Favorite World Cup Players

July 6th, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

With no games over the next couple days we will have plenty of time to talk about Italy and France. But it also gives us all time to reflect a bit on the 62 games we have watched this World Cup. As someone who enjoyed the tournament from a neutral standpoint, except for my undying support of Angola, I found it interesting that I ended up rooting for certain players to do well. I wasn’t backing their team and in some cases I had never seen them play before, yet their style of play won me over. He’s a smattering of players that I’ll remember from this World Cup.

Shaka Hislop – The Trinidad and Tobago keeper wasn’t even supposed to start for the Soca Warriors in their opening match against Sweden, but he did and he was simply fantastic, almost single handedly earning T&T a point.

Franck Ribery – The midfielder for France has been nothing short of amazing throughout the competition. He doesn’t have the body of an athlete, but his work rate is excellent and his skill on the ball impressive.

Cesc Fabregas – I loved him before the World Cup and I love him even more now. He is a fearless young player who will be a force to reckon with when Spain loses in the quarterfinals in 2010.

Phillipp Lahm – Another young player who knows no fear. He has to be the most impressive one armed player of the competition.

Zinedine Zidane – Zizou has further cemented his legacy by leading France into the final. Even the simple touch passes he makes can leave you saying “wow”.

Ricardo – Both keepers for Angola and Portugal were excellent. The Angola Ricardo was essentially a one-man defender. The Portugal keeper was a one-man penalty shoot out stopper.

Luis Valencia – The attacking Ecuador midfielder was a pleasure to watch.

Maxi Rodriguez – His goal in extra time against Mexico still makes my heart race, but he also played well throughout Argentina’s campaign.

Fabio Cannavaro – I’m still waiting to see if the Italian captain will ever make a mistake. He is amazing in the Azzurri backline.

Those are just some of the players that I’ll remember from the 2006 World Cup. Some may not come close to making the all-tournament team, but they have helped to make this neutral fan enjoy the competition.

Who are some players that you have enjoyed watching?

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http://www.3kilos.co.uk James

Maxi Rodriguez had the best tournament, he played very well ‘or’ excellent in all the matches he played. Other players have had good games but they also had bad games, like Zidane, he has played well the last 2/3 games but he had a couple of poor games in the group stages.

I think Maxi Rodriguez has been not only consistent, but he has been consistently good!
http://www.schonleben.de JaNik

Ricardo must be a joke. To me it feels that not one long pass from him reached his own players, with most of them reaching the other goalie.
For me the most impressiv players were Ribery and Klose.
LOKi01

I think the un-hearld player was from Iran, the left back.

relmudafuca
shuai

Zidane is excellent when it’s important!! don’t worry he is a the best player of this tournament.
poo

zidane only has 2 shots on goal and 1 goal
poo

sorri 2 goals
footbal-fan

Ribery, Henry and Zidane.

The worst players are: C. Ronaldo, Rodrigues, Riqelme, Deco
Irishdownunder

The captains for Argentina, Brazil England, Germany & Italy deserve credit for playing under the presure of expecting nations & media. All the other nations were mostly just happy to be there.
http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2006/big-question-which-current-coach-was-the-best-player.html#comments Pedro P

Ricardo Carvalho – Surelly one of the best central defenders in the wholde tournement. And in the world.

Maniche – One of the best midfielders of the cup (miles above Ballack, IMHO) – defends, attacks, gets 2nd balls, distributes, score. Maybe only Vieira could be compared to him.

Miguel – For me, simply the best right back, or right full back or right wing back of the whole WC. Without him suporting Figo, the former european and world player of the year Figo would not have had such a good WC.
Chris

Jens Lehmann was excellant throughout for Germany.
Ricardo

Obviously Pirlo!

He remains unheralded by the occasional fans and only truly appreciated by the conoisseurs.
Ricardo

Klose for his truly outstanding goalscoring record. Ronaldo does not stand a chance of holding on to his world cup scoring record once Klose has also played his 3 world cups.
Matt

poo – please, the best players are not always the ones who scores…
carola & Edoardo

In the Italian Team: Together with Andrea PIRLO and Fabio CANNAVARO, let’s mainly say Gianluigi BUFFON, absolutely Best Goalkeeper of all this WC 2006.
But pls don’t forget also GATTUSO, ZAMBROTTA and Pippo INZAGHI who played only 30 minutes in all the WC and he scored 1 goal (if he plays, he scored always!).
shuai

Poo… only 2 goals so is bad…

Pelé, lippi, beckenbauer said it. He’s the best ever. I think they now about football.
shuai

Pirlo, Buffon, Marquez, Makélélé and Riquelme are very good too.
DT

My top 11:

———– Buffon ————

Lahm-Cannavaro-Marquez-Zambrotta

——-Pirlo—Viera———–

-Robben—–Zidane—–Maxi—-

————Klose————–
mina

no one mentioned GROSSO .. so strange , i think he’s the tournament surprise .. also Ribery Klose were excellent taking into account the past-speculations
squiggle

Most of those mentioned above. Also, Thuram and Vieira have been mighty.
Hernan Crespo.
Messi.
Steve

You could break it down team by team but that would just be a waste because to me if your team couldn’t get the the quarterfinal then your time out here was not good enough.

ITALIA- The backline, all of them, captained by Cannaavaro- if France can not score they will leave this World Cup with only one own goal against. BORING SOCCER BUT VERY EFFECTIVE.

FRANCE- ZIDANE for the Brazil game alone, and RIBERY was a break out star, their backline against PORTUGAL, although the Portuguese struggle without a true foward their midfield can break down most defences except on this occasion.

PORTUGAL- Ronaldo- say what you will say, this kid needs to be marked by 2-3 men everytime he touches the ball and he will always at least get a corner kick out of his work

Meira, Carvalho, and Miguel- shut down some of the world top forwards and could always be counted on to build up from the bacl

Maniche-shows why he should be playing on the field in Chelsea or some place better

GERMANY- Klose- did not get to see much of the Germans but when I did you can tell this kid is a star, although the Germans do not look like a good team at all

Lehman- very solid on the backline

Spain- I know i said the quarterfinals was a neccesity but Fabregas is a star in the making, already a star in some eyes, stay in the EPL to make sure you stay tough

Argentina- Maxi- great goal, good tourney although Messi should have been a break out star but the coach never gave him the opportunity.

England- the only spark in the tourney was Lennon, but Beckham although would get lost in the mix in games had some great moments

Brazil- never fully played well together, give it too Ronaldo just for breaking the World Cup scoring record, Robinho will truly be great once he puts some weight on, send him to Serie A to learn how to break down tough defences
shuai

and the 10 nominated are :

Fabio Cannavaro
Andrea Pirlo
Gianluca Zambrotta
Gianluigi Buffon

Thierry Henry
Patrick Vieira
Zinédine Zidane.

Michael Ballack
Miroslav Klose

Maniche
Lolo

Maxi and Tevez were great.
Nola

Lehmann and Ribery are both outstanding players, not to mention pleasant surprises. But no one in this tournament can come close to Zidane. He is not a Ronaldo-esque goal scorer, no, but he is the director of traffic. He plays with grace and style and is a true marvel. Ronaldo can dance, but Zidane can THINK on the field.
carola & Edoardo

Right MINA, GROSSO too!
carola & Edoardo

Yeah shuai!!!
And I am so glad the the major number of the FIFA nominated ones are Italians!!!
BUFFON
CANNAVARO
ZAMBROTTA
PIRLO.
FORZA AZZURRI, FORZA ITALIA!!!
mara1ona

Lahm has caught my more than anyone else this tournament of the relatively “unknown” players.

You watching Alex Ferguson?
mara1ona

caught my eye that is
mara1ona

1) Buffon
2) Lahm
3) Cannavaro
4) Heinze
5) Marquez
6) Pirlo
7) Gattuso
8) Zidane
9) Gilardino
10) Messi
11) Klose
Tony

My picks,
Buffon
Zambrotta-Cannavaro-Thuram-Miguel
Pirlo-Viera-Requelme-Roben
Klose-Torres

Subs
Lehman
Terry
Figo
Henry

Everyone says a strong defence makes for a boring game. I say defending well is very exciting, along with great ball movement. You don’t have to score plenty goals to enjoy a game. Imagine if a score was 6-5, I think that would be the dullest kind of game. A complete game has a good balance of both defending and attacking.
http://tsn.ca TSN

pletikosa of croatia

best goalie
http://p8.hostingprod.com/peety-passion.com/blog2/2006/07/06/save-the-internet/ Internet Junkies » Blog Archive » Save the internet

[...] Please read the full post at worldcupblog. [...]
NeutralObserver

Here are some players that I think deserve praise for their outstanding effort in the World Cup.

Sagnol (France)
Has been consistently good throughout the tournament.

Maniche (Portugal)
Plays the length of the field and has a wicked long distance shot.

Nedved (Czech Republic)
One of the best players in the World Cup. Too bad the Czechs did not qualify for the later rounds.

Appiah (Ghana)
The entire Ghanaian team deserves praise for playing an energetic, fast-paced style of football. Appiah had a remarkable game against Brazil in the absence of Essien.

Tevez (Argentina)
Great game against Germany. Should’ve seen more playing time than he did.

Hargreaves (England)
The best player on an otherwise tepid English team.
Trapper

Klose was wonderful for Germany.

Zidane will have gone out on a great note regardless of the result in the Final.
Pras

Well i feel we have had a great show in 2006 in contrast to 2002 which was drab.

Let me swing this in a neutral entertainment point of view. Let me make some pointers on few players that cross my mind.

C. Ronaldo…For ultimate passion plus acting plus what not. His over stylized play is enough to impress gals all over but nothing for score sheet.

Rooney…To me he looks a hulk with a bulk of sulk. Too big and overhyped player. Having had the ball many a time he nver looked threatening. And then his anger proved to be his nemesis. See yaa in 2010.

Lampard: 35 Shots on Target. Either he was in love with all the goalkeepers coz he never saw the net.

Ballack: Overhyped. He lost the possesion of the ball the moment he even touched it. And with 22 shots on target, he is the mini lampard.

Ronaldinho: Long hair and some stylized soccer, he is gone for 2006, strip his best player award as i type this.

Totti: Overall alrite but his antics in the game against Germany was more of a Broadway show and when he dived over Ballack..that looked such a overact.

Pauleta: He was sleeping in the striking position, i thnk he decided not to score deliberately coz and Ronaldoes passing made it even worse.

R. Carlos: When you are in the team to Defend, please Defend, dont belt the ball with ur huge thighs towards the gals sitting in 100th row of the stands. He was the reason that Brasil lost with France, he was standing with hands on his feet while Henry pushed the ball into the goal.

DONE!
redheart

germany: klose
Portugal:Ricardo
france vieira, ribery, zidane
italy: buffon
thomas

I was most surprised of Germany’s David Odonkor. He didn’t play a single match for the national team before his nomination, and in the WC he did quite a good performance and became the darling of the German fans.

Best players:
Germany: Klose, Frings
Portugal: Ricardo
Italy: Buffon
France: Vieira and Zidane
Argentina: Messi, Rodriguez
Dragan

ITALY
Overrated: Totti
Haven’t seen him do much with the football, though he gives terrific performances while writhing on the ground.

Underrated: Pirlo
The midfield general who orchestrates the attack for Italy.

FRANCE
Overrated: Henry
Spent most of his time being offsides. For all the hype and with terrific ball feeders around him (Zidane, Viera, Ribery), has done little.

Underrated: Ribery
Virtual unknown has come into the spotlight with his terrific showing.

GERMANY
Overrated: Ballack
Could be seen laboring on the pitch, probably due to injury. He did not play well against Argentina and Italy.

Underrated: Lehmann
Hero of the penalty shootout against Argentina and gave a terrific performance in the Italy game, before the late goals.

PORTUGAL:
Overrated: Ronaldo
Lot of dazzle in midfield, leading to nothing. Also a skilled actor.

Underrated: Maniche
A workhorse player that transitions well from defense.

BRAZIL
Overrated: Almost the whole team, but we’ll say Roberto Carlos.
I think he made the team purely on reputation, not on merit.

Underrated: Ronaldo
For being labelled fat and lazy, still was a goal-scoring threat and far better than Adriano.

ARGENTINA
Overrated: Crespo
Virtually invisible on the field. Amazing that he started every meaningful game, given the amount of talent on the bench (Messi, Tevez).

Underrated: Heinze
Rock in the middle of the defense.

ENGLAND
Overrated: Lampard
What did this guy do? Blasted footballs into orbit and clogged up valuable space in the middle of the field. England would’ve been better off without him on the field.

Underrated: Hargreaves
Vindicated his selection with spirited performances.
Antonio

Dragan I agree with u 100 percent. In Portugal I would add as underrated Miguel.
Arthur

Germany: Frings, Lahm, Klose, Lehmann
Italy: buffon, Pirlo, Cannavaro, Gattuso (destructive, but effective)
France: Zidane, Viera, Ribery
Argentina: Messi, Tevez, Ayala
Portugal: Rodriguez

and from other, less succesful nations:

Ghana: Appiah, Essien, Kingston

Yorke, Hislob (TRI), Tymoschuk (UKR), Drogba(CIV), Robben, (NED), Hargreaves (ENG), Kewell (AUS)
Arthur

I have to add Valencia(ECU), Barnetta(SUI),Isaakson(SWE) Fabregas (Spain)
Ms. Catenaccio

Cannavaro
Ricardo (Portugal)
Buffon
Miguel
Lehmann
sourav

Agree
would add c ronaldo, if only he could score goals as well as he dribbles and dives, but great to watch
how abt the real jokers in the pack: did f all
The brazilian team, the english team specially Beckham,pauletta and quite a few more …. to boring to type
http://franck-ribery-swicki.eurekster.com/ tiiiit

Comme il le dit lui même:
“je le mérite”
http://franckyribery.blogspot.com/2006/07/je-le-mrite.html
http://sportajoke.blogspot.com vinoma

For England,Hargreaves has always been underrated.I think the English fans now know better than booing him.

Italy will be world champions.The current defence marshalled by Cannovaro,Materrazi…etc,reminds me of the walls Baresi used to marshall.The French will need a digging tool to break through!

The ivory Coast need to learn to score as they play!
alien

Zidane: best player in the whole world. single handedly made brazilians look like little kids, the twists and turns, the passing after that and the free kick on which Henry scored, AWSOME!!!
Zidane was the best thing happend in the later stages of the world cup.

Materazzi is hateful.

Italians are soo good at diving, making drama, provoking, and they always get away with it. Cannavaro, Buffon and Pirlo were great and disciplined, otherwise almost all of them cheat and dive. shame.
rohit

oye guys we are talking about individual plyaers here all of u missed the guy who’ll be kiking ass for the next 6 years thats Robin van Persie
http://www.worldcup.com SAMMY

RICARDO
LOUIS FIGO
ZIDANE
AYALA
TORRES
http://www.3dgoals.com Sawvy

I adore Zidane of course!! He is the best, such a cute football hero, a pity that he ended up like that (((( Klose and Lahm – respect too… Sure Bob – now we all have nice time of remembering all teams up and downs…BTW, I found a nice source for it – 3dgoals.com for us football freaks :-)
Kruman

Is this poetry or magic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYUtKKbBTkw&search=zidane
kecik

my idol………..phillipp lahm
kecik

germany for life
http://China Carmen

A very like Phillipp Lahm .

A girl !!!

My idol ..Lahm !

The same as Germany !

Best wishes to them!!
http://China Carmen

I just like Germany’s player!!

1>Lahm
2>小猪 NO.7　,(sorry,I can’t spell his name ..because that’s too long)
3>ballack
4>klose
5>kahn
6>podolski