2006 World Cup All-Tournament Team
FIFA has announced the 23 players that it has selected as part of the World Cup All-Tournament team. As you can see from the list below, the criteria used to select these players must largely be that their teams advance far into the tournament and they must be from Europe or South America. That would explain why only players who played at least in the quarterfinals were selected. Italy has seven players on the list but you’ll be hard pressed to convince me that Luca Toni was one of the four best forwards in the tournament, for example. At the same time France has four players on the team and none are named Franck Ribery, who has been outstanding this World Cup.
Goalkeepers
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Ricardo (Portugal)
Defenders
Roberto Ayala (Argentina), John Terry (England), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal)
Midfielders
Ze Roberto (Brazil), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Francesco Totti (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Maniche (Portugal)
Forwards
Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Luca Toni (Italy)
Your thoughts on these selections?
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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 47 comments.
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By skillz | July 8th, 2006 at 6:16 pm 
shevchenko for striker
Posted from 
Canada
By santana | July 8th, 2006 at 6:26 pm I meant Ronaldo of Brazil.
Posted from 
United States
By Marcelo | July 8th, 2006 at 6:31 pm Hey, among the players from the teams that fell at the first hurdle, I’ll go for Didier Drogba. The Elephant has the potential to go very far with some big match experience. Potential unfulfil thus far.
Better luck in the next tournament which will be held in your continent.
Posted from 
Malaysia
By Reg | July 8th, 2006 at 7:14 pm What about Schwartzman?, the australian goalkeeper! Honestly I think he was just superb! He might not be unfamous, but this world cup he did much more that those so ‘famous’traditional goalkeepers!
From: Australia
Posted from 
Australia
By Jonny Iselin | July 8th, 2006 at 11:38 pm I think technically Totti was listed as a foward.
I think Riquelme, Maxi Rodriguez, Brian Schweitzinger, and Ribery and Kaka got snubbed in the midfield as did Mexico’s Marquez and Gallas on defense
Do you think anyone from the Swiss team: Friel or Barretta deserved to make it? I would have nominated Friel.
Also I wonder if anyone thinks Delgado or Tenorio from Ecuador deserved to make it?
I would have put:
Goalies: G Buffon, Italy
Ricardo, Portugal
Dida, Brazil
Defenders:
R Marquez, Mexico
J Terry, England
P Lahm, Germany
F Cannavaro, Italy
A Gallas, France
M Mazzerati, Italy
Midfielders:
B Schweitzinger, Germany
(I thought that before today’s game in which he scored two goals for his assists and lift off the bench he provides)
D Beckham, England
J Riquelme, Argentina
Maxi Rodriguez, Argentina
Z Zidane, France
Kaka, Brazil
F Ribery, France
C Ronaldo, Portugal
Fowards:
A Friel, Switzerland
L Toni, Italy
T Henry, France
F Torres, Spain
M Klose, Germany
D Podolski, Germany
If i had to make an award for best player of the first round that didn’t advance I’d go with the Paraguayan defender who had that spectacular save against Sweeden with a ball heading toward an open net and a Swedish striker on his heels trying to tap the ball in. That temporarily kept his team’s hopes alive for the next round.
Posted from United States
By Styret | July 8th, 2006 at 11:42 pm Ok choice
Only missing the best Ronaldo Port.
and Terry who is that??
Posted from 
Sweden
By Claude | July 9th, 2006 at 1:58 am These picks are almost as big a joke as FIFA’s world rankings. Germany rated #21 or so, USA #5, Czech Republic #2, Brazil #1, Argentina #3 and Mexico #2? Are they using tea leaves? You better start moving Germany into the top ten and drop the US about 30 places. Whoever wins the game tomorrow should be the automatic #1 team in the world. I would go so far as to even suggest that the FIFA top 16 should be in the order they finished in WC 2006. That might not be totally accurate but it sure would be more accurate than what FIFA uses now. Ribbery and Frings deserve to be on the list. Crespo has no business being here, he just rested on his laurels. I think Beckham is included because his wife has a great body. Why is Ricardo on the list? The English took those PKs like girliemen. Kahn is a way better goalie. Well FIFA got one thing right by not including C. Ronaldo. Best diving award goes to Italy with Portugal a close second. Most deserving team to be in final has to be France.
Posted from United States
By Arthur | July 9th, 2006 at 3:22 am it’s about players from less succesfull teams and one can only pick 23, Frei would have been #24, since 5 strikers are enough. there were many great goalkeepers hilsob, isaakson, keller, schwarzer . but ricardo has pretty convincing stats and i like kingstons style and he’s great on the line
@claude
germany is #21 because as host they had no qualification- matches and friendly-games don’t count. USA and Mexico are
this good, because of the weak competition in the CONCACAF- group
@johnny iselin
don’t get this wrong, but it’s too funny.
schweitzinger is not even close if you mean schweinsteiger, and i think mazzerati is more like a nice car, whereas materazzi is an italian defender. and it’s frei not friel.
By CA KL LA | July 9th, 2006 at 4:09 am Good job, Johnny Iselin. I cannot get any of the names together…
Posted from United States
By Ryan H | July 10th, 2006 at 1:13 am A few things that I vehemently wish to relate. First off, FIFA obviously does not realize what they are doing. I think it could almost be explained that they put the quarterfinal teams starters names in a hat and drew for the all stars…..well almost. It seriously does not get much worse than that. It seems like they just have rewarded the biggest names and overlooked what actually went on.
Claude, the evidence you have presented about inappropriate team rankings from FIFA is majorly flawed. For one, Brazil WAS clearly the best team all-around from their results prior to the tournament. If your logic surrounding your conclusion is based on the play during the WC (hence the reason you state the U.S should drop 30 places, Germany should move up etc.) you must have failed to witness any matches that many of those teams played before the WC which is directly the reason a team like the U.S received the rank that it had. FIFA can’t be berated for that. The principle of transitivity can slightly be applied to this situation as well. The U.S was in a tough group, clearly dominating Italy throughout the game. Does that mean Italy should be relegated because of one bad game where they can’t put away a team down to 9 men, and a ref willing to blow a foul for the wind blowing the wrong direction against the academy award winning Italians? Besides those teams will have new ranks following this WC.
As for some of your suggestions for who should have been on the list; you guys claim to be soccer fans? Undoubtedly Ribery should have been on that list, but I seriously question your soccer knowledge based on some of your responses.
Owen Hargreaves was far and away England’s best midfielder,m and one of the best in this tournament. Anyone who has actually played the game can attest to this. He was on both ends of the field, many times stopping an opponents forward, starting the play in midfield and actually playing above England’s attacking players, and then getting back before the play started while Lampard and Gerrard meandered back. His FITNESS WAS OUTSTANDING.
Other players that stand out; C. Ronaldo. You may call him overhyped, but he was one of the rare players in the game that could individually create oppurtunities with his speed. Portugal would have had a lot more trouble than you can realize without him. He was also a marked marked player if that makes sense, making his job doubly hard.
African players who were dubbed: Apiah, Essien, Dramani. They were troubling to get off the ball, and had the speed and endurance of animals. If those
African teams learn a little team organization and integrity in the back, they will be ferociously dangerous.
Posted from United States
By Matthew Hughes | July 10th, 2006 at 6:02 am Cannavaro is God!
Posted from United States
By Vaness | July 10th, 2006 at 4:12 pm ….golden ball…bullsh*t…how can you give it to someone with such little class as Zidane….there has to be something said about FIFA if they are who elects such award…..you come out of retirement to play in your last world cup game…or should I say your last professional game….and you belittle yourself that much….and FIFA is all about fairplay????? Yes, he got a red card for his actions but getting the golden ball was dispicable….regardless of our he played throughout the tournament FIFA basically just gave hima a slap on the wrist……NO CLASS!!!!!
Posted from Canada
By Firoze | July 10th, 2006 at 4:42 pm The squad looks great with all the top players in the list, and since Italy have won the match already, FIFA will probably reconsider again, anyways, I believe FIFA’s decisions so far in suspending players, red-carding players, and choosing players for the all-star squad has been pretty great, but I DESPERATELY need to know when is the match between this so called All-Star team vs. Italy AKA FIFA Champions 2006 cuz i keep hearing rumors abt such a match! someone help!!!
Posted from 
Saudi Arabia
By Great Cup | July 10th, 2006 at 5:01 pm Well in response to FIFA’s team and other people’s suggestions:
Totti was mediocre and has no business on the team. As was Ballack. Beckham was awful except for the bender he put in off of a set-piece. Ricardo was possibly the best goalie in the Cup. Lehmann would not have deserved it if it were not for his masterful performance against Argentina. Podolski cannot be left off and deserves a nod over Crespo. Maxi Rodriguez over Totti. for his entire Cup not just the best goal of the Cup. Riquelme over Ballack. As for other comments, Cannavaro was a force, Zidane was a magician and his last Cup is tainted but a bone-head move, and Lahm was the best offensive back in the Cup and he’s only 22 and played with a bum elbow that he had surgery on before the Cup. Maniche, Pirlo, Figo are all deserving. As are Klose, Buffon, Carvalho, and Zambrotta. Wonderful Cup and never expected Italy to win.
Posted from United States
By Pancrasio Juvenal | July 10th, 2006 at 7:57 pm My team:
Goalkeeper:
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
Defenders:
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal) Philipp Lahm (Germany)
Miguel (Portugal)
Midfielders
Michael Ballack (Germany), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Lucho Gonzalez(Argentina)
Forwards:
Thierry Henry (France)
Miroslav Klose (Germany)
No comments…
Posted from 
Portugal
By mitch | July 12th, 2006 at 9:49 pm where is cristiano ronaldo in all of this????fernando torres?? a lot of these guys are on the team because there team made it far in the tourney. ze roberto did nothing the whole tourney!!zidane’s actions were a disgrace to the game of soccer!!! thierry henry?? its like his favorite thing is being offsides… im pretty disappointed in the selections for the all tournemant team but overall a very entertaining world cup
Posted from United States
By Hamad | July 13th, 2006 at 12:16 am A team without Totti in the midfield wouldn’t be a good team. He came back from a devastating injury and created so many critical chances and goals. Italy wouldn’t have won the world cup without him. Too bad he wasn’t in the best form for the tournament due to the injury, but hell, he performed better than most in his role. There weren’t any players in this world cup who were godly aside from Cannavaro,Buffon, Thuram, and maybe molouda and Ribery. But let’s face it, in this world cup, defenders on general outperformed attackers. But they get little notice, and Cannavaro was way better than Zidane.
Posted from Saudi Arabia
By Capt.C | July 14th, 2006 at 12:29 am My team
Buffon (Ita)
Zambrotta
Grosso
Cannavarro
Matterazzi
Nesta
Perrotta
Camoranesi
Totti
Pirlo
Gattuso
Toni
Gilardino
Del Piero
Inzaghi
Forza Italia….Deserved winners!!
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By Capt.C | July 14th, 2006 at 12:33 am Incidentally Zidane had a really poor group stage and only really looked any good against Brazil and sporadically in the final. Only reason he got best player award was to drape one final accolade on his shoulders. Pity he has shown himself to be so undeserved of such an award by acting like a thug. Oh well…. Ce La Vie
Posted from United Kingdom
By Smith | July 28th, 2006 at 4:10 pm My team
4-5-1
GK:Bobadilla
RB:Sagnol
CB:Cannavaro
CB:Meira
LB:Grosso
RW:E.Mendez
CM:Pirlo
CM:Gattuso
CM:Riquelme
LW:Messi
S:Ronaldo
By max | September 4th, 2006 at 6:55 pm USA ALL THE WAY
Posted from United States
By waasass | October 31st, 2006 at 1:52 pm nesta is the best defender ever… he just had an injury !
my team!(5-3-2)
1-bufon
13-nesta
2-terry
5-cannavaro
3-zambrotta
6-R.carlos
4-viera
21-Pirlo
10-kaka
7-shevchenko
9-henry
(5-3-2)
By kelly | May 8th, 2007 at 11:02 am is germany a team ?
Posted from Canada
By zul | September 12th, 2007 at 1:23 am Gianluigi Buffon,Willy Sagnol,Fabio Cannavaro,John Terry,Philipp Lahm,Michael Essien,Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,Kaka,Thierry Henry,Andriy Shevchenko
Posted from 
Singapore
By zul | September 12th, 2007 at 1:23 am Gianluigi Buffon,Willy Sagnol,Fabio Cannavaro,John Terry,Philipp Lahm,Michael Essien,Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,Kaka,Thierry Henry,Andriy Shevchenko
Posted from Singapore
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