World Cup 2010 Best of Round 2: First and second teams

Another round of fixtures gone and another "best of" team from me.

This time much harder selections to make with many more eye catching performances than in the opening games.

Round 1:

1st team

2nd team

Round 2:



First team:

Gk: Diego Benaglio - Switzerland

Rb: Jorge Fucile - Uruguay
Cb. Diego Lugano - Uruguay
Cb: Lucio - Brazil
Lb: Carlos Salcido - Mexico

Mf: Rafael Marquez - Mexico
Mf: Raul Meirelles - Portugal
Mf: Cristian Riveros - Paraguay

Rw: Dennis Rommedahl - Denmark
Fw: Diego Forlan - Uruguay
Fw: Lionel Messi - Argentina


Goalkeeper:

Diego Benaglio - Switzerland



It's very possible he was robbed the first time around and his performance in the first game, possibly being better as well.
But at least I'm making good on it by including him this round where I had more trouble finding (or remembering?) outstanding goalkeeper performances.

Bengalio was kept possibly even more busy by Chile than in the first game by Spain and he responded with another mistake free game where especially in one on one situations he proved to be the great wall that the small Chileans just couldn't get the ball past.

Right back:

Jorge Fucile - Uruguay



Another round where I have to cheat. This time my list of worthy left-backs completely dwarfs the right-backs so I'm putting Fucile who played excellent on the left for Uruguay against South Africa on the right where he has played before anyway.

Against South Africa this round Fucile played a very aggressive left-back role doing a great job of relentlessly going forward playing left midfield, making up numbers when his central pairing behind him Lugano and Godin, had South Africa's lone striker Mphela completely under control anyway. Then whenever it was needed and South Africa were pushing more people forward in the transition which they rely so heavily on, he would quickly be back at their side defending strong without much trouble at all.

While Uruguay doesn't quite go for the tactical fluidity of Mexico or Chile, when they're in attack mode like they were, especially early against South Africa, there is still quite a bit, and by attacking as a midfielder or left-wing and defending fullback and often central defender, as well as he did, Fucile certainly did his part to making it work.


Centre back:

Lucio - Brazil



Lucio's warrior aggression and fierce strength once again proved a very difficult matchup even for Didier Drogba and he hardly put a foot wrong in his side's impressive dismissal of the African pretenders.

We even saw him on those trademarks runs going forward spreading needed unbalance down the Eriksson rigid defensive lines.

He didn't even seem as slow as he has the last couple of years, but had a lightness almost to his movement (which I can't believe I'm saying. Maybe the opposition was just very slow?) and whenever close to the poor soul he is targeting with his marking, it's pretty much game over for the attacking player.

His partner Juan would also have been a worthy entry this round. He doesn't rely as much on athleticism anymore as Lucio still does with his power, but Juan defends extremely smart and reads the game incredibly well.

Centre back:

Diego Lugano - Uruguay



Him and his partner Godin is a good candidate for the strongest centre-back duo in the tournament so far.

Godin was probably a little better in the first game against France while this time around I thought Lugano was the best.

He completely dominated South Africa's striker Mphela and was flawless in all his actions even when stepping out or up expanding his command area.
As usual he was very aggressive and on top of all situations whether physically winning a tackle or reading the game making a timely intervention.

A flawless centre-back performance.

Left-back:

Carlos Salcido - Mexico



Not dissimilar to Fucile's performance for Uruguay but had more challenges and difficult conditions to overcome both when defending and going forward, yet as mostly a wing-back managed to do both very well, even causing a very good defender like France's Bacary Sagna problems along the way, contributing to a Mexico performance where great tactical fluidity easily beat France's not so good tactics at all and superior talent.

Midfielder:

Raul Meirelles - Portugal



As usual he was showing range of passing in the Portugal midfield but what was more key this time around against a very organized North Korea team that had frustrated even Brazil was his runs forward, something the Brazil central midfielders rarely did (if ever), and if it had not been for those causing unrest, and generally with new partner Tiago doing more good forward passing (compared to Deco's good sideways passing) who knows if the game would have broken open the way it ultimately did, forcing a trailing North Korea to go forward and really allow the much more skilled Portuguese players to rain in one important goal after another. Very likely securing their advancement.


Midfielder:

Cristian Riveros - Paraguay



Like rarely seen this World Cup Paraguay completely neutralized Slovakia in their 2-0 win over them this round.

A significant part of that was already done by the three very hard working forwards. Santa Cruz, Valdez and Barrios meeting the technically weak Slovakian defenders up high, forcing them to make clearances going nowhere or passing it back to their keeper, but further back dealing with what could have been Slovakia's passing savior Marek Hamsik, Cristian Riveros was commanding midfield guarding passing lanes and helping out teammates seemingly everywhere, whether it was being the backup defender or a passing option left or central when the team was in possession.

Also in possession, he wasn't bad himself at all and showed good range of passing effortlessly finding the three forwards who would then give the Slovakian defenders all kinds of trouble.

Just a great all round midfield performance which he even crowned by scoring a goal.

Midfielder:

Rafael Marquez - Mexico



Torrado on the Mexico midfield is the more consistent performer and would have been a worthy inclusion as well but against France, Marquez had one of those very good looking games where he was just conducting play with his passing.

In that game he was found mostly just ahead of the defense where he is clearly better these days than being a liability in a four back line and especially his ability to find Dos Santos on the right created all sorts of trouble for France.

Still guilty sometimes of holding on to the ball a little bit too long risking losing it in dangerous positions but when that isn't the case his overall technical ability, exquisite passing and reading of the game is a pleasure to watch.

Right wing:

Dennis Rommedahl - Denmark



The most criticized player on the Danish national team for the last 10 years was definitely not someone I expected to ever make these teams, but in the win against Cameroon, his perhaps best ever performance in a Denmark shirt does the job.

Cameroon was pressing up high with several players. Something that could have resulted in a lot more goals for them, but with the nearest to the left Cameroon midfielder always moving central making room for Tottenham left-back Ekotto to storm forward, then often himself coming forward in support, it left acres of space the other way for Rommedahl who at 31 still has his clear strengths in the speed and stamina departments allowing him to take advantage all game long.

That's not really anything new however. Danish coach Morten Olsen's lineups (especially in the past) with classic wings has often had that effect, but where Rommedahl time and time again has failed to execute. His technique letting down what his pace had created, this time, this game, it all came together and his ball control, deliveries and finishing were nothing to complain about at all.

Forward:

Lionel Messi



Pretty much a repeat performance from the first round so look for the finer points in last week's writeup.

Argentina again with two other forwards had the scenario where Messi was extremely dangerous throughout creating numerous threatening situations both for himself and for teammates.

South Korea until they fell far behind defended better than Nigeria and with Veron missing we saw less passing quality on what was an unbalanced Argentina midfield, forcing Messi to spend a little bit too much time further back, but again, it was the kind of game that for anyone else would have been extraordinary.

Forward:

Diego Forlan - Uruguay



Simply in a league of his own for most of the game against South Africa.

Extremely intelligent play with all the right runs and passes plus of course the technical ability to execute to perfection.

Two goals doesn't hurt but for Uruguay Forlan is much more than that and is the one player in attacking midfield (especially when both Suarez and Cavani are in the lineup) and the final third that all the others can look to, who will make them better. The talisman of the team.

My only worry is his stamina where it seems he has to take some longish breaks sometimes but in all other periods he definitely works at high intensity.

Coach:

Rabaah Sadane - Algeria



A coach I know very little about. What his tactical philosophy or tendencies are I have no idea so I can't offer much insight, but credit to him for making England, a team usually very threatening, even against teams defending in numbers, look very toothless.

Most eye catching was that through their advantage in numbers in midfield, Algeria didn't just manage to obstruct England play with defending, but with the ball they passed and moved with it well enough using the available space and most attempts of England ball-pressure were made to look hopeless with little effect.
There were never any panic at all and that they actually ended up having the ball more (even if only slightly) than a team that was supposed to put them under great pressure speak volumes and they held on to a shockingly comfortable 0-0 draw.


Second Team:

Gk: Mark Paston - New Zealand

Lb: Fabio Coentrao - Portugal
Cb: Diego Godin - Uruguay
Cb: Tulio - Japan
Rb: Sergio Ramos - Spain

Mf: Sami Khedira - Germany
Mf: Enrique Vera - Paraguay

Rw: Elano - Brazil
Am: Roque Santa Cruz - Paraguay

Lf: David Villa - Spain

Striker: Luis Fabiano - Brazil

Coach: Gerardo Martino - Paraguay


Goalkeeper:

Mark Paston - New Zealand



I don't know if he really was the second best keeper this round. Stojkovic from Serbia had to make some really good saves and Thomas Sorensen from Denmark as well. Sorensen did however, indirectly at least, contribute to what was the farcical passing in the Denmark defense, so he couldn't really be included.

Most importantly Paston just didn't make any mistakes in what was a situation where he saw plenty of crosses and shots from the outside. By flooding space deep central in their own half with a great collective effort against Italy, New Zealand was definitely counting on Paston to deal with outside efforts as well as all deliveries that entered goalkeeper territory. He did all of those things very well and New Zealand held on to a great 1-1 draw against the defending champions from Italy.

Left-Back

Fabio Coentrao - Portugal



In Portugal's first game we saw him defend well under what was considerable pressure from a physical Ivory Coast team that had won the midfield battle.

That alone almost won him a place on one of my teams but in the end he just missed out.

This round we really saw what he could do going forward as well and that he is a former or sometimes winger definitely makes sense.

There were signs of a very good understanding with Cristiano Ronaldo and if Ronaldo doesn't neglect his fullback but take advantage of both their talents, instead of just his own, then Portugal will have a very dangerous combination coming from the left.

Centre back:

Diego Godin - Uruguay



With his partner Lugano, he was responsible for the most dominant central defender display this round. Simple as that!

Heitinga, Juan and New Zealand hero Nielsen were other impressive centre-backs this round but all just miss out.

Centre back:

Tulio - Japan



Good looking defender with a very impressive performance against the Netherlands where he was reading the game well and winning duels against the Dutch attackers throughout.

Most impressive to me was the range he commanded. He made great interventions out left especially and as Japan later in the game pushed up playing a higher line he was comfortable even there as well.

Right back:

Sergio Ramos - Spain



I had trouble finding good right-back candidates this round and even though the Ivory Coast put a lot of effort into blocking his forward progress, I was looking at a repeat Maicon inclusion. Ramos though with his persistent attacking display against Honduras, steals the spot in the last minute.

Midfielder:

Sami Khedira



Khedira's midfield partner Schweinsteiger had another really good game but I'm going with Khedira this time who throughout the game against Serbia showed splendid two-way play.

Even when Germany was reduced to 10 men and playing without a striker he managed to take on him coming from behind Özil, who was put on top, and make run after run forward without the ball keeping the Serbian defenders very busy and under pressure - creating space for both the passers like Schweinsteiger and Ozil to exploit as well as other runners like Müller and especially Podolski who unfortunately just couldn't find the net on the very good amount of chances Germany created while being one man down.

Overall Khedira was an everywhere man in this game for Germany with all the right movement and good solid passing whatever his position on the field.

Noteworthy midfield performances that didn't make it this round (mainly to make room for strikers where even a hattrick wasn't enough) were: various Algerian midfielders frustrating England, Yebda, Lacin and Ziani on the wing being a passing option always and showing ability with the ball.

Birsa the Slovenian number 10 played a great first half against the U.S where he hardly put a foot wrong, but then faded badly in the second half. For team USA Landon Donovan had another good game and up front in the second half Jozy Altidore was causing havoc in the Slovenian back four with his athleticism and aggression.

For Brazil, Melo had one of those good games he rarely had for Juventus all season and for the Oranje Mark Van Bommel showed signs of life with a very controlling midfield display not least featuring his impressive passing range. Personally I look forward, when like at Bayern, he can get some real wingers to pass it diagonal to, and I'm sure I'm not alone...

Finally these three (deeper) central midfielders also played very well, Carmona for Chile and for Spain Alonso and Busquets. You can question if they should both be there playing at the same time but at least they're having no trouble playing together and don't step on the eachother's toes.

Also for Spain, Xavi was being Xavi, and if Spain make it out of the group, I'm sure that sooner rather than later, that will be more than enough for a place on the team.


Midfielder:

Enrique Vera - Paraguay



Another great performer from Paraguay's very dominant display against Slovakia.

Vera worked extremely hard in what was mostly right-central midfield but this was another everywhere man performance where as the picture above shows he was also up there applying that key high pressure which completely neutralized the Slovaks.

Good defensively by putting on pressure always and a threat going forward with fast running, supporting the front three, even earning him a goal. Very good.

Attacking midfield/Forward:

Roque Santa Cruz - Paraguay



Santa Cruz looks to have hit form just at the right time and really surprised me with this performance.

The other Paraguay forwards, the Dortmund boys, Lucas Barrios and Nelson Valdez also had very good games but it was Santa Cruz with the best all round performance I thought.

Especially his movement often behind the other two, just ahead of the midfielders, I didn't expect and throughout he was able to keep up the hard work putting on similar pressure on the defenders as the younger lighter guys, and then in possession he was even more of a presence in more places than they were, leading the way for his team in the final third.
In some ways similar to what Forlan is doing when playing with both of Suarez and Cavani for Uruguay.

Right wing:

Elano - Brazil



Really close between a number of players this time around.

Dos Santos from Mexico has a good case for a second inclusion after another spectacular game. To a lesser extent the same could be said of Sanchez from Chile, who if certain teammates would have just passed to him when he was open towards the end against Switzerland could have scored some goals as well.

And then there is Krasic who absolutely terrorized German left-back Badstuber but in the end I'm going with Elano who until he was carried out injured after a bad challenge was Brazil's best attacking threat of the stars behind striker Fabiano.

Good pace and dribbling. Great shooting and excellent deliveries when on the ball, and without it very hard working managing to support the midfield a lot better than his partner in crime on the other wing, Robinho.

An impressive performance, really making me regret (I did have a feeling it would happen) that I cut him late from my 200 best players in the world list. He did at least get an honorary mention...

Left-Forward:

David Villa



I did consider if him making the stupid mistake of lashing out against a Honduras defender should cost him and put one of the other good forward candidates this round ahead of him. Unlike the first round of games, there were many excellent performances this round.

Higuain might not even be up there among the very best, he had an inconsistent game I thought, but he still scored a hattrick taking advantage of his teammates great play.

Then there was Bendtner and especially Eto'o in the crazy wild attacking Denmark - Cameroon game.

Barrios, Valdez and Altidore I have already mentioned and what about Ozil for Germany continuing with quality playmaking even when reduced to 10 man and put out of position on top after Klose was gone.
Unfortunately coach Löw decided to mess with a good thing and substituted him too early, costing both of them really, a place on the team.

I should also mention Carlos Tevez who had a really good game against South Korea.

Overall though, Villa when he was good, was better than all of them. For Valencia towards the end of the season he started struggling and had games where he was looking a shadow of himself.
Then to have a game like this, looking like his usual deadly self, has to be a massive boost for Spain. Especially when their other star striker Fernando Torres is still battling back from an injury, layoff looking not at his best yet.

Striker:

Luis Fabiano - Brazil



Despite what replay showed was great hands on one of his goals, an overall excellent box striker performance from Luis Fabiano who just complements the rest of the Brazil attacking players formidably.

He is an effective target for quality deliveries from Elano or Maicon on the right and central or lefthe can be the centerpiece in quick passing combinations with Kaka, Robinho or Bastos coming from behind. You couldn't ask for more and he is an absolute key to Brazil looking as dangerous as they do in the final third.

Coach:

Gerardo Martino - Paraguay



Close call between a number of coaches. Tabarez - Uruguay for his tactical timing switching between attack and defense not just between games but in them and of course New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert organizing a team far behind in talent well enough to frustrate their opponents.

I'm gonna go with Paraguay coach Martino though for masterminding the complete neutralization of an opponent to an extent which you rarely see.

In a turnaround from the game against Italy where they sat deep, but from what I understand not unusual for Paraguay, he played 3 players up front with clear instructions of putting as much pressure without the ball on the Slovak defenders.

That created countless of 2 on 2 or even 2 on 3 situations for the Slovak defenders who were just nowhere nearly good enough technically to handle it, resulting in one desperate clearance or backpass to the goalkeeper after another, completely preventing the whole team from ever getting any rhythm.

With plenty of strong forwards at his disposal (especially now after Barrios has joined) it also looks like a good move playing Santa Cruz in more of a Forlan role. One I didn't think he would be capable of but against the Slovaks at least he did very well.

Everywhere in the Paraguay formation there is hard work and defensive discipline and when attacking the decisions are good and the movement quick. There is even fluidity across midfield and from the forwards.

It just looks like a very well coached team.

The 200 best players in the world: 200 -101 roundup + the nearly-made-its

The 200 - 101 ranked players:

New order

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France
154-152
154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina
153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay
152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina
151-148
151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy
150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France
149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy
148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Boca Juniors, Estudiantes, Marseille, Benfica and Palermo - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain
143-139
143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal
142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France
141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands
140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany
139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy
138-135
138: Raul - Real Madrid-Spain and Ruud Van Nistelrooy - Hamburger SV-Netherlands
137: Konstantin Zyryanov - Zenit Saint Petersburg - Russia
136: Simon Rolfes - Bayern Leverkusen - Germany
135: Ze Roberto - Hamburger SV - Brazil
134 - 129
134: Mauro Camoranesi - Juventus - Italy
133: Simone Perrotta - Roma - Italy
132: Marcelo - Real Madrid - Brazil
131: Christian Chivu - Inter - Romania
130: Simäo - Atletico Madrid - Portugal
129: Marcell Jansen - Hamburger SV - Germany
128 - 122
128: Hatem Ben Arfa - Marseille - France and Goran Pandev - Inter - Macedonia
127: Rafael Marquez - Barcelona - Mexico
126: Nigel De Jong - Manchester City - Netherlands
125: Grafite - Wolfsburg - Brazil
124: Pablo Hernandez - Valencia - Spain
123: Daniel Guiza - Fenerbahce - Spain
122: Ramires - Benfica - Brazil
121-117
121: Mohamed Sissoko - Juventus - Mali
120: Dejan Stankovic - Inter - Serbia
119: Stefan Kiessling - Bayer Leverkusen - Germany
118: Frederic Kanoute - Sevilla - Mali
117: Jermain Defoe - Tottenham - England
116-110
116: Carlos Puyol - Barcelona - Spain
115: Alou Diarra - Bordeaux - France
114: Antonio Cassano - Sampdoria - Italy
113: Deco - Chelsea - Portugal
112: Ryan Giggs - Manchester United - Wales
111: Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal - Belgium
110: Gareth Barry - Manchester City - England
109 - 101
109: Wilson Palacios - Tottenham - Honduras
108: Gabriel Agbonlahor - Aston Villa - England
107: Ashley Young - Aston Villa - England
106: Giampaolo Pazzini - Sampdoria - Italy
105: Toni Kroos - Leverkusen - Germany
104: Alexandre Song - Arsenal - Cameroon
103: Jérémy Toulalan - Lyon - France
102: Alvara Negredo - Sevilla - Spain
101: Walter Gargano - Napoli - Uruguay

As I've already talked too much about, putting the lower half in any kind of correct order was impossible.

For starters it's not position by position. That provides the first complications. And then the only thing between several closely ranked and even not so closely ranked players, really is their current form.
That also means there is an increasing group of players left off the list who to various extents have a good case over someone in the lower part of the list. I'll touch upon at least some of those cast offs later .
But basically on any different day almost, someone would be ranked differently. The perfect order was always an impossible goal (which didn't stop me from trying very hard anyway but that's my problem), and there are several mistakes with likely many more to come, instead the objective was to compile a great list serving as a gold mine almost of in depth thoughts about hundreds of the very best players in the world.
That those thoughts in many writeups unavoidable expanded to all kind of other things like tactics, countries, coaches, current football events and various clubs - all the better!

The nearly made its/Honorary mentions (could be updated well into eternity so stay tuned):

Nani: Quite possibly the worst omission. The one that got away you could say, that I really regret. His decision making still leaves a lot to be desired, but I got too caught up in all the Nani hate that sprung from his early struggles this season, and failed to see that on ability and talent he rivals, and surpasses, at least some wingers included on the 200-101 part of the list.

Vincenzo Iaquinta: Not the greatest technician but a complete striker nonetheless who will do a good job in any kind of forward role in any system almost. Pace, work-rate, strength and size means he can be alone, in a duo or central as well as wide in a 3 forward lines. Valuable player. Mainly injuries kept him off the list.

Joe Cole: As the rare good English footballer relying much more on technique rather than physique I think he often gets very overrated so it gives me almost perverse joy not including him. Would he be anywhere near as "special" was he Spanish or South American? But yeah like others, obviously he is good and skilled enough to have a good case against quite a few of the 200-101 ranked players.

Elano and Nilmar: Hey they're in the Brazil World Cup squad. Nilmar the forward definitely has talent but hasn't been THAT consistently good so far in Spain I don't think and in the end his nightmare resume earlier in his career during his Ligue 1 adventures (2 goals in 32 games) scared me away of including him on the list.

I mostly liked Elano for City and I believe he can be useful for Dunga but latest I heard was that he was struggling in Turkey and that combined with me not really seeing him much lately, meant no place on the list.

Stephen Ireland: Skilled midfielder who has the talent to be on the list, and was at first, but then came the downfall and he made his way out for players I thought were (way) more deserving.

Gareth Bale: The Tottenham sensation really exploded in the last half or so of the season. He has work-rate and skills. Pace and strength. Even plays two positions. Would definitely be on the list had I started later.

Lucas Barrios: I didn't watch a lot of Dortmund last season so was definitely late to the party when it came to Barrios. That he is really good does look like a sure thing though.
He has pace, strength, good movement and technique. Just inside or just outside the top 100 would have been tempting for his very impressive first campaign in Europe.

Vagner Love:

Two years ago: YES!

One year ago: MAYBE!

Right now: NIET!



Joan Capdevilla and Thiago Motta: Seemingly not much in common at all other than they were the final cuts a while ago. Cuts that really hurt! They do belong on the list but some people mistakenly left out belonged even more....

Milos Krasic: A skilled, strong and dynamic player that I'm still not really sure just how good he really is. Looking forward to seeing him and Serbia at the World Cup.

Hulk and Radamel Falcao: Both Porto stars I think good enough to also be stars in better leagues than the Portugese.
Falcao especially could be an upcoming superstar I think but unfortunately I "discovered" him too late to include him on the list.

Piotr Trochowski: Has more than enough ability to have a pretty good ranking on the list, but the last many times I've seen him he just hasn't been anywhere nearly as good I remember him earlier. Simple as that.

Josue: Really good defensive midfielder but I just couldn't ignore Wolfsburg's struggles (including very much defensive ones) and that was all the excuse I needed to cut him from the list.

Erin Derdiyok and Gokhan Inler: Definitely rivals (if not better even..) Barnetta as best Swiss players. At least of the ones I'm familiar with. Derdiyok looks like a star but it was still a little too soon for him, while Inler perhaps at this point doesn't really look like a coming star anymore but rather just a very solid midfielder. That's not bad but not quite enough to get on the list. Look forward to see if a great coach like Hitzfeld can take the considerable Swiss talent further than what we've been used to in recent major tournaments. Not necessarily further in the competition, that will always be tough, but at least performance-wise. Say cheese!


Mamadou Niang and Darren Bent: Niang the current top scorer in France with 17 goals. He has been a very good player for quite a few years now.
Bent has an impressive 24 in England but is not the player Niang is I don't think.
All in all I should have found a spot on the list for Niang.

Landon Donovan: The great white (non) hope for this list...

Scott Parker: Okay I love Scott Parker as much as the next guy. Actually probably not cause fans really do seem to love this guy.
He is a complete player when it comes to abilities who gives his heart and soul for the team. If we're talking right now he certainly has a better case than the one West Ham player I did rather bizarrely include, but being poor tactically featuring bad decisionmaking in general, I always thought let the rest of his talent down. Positioning>tackling. Sorry Scottie.

Giorgos Karagounis and Konstantinos Katsouranis: Still I think the two most important Greek players. It would have been a Semak-like entry . I kind of regret not doing it.

Steven Pienaar: One of the most improved players this season I think but something I found out too late for him to be included unfortunately.
It isn't just fancy stuff these days from Pienaar, he has improved physically and does good team work, while still being skilled of course.
As the home nation's best player he'll get a lot of attention this World Cup but thankfully right now his talent finally is worthy of it.

Leonardo Bonucci: Him and Andrea Ranocchia were quite possible the best defensive duo in Serie A this season. Ranocchia unfortunately suffered a season ending knee injury, but Bonucci continued playing great and I hope it's him and not fading defender-icon Cannavaro who'll see lots of playing time for Italy in the World Cup.

Fernando Gago: Seemingly has close everything needed when it comes to being an excellent central midfielder.
In fact he could even be the closest thing we've seen (yet so far away) to the great Fernando Redondo which is an alluring illusion that at least Valdano at Real Madrid can be accused of having been fooled by.
But why does someone so talented always play so bad?
Now that is one of the great mysteries at Real Madrid. Almost as great a mystery as why he has suddenly replaced Las Diarra in Madrid's midfield? There are various rumors suggesting it's Diarra's own fault, but to Gago's credit at least now when given the chance again, he is playing better than he has in a long time.
Not that being on an excellent team doesn't have something to do with it....

Aleksandar Kolarov: Very strong and with a great left foot. He should have been on the list. Another player I'm looking forward to see for Serbia at the World Cup. Moving to a big club only seems like a matter of time. Definitely a player who is heading for bigger things than his currentl struggling team Lazio.

Adam Johnson: Fast emerging and exciting old school English winger who already looks better than teammate (and unfortunately listed) Shaun Wright Phillips.
He has great attitude, control and technique when it comes to everything involving touching a football. As well of course as the needed pace. Especially with the ball at his feet where his combination of control and acceleration makes him a standout.
His team Manchester City has of course added tons of talent (including quite a few list people) so he will definitely have to battle for playing time. He must have passed the aforementioned Wright Phillips for starters though and the fans will love every minute they see Adam Johnson on the pitch.

Sami Khedira: One of the very good young German players who didn't make the list. He is a very complete midfielder who does all parts of the game well. His runs without the ball forward especially is a joy to watch. I should at least have found a shared spot for him somewhere. Preferably quite high. As high as just inside the top 50 even?

Alvaro Arbeloa and Gael Clichy: Two very good albeit quite different fullbacks who can share the frustration of not really being anywhere nearly as far behind some of the fullbacks making the list, as the players in between them would maybe suggest.

David Luiz:



The Sideshow Bob Benfica defender is likely the best of the Brazilian defenders that I didn't mention in the Diego Lugano writeup where I tried to brainstorm suitable South American defender candidates for the list.
By now of course 23 year old Luiz looks very suitable indeed and seems to be headed for bigger things with rumors constantly flying around connecting him to clubs in the stronger leagues.

Christian Poulsen: Believe it or not actually one of the brighter spots on the Juve team this season overcoming a tough start to his Italian career where I thought he took a lot of unfair criticism. In the end it was probably that which cost him a spot though. He is as good as he was for Schalke and Sevilla earlier in his career and with Nicklas Bendtner (who I'm just too afraid to even think about including here) Denmark's most important player at the World Cup.
Best known for his defensive qualities where he can be a real enforcer he is well capable technically as well and can even fill in as a defender. Should have been on the list.

Eric Abidal: Started playing really well last season. Perhaps for the first time in the Barca shirt but then this season has been plagued by injuries and not really finding form. Still with being effective in two positions and all, an argument for quite a few players and their rankings, he should have been on the list.

Brazilians: There just weren't enough of them on the list I suspect so here are few notables:

First we have Brazil player of the year two years ago Hernanes who is now moving to Lazio which will certainly be very interesting to watch and it could be quite a coup for a midfield that was very ordinary last season.
I've seen very little of him but earliest impression says he looks to have a very good passing game and great midfield movement.

A couple of others that I want to include, unfortunately I've seen even less of, but they've been taking the Brazilian league by storm recently:

One, Neymar is the crazy flashy skilled Robinho type of forward. At just 18 he will only become stronger but how far his amazing talent will really take him, from what I've heard, much like Robinho you could say, hinges on the mental side of things.

Even though it's early, a perhaps better bet to go really far looks to be Ganso.

As well as excellent number 10 playmaking skills he looks to also have maturity and not least already impressive physical tools as well. The kind you need today as an attacking midfielder trying to make a difference closely marked in the final third and if his skills are as good as early impressions suggest not only can he go, god who knows how far, but is an excellent list-worthy player already.

Carlos Eduardo at Hoffenheim perhaps wasn't quite consistent enough to be included on the list but he is a highly skilled attacking player that Rubin Kazan for €20 million likely will make the new centerpiece of their attack, taking over from Chori Dominguez who left for Valencia.
Other skilled Brazilians in similar roles have done very well for Russian clubs. I think Eduardo is good enough to maybe even become the best one so far.


Javi Martinez: Strong Athletic Bilbao central midfielder who is in the Spain World Cup squad over some very good players. Not least Senna who will have a pretty good ranking on my list but who also had a difficult season. Martinez I'm not even overly familiar with, I'm guessing not least to do with the La Liga extreme two horse race which can easily take focus away from the other teams. At 21 but not untypical for a La Liga player, already with good experience, he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Miroslav Klose: He is still a very complete striker who has it all really. Great movement, aerial ability, pace and technique. But for whatever reason his clubform in recent years mostly hasn't been all that good. For the national team, like his partner in crime Podolski, by now he should take a backseat to various players who have surpassed him, especially Mario Gomez, but I for one won't be surprised if the Podolski/Klose (very) dynamic duo comes through once again.

Filipe Luís and Fabio Coentrão: Two left-backs who I'm not overly familiar with but who's earned rave reviews this season in Spain and Portugal respectively.
Coentrão from Benfica is a converted winger who is very attacking and looks to have become Portugal's number 1 choice, so we'll see plenty of him at the World Cup.
That unfortunately won't the case with Brazilian Filipe, who if he is as good as reports suggests might have been Dunga's answer for the position where finding natural candidates has been much harder than on the right. It's very possible that Filipe could have been Brazil's World Cup left-back if it wasn't for a serious injury that kept him out of the La Coruna lineup from January to May.

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By the way, "the nearly-made-it's" is something you can say. I heard it in this song that is very far removed from the last song posted in this blog:

Football/Soccer seaon (finally!): First entry

So the european football season has now finally begun!

About time too after weeks and weeks of crazy transfer rumors and even crazier transfers has left me starving for actual action.

So naturally this weekend I watched a lot!

Things started of very slow with the second half of the Italian Super Cup. And on what was a crappy stream I'm not sure how much I have to offer there about the game itself but it's a nice excuse for a little Inter rambling:

I'm not sure Mourinho is fully set yet on whether he will be using the for Inter very successful 4-4-2 diamond or his own beloved anti-dutch 4-3-3, but one luxury Inter has is a lot of depth at most positions and Mourinho really has a lot of options.
I think even if it can seem very unlike Mourinho that within the 4-4-2 diamond he recognizes that an elite creative player in front of Cambiasso is needed to take that system to a level that's better than just being able to best what in the recent post-calciopoli years has been a very weakened Serie A.
At least compared to what were the recent glory days of italian domination with at times as much as seven clubs being among the best in Europe.
An elite creative player needed to reach that 10 percent chance he recently claimed they have right now of winning the elusive European Cup.

Really with a solid cast of quality defensive or just very capable two-way players the diamond could quite easily afford say a Deco (Van Der Vaart and Sneijder have also been mentioned) when surrounded by guys like Cambiasso and a rotating supporting cast featuring the likes of the resurgent Thiago Motta, Stankovic, Muntari and last but not least the ageless Javier Zanetti, without comprimising the defensive side of things but actually strengthening the overall balance of the team.

Ideally Mourinho would probably still prefer his effective 4-3-3 system where an effective attack is in place without ever compromising the defense and I think he secretly hopes that players like Amautovic, Suarez and an improving Balotelli can succed where players like Mancini and Quaresma failed so hard that middle of the season he had to give the system entirely up.
If the Mourinho 4-3-3 at some point again becomes the permanent fixture I'll give my very long take on it since I find it quite fascinating how the primarely most attacking system here is turned into a very calculating defensive one.

But the Super Cup itself? What did I see? Other than very bad picture quality, not much.

Well Eto'o looked kinda good. Not very 36yearoldish which I suspect is closer to his real age than the 28 his passport so wrongly claims.

Yes he will be good when healthy and Inter have a lot of forward depth so they will be in no way as dependant on him like they were on now departed Ibrahimovic.
It will especially be interesting to see Diego Milito finally get a chance at a big club.
One he definitely deserves after years of excellent play.

Then it was time for what was a very grandiose Bundesliga opening. Live on national german tv and they even had an opening ceremony!
This was after all a tremendous success last season with enormous crowds filling very good post German World Cup facilities and almost shameless attacking play from just about everyone making just about every german understandably very excited about his league.
Last season every single top team on average let in more than one goal per game and that's just crazy!
This was very very open play and if as a starting striker you didn't net good double figures what an utter failure you were:
There was however no failure whatsoever from champions Wolfsburg's attacking duo up front of Dzeko and Grafite, or should I say trio cause Misimovic with his creativity was a huge part of it, and they just couldn't stop scoring even if they tried and the younger of the two, Dzeko attracted a lot of attention from various European top clubs.
The fact that a club like Wolfsburg resisted pressure to sell to traditional giants like AC Milan, that alone speaks volumes and they deserve a lot of credit for it.

The opening game itself actually wasn't that open and perhaps, perhaps not(!), a sign of what Wolfsburg will face this season. What I think an 80 goals scored attacking machine SHOULD face this season.
Stuttgart came out with a defensive gameplan and in large parts of the 90 minutes controlled things very well with plenty of people working behind the ball minimizing space.
For a while they were even creating the better chances. Making excellent use of the qualities of new signing Pogrebnyak up front and some very nice looking two-way play from Sami Khedira from behind.
On the defensive side of things "Aston Villa legend" and now VBF captain Thomas Hitzlsperger did mostly a great job on Misimovic while Alexander Hleb on the forward side of things looked like he still has some ways to go before returning to his old impressive form.

Sadly one slip up is all it takes against this good an attack and for the first time really there wasn't instant pressure on Misimovic and he was left with some actual space, he took matters into his own hands and just outside the penalty area fired a nice shot past the Stuttgart keeper and in many ways that was that really.

Stuttgart like they simply had to now tried to attack, but before getting anything going really, was very predictably punished for the space now left behind.
Last season's top scorer Grafite had a one on one situation with a defender that he easily won with part power, part technique and made it 2-0. Game over!

In between my main focus on Serie A, the English Premier League and La Liga I don't really know how much Bundesliga I'll be able to squeeze into my very busy sports addiction scheduele, but just like its total opposite, the lately quite defensive French League, I'll definitely watch out for interesting games on the horizon. And hopefully write about them too!

I don't know either if I'll do an organized actual preview of anything either, the leagues I mean, or more take things as they come and go from there.
Watch some games every week and analyze from that. That way I also think I'll eventually have touched upon a lot of the interesting transfers that's been taking place.

Finally, I of course also watched the Charity Shield game.
Everytime basically the top teams from England face eachother it's a must watch these days. They're all european elite and the level of play is generally very high and therefore great to watch.
This was extra interesting because it would be a first look at Ancelotti's Chelsea and how would that constellation work?

It's too early to conclude much from one match of course and that happened to be especially the case in this game where I found myself concluding completely different things from each half.

The first half was in some ways a worst case scenario for what the Chelsea/Ancelotti partnership could result in and it actually brought back otherwise long forgotten memories of Ancelotti back in the day when he came to Juventus continuing with the exact same style and tactics he had used on what was his quite different Parma team.

Now of course here we have a Chelsea team COMPLETELY different from Ancelotti's AC Milan yet what did I see?
Unbelievably in that first half, Chelsea was kind of looking like Milan. Stylewise as well as tactically.
The ball was passed around quite a bit in their own half. That doesn't have to be a bad thing if you have Andrea Pirlo but with Jon Obi Mikel it's a different story.
Ivanovic on rightback looked like he had been asked to do a Cafu impression with the guy who might have been able to do that on the bench, Bosingwa, Ivanovic struggled mightely.
Even the always superb Essien, for many years now easily one of the best players in the world, struggled and couldn't defend the wing very effectively.
That's understandable when it's C. Ronaldo but this was Nani and he quite easily exploited what was a lack of Chelsea balance in that first half.
In order for that midfield diamond with its lack of width to work against this good a 4-4-2, with lots of width, possession needs to be quality and the ball not given away. The fullbacks creating width not getting caught forwardish on their heels.
But Chelsea does not have the players to substain that high level of possession (though I won't rule out Deco and Zhirkov contributing there) so ball was lost and the result was a very uncharacteristic unbalanced Chelsea defense.
Great job Carlo!
Then came the second half and it was more like same old Chelsea.
Whether it was player or coach adjustment I of course can't now, but play became much more direct with deeper passing and if the ball was lost it was sure to be lost deep in the opponent's half where it doesn't matter much and you can obtain solid defensive positioning while not constantly being on your backheels.
Generally when Chelsea gets direct passes to their players in around the penalty area, bad things tends to happen to the opponent.
That's where players like Lampard, Ballack, Malouda, Anelka and of course especially Drogba, the prime weapon, are effective and players around them benefit resulting in scoring chances (even for someone like Cavalho).
No need to pass the ball around in their own half. Get it up there and let them do their thing!

That's what they generally did in that second half and it resulted in a couple of goals.

It will be interesting to see which of the two halves we'll see the most of or if some sort of effective middleground can be found. Maybe Anelka playing a different role than being a pure striker or maybe just another midfielder in there to counter all the 4-4-2 width Ancelotti's system will now face in England.
I did think Hiddink found that great ground of playing to his team's strenghts but if Ancelotti goes the Scolari way and ignores his team's actual strenghts then it's a golden opportunity for a title lost, against rivals, who unlike Chelsea, have all lost key players.

Manchester United of course I still expect to replace at least some of the world class they've lost with the departures of Tevez and Ronaldo. Something that just hasn't happened yet.
I think both David Silva and Kun Aguero who there have both been speculations about could put them over the top and despite, as I'm writing this rumors seemingly dying down, I'll still be suprised if there isn't a major signing sooner rather than later.

Can a team not replacing two such great players really win the title against what are the strongest top 4-5 in Europe?

I don't think the Charity Shield provided much of an answer to that question, and a lot of it I guess will be how Liverpool and Arsenal react to their own losses of key players (and Chelsea to their new manager).

All in all the EPL with it's 4 or 5 horse race, where others are just 2 or 3 horse races, looks very unpredictable, so we shall see and I'll definitely be watching.