree with most of the argumentation and reasoning https://www.tussendelinies.nl/het-tussen-de-linies-wk-elftal Only difference with my team is that they take one defender out (the left-back...) and get Neymar in. Agree with kicker that Serbia and Mexico were Neymar his two best matches http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/intligen/frankreich/63918/nationalspieler_neymar.html
That lot mirrors my theory on the problems for England Whilst we don't have one single world class player we do have around 30 good standard players which basically gives us THREE decent ( not good ) evenly matched teams.
I see your angle and like the added reasoning. Courtois had some unparalleled stretches. With an extra save against Japan or France he would really have stepped up when it was needed. Akinfeev did just that. The same reasoning for Fernandes, Mina, Umtiti and even Hernández, who was there against Brazil. Modric vs Rakitic Allstar teams don't need to have a true 6 but there was one (Ndidi) that pretty much topped it for interceptions, tackles and headers all together. Captain Modric brought a lot of movement and showed good fighting spirit in that regard, with a decisive performance vs Russia. Rakitic did not have as many touches but turned many into silver, only having his teammates to blame for not turning them into gold. Oddly enough, the stats on Whoscored don't reflect this. In the final Rakitic launched Perisic a great many times. When Modric finally let Rakitic take some setpieces, practically all of them were silver. This inefficiency I discredit the Captain, in a similar way that I discredit Messi, Sampaoli's puppeteer. A good captain should have the best players doing what they do best. Coutinho reached a high level, similar to Courtois and Lukaku. He could have helped more against Belgium but I really understand your reasoning. You seem quite forgiving regarding Mandzukic's and perhaps others' fatal mistakes. I suppose that where I see football as a game of making the least mistakes. You see it as a game of creation, a more attacking-minded approach.
Thanks mate. Yeah, Mandzukic was a bit clumsy and wasteful in some games, but worked hard and has been productive throughout the whole tournament. Two assists vs Nigeria ('assisting' the own goal and won penalty), goal against Denmark, assist against Russia, goal against England, goal against France. Didn't play a single 'great' game but did important things in the KO stages, and was helpful for the guys playing behind him I think.
Spiegel has devised a system to rank the best players called "spix". They published the Top 3 for each position on their website. http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussbal...sten-spieler-des-turniers-spix-a-1218649.html
How on earth did Harry Kane get selected ?? He was arguably the weakest link in the England team for the last month ..
That’s clearly nonsense. He scored critical goals against Tunisia in a game that was crucial, then was outstanding in the game against Colombia. In a tournament short of great centre forwards, he had to be in the conversation.
Didn't he score 4 penalties and fluke off his backside (heel ) ... He also missed some fairly easy chances ... one in particular would have put us 2:0 against Croatia and a different game ...
3 penalties, one of which in particular was absolutely clutch after waiting 3 minutes as Colombia scuffed up the penalty spot. He missed one “easy” chance against Croatia. That’s it. Meanwhile he led the line, held the ball up well and dropped deep when necessary to link up play. He wasn’t at his very best but he was a real threat and did plenty to merit consideration.
hahah all these squads are so funny... Courtois golden glove but Lloris in official team of the tournament.. Paulinho there as well, while being one of 2 reasons why Brazil were eliminated....
It looks like the team might be a hoax (just judging by a few internet search results saying it's not genuine). This is the real BBC Player rater XI though (of course, just as with Kicker ratings compared to the Kicker Team of the Tournament Gregoriak posted, website users would very likely end up making a different selection if using post-tournament votes rather than in-game ratings they voted for)
Indeed on closer inspection I see the XI selected via the team selector method, post-tournament, is this Obviously Pavard didn't play at left-back for example, but I guess he and Trippier both had enough votes to be considered legitimately in the XI!
Does Mina get in to some of these teams because of his goals? I thought Sanchez was the better defender of the two, and made at least two certain goal saving tackles. Likewise Granqvist.
Has anyone the full list with average grades by France Football and L'Equipe? Can only see the ideal team (plus some bench players) + average grade.