Players whose stock has risen during World Cup 2006

Some of the players I liked were Maniche (Portugal), Carlos Salcido (Mexico), Luca Toni (Italy), and of course Zidane who showed he still has something left.

Interesting thread and I don’t have much time to think about it right now, so may revisit it later, but Ribery has made a HUGE impact on this Cup, literally come from nowhere (no offense Marseilles), and is Lyon-bound for much more money as a result.

Dave hamildav@yahoo.com

Basically, all the players from ukraine are going to be offered huge contracts by the english, german, and spanish leagues.

Your list is terrible. I just can’t believe the sore sportsmanship obvious English fans have and continue to have. You cry about players taking dives when I see the likes of Cole and Rooney and Owen doing it on a consistent basis.

You call Ronaldo awful when anyone who knows a damn about soccer would have him on his team anyday. Ask the English defense and the French why they must double and triple team him every time he is on the ball. They don’t do that to any English midfielder as consistently as they do it with Cristiano.

You wine about the Portuguese when you just need to take a look in the mirror, it is not Cristiano’s sole doing why it has taken 40 years for you team to do anything worthy in the World Cup or any other tournament.

Wait I forgot you do complain about your own players on a constant basis. Twisting and turning you judgments on players such as Lampard, Beckham, Scholes, and Hargreaves. The Media now has Hargreaves as their darling when before the Cup they chastised the team for having him because he was born in Canada and plays in Germany.

I used to cheer for England, being coached by Martin Dobson as a youth, but now I see a nation that can’t figure their own team out so put blame on their competitors.

Lol, Nick, no Italian players? You will make a nation cry and protest.

From Brazil’s squad, I think the biggest let downs would be Roberto Carlos (failed specially at France’s goal against Brazil – the frame-by-frame capture showing him basically sitting on his ass instead of covering Henry are priceless) and Cafu (on a 2nd position). Ronaldinho “failed to impress”, but it was more due to the role he was given on the midfield than because of his actual skill or form.

The entire Brazil midfield did nothing on the free kick goal by france. It was like they were trying to pull an offside trap while the 4 defenders actually tried to guard 8 French players.

Christiano ronaldo??? A waste of time???? If anyone could have won the WC semi finals for Portugal it was him. he almost did before Figo headed a ball out which I could have headed in.

What have you been smoking? He is the only attcking threat for Portugal.

Some actual wastes are
1. Frank Lampard
2. Pauletta (Dont know what he is in the team for)
3. Louis Saha
4. Wayne Rooney

i think fabio grosso has really come up big for italy throughout the world cup.

he’s been very solid throughout and has made the big plays when he has to.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson, the two swedish attackers didn’t really perform at all this tournament. Freddie Ljungberg, Andreas Isaksson and to some extent Kim Källström did quite well though.

ha ha – go Ukraine. About time your talent was recognized on the international level. Just make sure the state survives until 2010 :) good luck

forget the ronaldos and rooneys, they didnt impress anyone in this world cup. the young players from chech, germany and ukraine are the future and all the top leagues in europe are going to sign them up for big money.

Martin, I agree that larsson and ibrahimovic didnt play so well and its too bad cause sweden are a very good team but they just had a couple of unlucky games. i think they will rise up again for euro cup 08. where is ibrahimovic going to play next year?

what about maxi rodriguez from Argentina as a guy who’s stock moved up dramatically..

skillz:

Surely you are joking when you say Ukrainian players are going to be signed by big clubs?

Club football is about winning leagues. 3 points for a win, etc.

You don’t win leagues by playing negative football for 120 minutes in the hope of winning on penalties.

I’m guessing that Italia ‘90 was your favourite World Cup… Sheesh.

I’m defintely a Maniche fan. Solid performer with a pretty accurate, hard kick. Ribery was certainly a hit and should create problems for the Italians. The Germans as a team did a great job but just couldn’t pull it out in the end. I don’t remember ever complaining about their style of play.

Robinho COULD have been a problem for the other teams if they actually PLAYED HIM! Stupid ass coach. Sure, he does the step overs more than C. Ronaldo but ever time he was out there he was running like a mad man and had multiple shots on goal. Such a disappointment that he did not play more. It’s Ronaldo’s fault for wanting to play and try to break some records. He had some moments but a spry, fast, and magical Robinho would have been much more fun to watch.

Disappointments, well, being a Brazil fan I would have to say the COACH, Mr. Parreira. Also Cafu and Roberto Carlos should be smacked upside the head. I was so pissed that Cafu was still in there causing fouls and creating free kicks for the French! Pull him for Petes sack!

wat is rong wit u man.

ronaldo is useless??? i should come and slap u. he was probably portugals best player after maniche

lampard is not useless either. while he did miss some sitter he also showed that he can score but it just wasnt his time to shine.

Where the hell is Grosso on this list? He’s come up big when he had to, and he just recently had been playing

How about Niell from Aus?

I agree with previous commenter that Pauleta should be on the “fail to impress” list. Throw Landon Donovan in there too – he just wasn’t the force he was purported to be, in spite of a gutsy performance against Italy.

Finally, I think you’re being a bit hard on Ronaldinho, who was more a victim of his coach’s tactics and his teammate’s selfishness than anything.

I think also, all the croation palyers will be signed and that includes croations that allowed austrailia to even be in this world cup. without them australia would still be playing cricket or jumparooo or whatever they do there.

oops, I wanted to say Grosso had been playing like fourth division football in Italy just recently.

I detest C. Ronaldo as much as the next guy, but it’s hard to say that he was useless in this cup. I know that half of his runs down the side ended in terrible shots, but the other half ended in Portuguese corner kicks.. sadly (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), they couldn’t convert any.

I think he’s also a very useful player to have in a squad because diving is so encouraged by the referees, and he’s a master.

Actually i was quite impressed with beasley from america. he should sign somewhere in europe.

Nick, Your post is an utter and useless waste of cyber space no matter how big it may be.

Yeah skillz, whatever.

I’ll be looking forward to see how your beloved Eastern Europe does in the upcoming “jumparoo” World Cup.

Probably no better than in this one, I’ll guess.

Believe me, you’ll be seeing canada in the world cup before you ever see australia in the world cup again, unless they keep using croations and get rid of all the other non factor players.

Beasley already plays in Holland. For PSV if I’m not mistaken.

Pauleta scores hat-tricks against the minnows and disappears vs the top teams. I was surprised that he actually DID score a couple of goals in this tournament.

skillz:

Care to make a wager on that?

And it’s called multi-culturalism. I’m surprised you’re not aware of that, as I thought you had it in Canada as well.

It’s when you grow up in a country, and, despite the fact that your ancestors hail from another place you want to play for that country.

I note that you don’t mention Simunic, Seric, or Didulica: “Croatian” players that grew up in Australia, enjoyed tax-payer funded Australian sporting programs, AND THEN decided to play for Hrvatska.

Simunic even managed to cheat enough against the country he grew up in that he got THREE yellow cards!

A record for Eastern Europe! You must be as proud of that as you surely are of the GDR Men that used to win Womens Olympic titles in the ’80s.

england always have someone to blame

they can never admit they lost

they think by now they should have 10 WC’s hahaha

excuse capital

86 – maradona

90 –

98 – simione

02- dinho

06 – C ronaldo

always someone else to blame and not englands crappy performances (other times not so crappy)

truth is they barely beat T&T tied a in terrible form sweden and forced an own goal from paraguay

then faced ecuador and won by the skin of there asses

so easy road and all england was not cut out for it

they stuttered there way to the quarters

what do you call an Italian player? a great actor

Funny how guys just can’t stand the good-looking players that women are crazy for…

Sylvia… most people are in it for the sport not the hairdo.

fab:

Who mentioned England?

I’ve scrolled up, and I can’t see anything that makes your post anything other than a whine about something you have a chip on your shoulder about.

Even if Nick is a Pom, I am not sure WTF you are on about.

Well, Sylvia… looks aren’t all. For instance, David Beckham is bloody gorgeous, let’s face it, but he’s a big time self centered idiot who isn’t even as good as he thinks he is. So he doesn’t do it for me. I go for guys who look good and also ARE good without getting too big headed, like Zidane or Oliver Kahn (I like him coz he looks mean).

Totti’s stock went up.
It’s value had nowhere to go but up after championship level spitting! He’s behaved himself and played well for having just recovered from a broken leg. my $.02…

Apart from Argentina-Mexico and Germany-Italy, the 2006 tournament has been complete crap.

I’d rather watch pigs vomiting blood inside an abbatoir.

FACT.

What a waste of time this player is. The pretty boy of the tournament, Ronaldo does for Portugal what he does for Man U. namely, gets the ball a third of the way up the field, sprints across some ‘dead -space’ to the opponent’s defence, waggles his right foot over the ball, followed by hald dozen step overs, then loses it. Repeat 20 time a game, plus pouting and crying, and you have Ronaldo’s contribution to World Cup 2006.

Absolutely right Nick. And you forgot to add, diving and complaining like a schoolboy to his teacher that little johnny pinched me, and being so selfish with the ball that he would rather let it go out of play than pass it to the next player. And he just keep doing those step-overs as though he was obsessed with them.

Portugal fans, what do you see in him that we are missing?

“Funny how guys just can’t stand the good-looking players that women are crazy for…”

Are you kidding? Many dudes here have serious man-crushes on Zidane or Cannavaro – both players that females find very attractive. Most real men admire the grit of the entire Aussie team as well and the nine Americans who battled the mighty Italians. We like players who play well and aren’t whiny little pissants, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the most blatant example of that sort of player. I’m an England hater, but I really hope Rooney can get a fair crack at Ronaldo one of these days, that’s how repulsive of a player I find Ronaldo. I do have to admit, he’s got skill, but he’s a little bitch and not a very good team player.

Blame Sven for England’s poor showing, from bad decisions on team selection to poor tactics.

No way that team should have lost to Portugal.

And I’m sorry, I don’t care how good Beckham is on set pieces, he is simply a liablity during normal play. What are his chances of scoring off of set peices anyway? I would be shocked if it was greater than 5%.

I feel sorry for England supporters.

Jodido:

It’s amazing what can be forgiven in the other gender for superficial reasons.

If you’ve been following the “Liveblogs” of each game that Bob & Chris do, you will have noticed an American woman called Trish who has been there every single minute. That makes her a TRUE fan in my book. But at one point she asked why everybody disliked C.Ronaldo.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her.

Aww, Trapper… you’re a nice man for not breaking her stupid little heart. :P

I take no issue with your list. It seems fair but it needs to be expanded. Let’s start with adding a few of the players from, Ivory Coast, Ghana and also Ecuador. “Smaller” teams had some great players who did very well for themselves. A couple of the Japanese players did well also.

Landon Donovan has to be one of those that crashed out. A lot was expected of him and he produced nothing. It was nightmarish.

Maxi Rodriguez’ stock moved up dramatically?!! The guy is an average player at best. He scored a nice goal and that was it. He does what he does at Atletico…plays hard, nothing out of the ordinary. Chelsea is not going to run after him…

Laura:

Yes, that was very chivalrous of me wasn’t it? :):):)

this chick can’t stand ronaldo either – yes, he’s pretty, but it fades after the second or fiftieth dive and plead show he puts on during the first half of any game. i’ll root for zizou, cannavaro or any of the socceroos before i cheer for ronaldo – regardless of real madrid contract.

Agree with most of your list. Have to say, though, that Beasley came closer to scoring on Italy than anyone in this tournament (actually did score, but it was negated because a fellow player was standing too close to the goalie). And Beasley’s steal and pinpoint pass in the Ghana game was electrifying. He put that ball dead on Dempsey’s foot, in stride, making a goal inevitable. So maybe he loafed a lot other times, but for those two plays alone I’d leave the guy alone. Two bright spots in an otherwise forgettable US outing.

Oh, I’d add Podolski (Germany) to your list, too. He was overshadowed a bit by fellow striker Klose, but he definitely has a rising stock after this Cup. He came very close to a goal in regulation against Italy with that rocket from point-blank range. If Buffon wasn’t in exactly the spot he was in, Germany would probably be in the finals.

from an aussie point of view Neil and Emerton both had above average tournaments, I’m guessing a few of the Ghanan players may get trials at bigger clubs as a result, and maybe some of the Ivory Coast guys too

Did somebody forget the Argentinian players Requelme, Aimar Pablo, Saviola, Tevez, Messi, Sorin, Crespo………

After seeing Saviola’s performance in Arg VS Srebia Montenegro, and Argentina VS Ivory Coast his stock went up quite a bit. The team he is playing for Seville is doing quite well. They won the UEFA cup.

Requelme and Sorin combo almost killed Arsenal in the Semifinal of UEFA Champions League.

Tevez should definitely play for my favourite club, Real Madrid as a striker….Messi already plays for them.

Wait, if we are talking about stock that went up, How about the some of the mexicans.

Salcido, Sanchez, mendez, kikin, guardado, All just got offered contracts in europe.
from arsenal to some germnan and english clubs.

Yes, Mexico showed a lot of heart and real grit. Playing fine football with alot of class and determination. In my book the whole’s team stock went up!

Nice blog. I agree with the above, Germany has the best sqaud, the English and Brazillian squad on the other hand are the most over-rated. Rooney and Beckham did nothing for England.

I really enjoyed Ghana’s Kingson as a goalie too.

For me this world cup has been all about the Goalies! I really enjoyed Jens Lehman’s charisma and play this world cup. Portugal’s Ricardo is a wonderful man too!

The Goalies are the co-captain of the team, the cheerleader, the motivator. An integral role is played by the Goalkeeper!

Thanks Lehman – You ROCK!

oh and whoever organised/wrote/sang that god-aweful themesong should lose all respect in the musical world (if only)

Agree on Ribery. He’s been a revelation.

Disagree on Roberto Carlos. I felt like he was one of the few Brasilian’s who looked like he was trying to win v France (compare Ronaldinho who may as well not have been on the pitch). But you are right about his shots–not there anymore.

maxi rodriguez from argentina

The stock of the players from Ghana will escalate. Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari were fantastic. The millionaire Michael Essien who plays for Chelsie did extremely well. All three are in their early 20’s and will lead the Black Stars to greater height in World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
The Ivorian striker, Didier Drogba was just dyanamic, no doubt he’s adored at Stamford Bridge.

how bout Dempsey from US?? his stock i think shot right through the roof!! and jen lahmen is a beast!

In all fairness, 25-26 is the majic age period for most soccer players, here’s the proof: Maradona in ‘86 , Ronaldo in ‘02, Zidanne in ‘98. Based on the above, Rooney, Robinho, Mesi, Podolski , Owen and C.Ronaldo should be big in 2010, if they can remain healthy, plus they’ll be older and wiser, not to mention all the years of accumulated experience at club level . So it’s still too early to declare anybody who’s below 25 a flop.

The biggest problem in this world cup in my opinion was poor coaching. THe US team is a prime example, you never saw Brian Ching, Johnson or C. Dempsey play or get more minutes even when it was clear that the veterans weren’t up to the challenge.
Riquelme, the best midfield maestro in the world gets pulled out of a do or die game against Germany by the stupid coach! Ronaldinho, play maker extraodinaire, never gets a chance to control the game like Zidane, as he’s pushed too upfront and paired with Ronaldo as a striker. Nowonder the samba couldnt flow like it was supposed to!

Robinho should have been paired with Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos should have been pushed back a little to play his no.4 position. They could have sacrificed a little defense for a more crisp offensive game.

Mesi and Rooney never developed a rythm because they were fighting for minutes and even when in the lineup they never got the ball from the midfield and the wingers and were often forced to drop to midfield so as to generate offense. And you can recall how ‘enry and the french team struggled in their first few games when the midfield never pushed the ball forward enough( although we must not forget Zinedine is slowing him down because he has to play at the play maker’s pace).
The list of poor coaching decisions is endless!!
Holland benches their star Man. U player mysteriously in a key game against Portugal and yet everybody wants to know why they couldn’t score!

Moral of the story, fire all the underachieving egomaniac, control freak coaches, starting with Bruce Arena, Carlos Pareira, the guy from Argentina and the dude from Mexico, Ricardo Volpe. Get more of the fresh blood, ex-player coaches like Gullit, Klinsman and van Basten (even Diego should get a shot at the Argentina job), because they have a feel for the game. Goals, goals baby!! that’s what everybody wants to see, that’s what Totti, Del Piero , Inzaghi(if he cracks the line up), my boy from Arsenal(aka baddest man on the planet)’enry and Zinedine Zidanne, will give you on Sunday! It’s all about the goals baby!!

Miroslav KLOSE – has been amazing to watch, always looking to score and beat 3,4 even 5 defenders to get to the edge of the penalty box, great attacking player

KAKA – has been the best brazilian this worldcup by a long long way, has some magnificent skills and can attack from anywhere

Lucas NEILL – has been fantastic in defence, don’t expect him to stay at Blackburn too long.

Brett EMERTON – no one can seem to outrun this guy, quicker than he looks, loves to run the ball out of defence and midfield, probably ran around more than anyone in the WC and caused every attacker on the wings headaches as they couldn’t get away

BTW the player who has reduced his stock the most is by far CHRISTIANO RONALDO – he will pay for many a year for his actions, I expected just English fans to boo him and give it to him, but the fact is the whole world really do HATE cheats and cry babies and he joins the ITALIAN team on the most HATED bench of WC 2006

[...] Among the players whose stock has fallen as a result of their performance in the World Cup, include pretty boy, whiny ass, bad diver Christiano Ronaldo from Portugal. Nick over at the World Cup Blog says: What a waste of time this player is. The pretty boy of the tournament, Ronaldo does for Portugal what he does for Man U. namely, gets the ball a third of the way up the field, sprints across some ‘dead -space’ to the opponent’s defence, waggles his right foot over the ball, followed by half dozen step overs, then loses it. Repeat 20 time a game, plus pouting and crying, and you have Ronaldo’s contribution to World Cup 2006. Team’s like Real Madrid want him to fill Beckhams’ shoes as poster boy. [...]

LiverpoolFC give it a rest on the italian thing, I have read your posts everywhere. Get a life and a new team. I noticed you put Neill in your blog there and didn’t include Italy-Germany on another post about the best matches of 2006. I wonder why? I am far from an italian fan but you are just pathetic man.

I think the Australian team’s stock is definitely falling because of their fans. I hope they don’t make the next world cup, i can’t stand the whining.

long live germany!

Since nobody’s mentioned Appiah, I’ll do it. When Essien was out, he still performed admirably and if Ghana could only finish they would have been in the quarters riding his strong effort.

Lahm, Odonkhor, and Podolski for Germany. Ribbery for France. Messi for Argentina. Robinho for Brazil. Down I would say most of the Brazilian team and most of England. The US didn’t have anybody who really shone. I didn’t put Zidane since he is retiring but if not for that his stock is way up. Lehmann already had a very impressive resume and I don’t think he added more glory to it. Kahn by not being named as a starter could be a drop in his profile.

Jodido I agree with you Appiah is one of the best players in this world cup definitely. I would put Essien on the list as well.

It has been a World Cup of tactics and defenses no doubt, especially in the knockout stages. The best game ended 0-0 in normal time (Italy .v. Germany) The best attacking squads,(arguably England and Brazil),failed to impress due to some to notch defending as much as sub-standard play. Indeed the defense made many of the World’s greatest look sub-standard. The Goalies have had a big part to play too. With Jens Lehman,Shaka Hislop,Ricardo and the Portugal keeper,(whos name escapes me), have all impressed.

Of course the best defensive displays have been by the Italians and for this reason I believe that Italy will beat the French on Sunday. Zidane has skill yes but does he have the legs to go past the Italian super defense when it really matters?

it seems that a lot of the big names just didn’t want to play as hard as they could, fearing their multi million contracts will be no more. Should I add Ronaldinho to the list? He was awful in this tournament. Robinho was the hardest worker on the team, along with inconsistent spurts from Kaka on the Brazilian side. And Ronaldo is just a fat, unmotivated jock who wouldn’t care less if his country loss.

C.Ronaldo? I think his stock stayed the same. It’s not as if he scored a lot of goals or generated a ton of assists for Man U. He was one of the few bright spots for Portugal, always pushing up the field. He needs to learn how to cut his ball hogging and oscar antics.

England – I didn’t expect more from them actually. The team has often played uninspired football and it showed again. Perhaps put in a more offensive minded coach, and perhaps ignite a few fires under their so called stars.

Defense is overrated. Any great offensive mind can get past a solid defense with a couple of goals. It was more an issue with generating any consistent offense on most teams’ part.

come on,stop pickin on becks, england wen till there wit beckhams help n ronaldo is not a poster boy if u know football he has skills n will develope to b a good player.even ribery wasted many chances runin wit an ugly final ball

Rafa Marquez of Mexico did a splendid job on defense for the Mexicans, His stock has gone up no doubt.

My Studs and Duds:

I think the Ivory Coast team even in defeat, showed us why they have three of their starters playing in the Premier league. Didier Drogba, African player of the tournament in my eyes, justified all the money he gets paid by chelsea and Eboue was solid in defense as was Toure.Michael Essien was ok, could have done more for a player of his calibre. Appiah was a stud muffin and will probably command more, the Angolan goalie Ricardo should be a good back up for a top team in the premiere league or in Serie ‘A’, the age thing doesn’t do him much justice. Fabrice Akwa showed he still got game even for an aging veteran. Adebayor wasn’t too impressive, maybe all the politics about mo’ money was too much of a distraction. Rio Ferdinard with his no nonsense defense also had a good showing. The Coles played their hearts out. Lampard and Terry could have done more for England to have a realistic chance, poor coaching not withstanding. Crouch was good much but didnt get much play time.
Borgetti could have done more, Rafael Marquez was rock solid, Omar Bravo deserves to move up from the mexican league. Riquelme, Mesi and everybody from Argentina showed why everybody picked them to win it all. Maybe with better coaching(e.g not subbing your key playmaker-Riquelme when you need him most) and if they didnt have to face the host nation so early the quarters they could have lived up to our expectations.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy, was the biggest no show, the fact that his team ran into the crazy Russian ref and although their game with Portugal turned into a free for all wrestling match is no excuse. Must be a reason why the coach benched you in a crucial game like that!

Winner of the FIFA ‘pussy player’ of the tournament is Beckham, didnt have the balls to stay in a game when his teammates needed him most. Universal cry baby!No wonder C. Ronaldo wants to be like you when he grows up. He should hurry up and move to the MLS so that he can play for the LA Galaxy and be closer to his preferred final destination in Hollywood.

C. Ronaldo was just plain immature and extremely annoying. Although it was sweet to see him cry some real tears like the baby he is , after losing to france.Maybe Rooney has picked up too much of your B.S. No excuse for Rooney though, he needs to grow up, we expect more from an Englishman.

good list… but wow, time & time again, Becks gets criticized… created 2 and scored one of England’s 5 goals. Do the math and that’s 60% of direct involvement of the goals. And still he gets one below the belt for having no “athletic ability.. can’t dribble and isn’t a huge on field presence”… oh yeah, everyone is making a big hoo-haa about Aaron Lennon. SO the kid’s fast, and can dribble, but he lacked the final ball, So what if u can get past defenders but cannot deliver the cross to score goals from… he’snan unfinished article the boy, a Shaun Wright-Phillips in the making (look at where Shaun is now). But he’s the future, he’ll improve, & will get his chance in due time. But personally, i would prefer golden balls’s experience, never-say-die attitude and his dead ball accuracy anytime.

yo sumit, no offense, but if your favorite team is real madrid, then you should know that messi doesn’t play for them. he plays for barça.

and saviola doesn’t play for seville. he plays for barça.

i at least hope you know what barça did this year.

-sb

Maxi Rodriguez’s stock definitely went up. Odonkor and Robinho were effective whenever they played.
Riquelme blew hot and cold for Argentina.
I always thought Klinsman made a mistake choosing Lekham instead of Kahn. But I am so wrong!!!

My list of WC06 Stars are as follows..
Podolski(GER), Maniche(POR), Klose(GER), Srna(CRO), Lehman(GER), Appiah(GHA), Toni(ITA), Buffon(ITA), Cannavaro(ITA), ZeRoberto(BRA), Babic(CRO), Neil(AUS), Cahill(AUS), Zidane(FRA), Van Persie(HOL), Torres(SPA), Rodriguez(ARG), Marquez(MEX), Valencia(ECU), Joe Cole(ENG), Henry(FRA), Kaka(BRA), Viera(FRA), Figo(POR), Senderos(SWI), Rosicky(CZH). And i’m sure there are many more that i missed..
as for the dissapointments..well..
Beckham(ENG), Ronaldinho(BRA), R.Carlos(BRA), Lampard(ENG), Kezman(SRB), Klasnic(CRO), Kranjcar(CRO) Nedved(CZH), VanNistelroy(HOL), Rooney(ENG), Reyes(SPA), Karimi(IRA), Shevcenko(UKR), Ibrahimovic(SWE), Larson(SWE), Beasley(USA), Stankovic(SRB), Nakamura(JPN). I’m sure there are many more also…
it’s been a great world cup, and alot of the players that struggled will play better, whereas the players that played well will play worse..its all about the timing and who hits form.

Hey, anyone remember Fabio Grosso?
The leftback who play like a left winger and with a shot at goal that is on par or maybe even better than most forward?
I still wondering how a left sided fullback got into a position to shoot at goal from the right side? And curl a real beauty to beat Lehman?
Grosso is the revelation of this World Cup.

wow alot of trinis here huh
well here is my list of those whose stock went up
1)maxi rodriguez
2)lahm
3)Franck Ribery
4)Christian Lara
5)Nuno Maniche
6)Luis Miguel
and of course Miroslav Klose

and as for Christiano Ronaldo he was the best thing in portugal’s midfield deco and figo had forgettable campaigns

What became of Steven Gerrard? I thought he was doing well till just before that penalty shoot out.

The greatest disappointment in the world cup has been the whole Brazil team except Robinho.Ronaldinho showed a few glimpses of class,but the higly over rated Ronaldo didnt convert any.Ronaldo was a great player,but nowadays he is highly over rated and is not a contender for an automatic playing eleven entry

Hi folks: I am in trouble Sunday. My oldest sun is half French, and his Ethiopean girl-friend grew uo in Italy. When we watch the game I’ll have to sit between them to keep them from attacking each other. I am originally Dutch,and the Dutch lost, so I have nothing to fear.
Hans in New York City

‘I think the Australian team’s stock is definitely falling because of their fans.’

There has been some silly things said around here over the last few weeks, but the idea that transfer values will decrease because some Australian fans on this blog are venting their spleens well and truly takes the cake.

Lol, and poor Hans in NYC. Since your oldest son speaks from my heart, I will cheer with him. My son who is also a soccer fanatic is American with mostly German, some Hungarian, some Italian (right now he is not happy about that one) and some French (he will root for the French on Sunday)

CP, I think it was a joke, where’s your sence of humour. Just think what the spanish and italian fans had to go through after their contraversial loss to S. Korea. I know I mocked them, so what? It’s all stupidity and means nothing.

Suprised no one has mentioned C.Tevez (ARG)! The guy’s like a damn Energizer-bunny – he won’t stop running! He’s got great pace, good ball skills, good awareness and movement and the way he’ll run at defences is awesome.

Buffon and Cannavaro put on some stirling performances for Italy as did Pirlo in his role as deep playmaker.

Appaiah proved that he’s lost none of the magic he showd a few years ago in Serie A.

Flops: Luca Toni (IT) missed a bunch of chances that Inzaghi would have put away with his eyes shut. Half the Brazilian squad. Frank Lampard choked on the biggest stage. P. Crouch crumbled under the weight of the job…

Peckerman (ARG) and Erikson (ENG) are the coaches that blew it big time considering the talent at their disposal….

@Scottyboy: England one of the best attacking sides in the tournament? Surely you jest?? Their fwd play has been amongst the most uninspiring and insipid of all!

What about Miguel(Por), Buffon (Ita), Cannavaro (Ita), Zé Roberto (Bra), Vieira (Fra), Zidane (Fra), Pirlo (Ita)?

Players that didn’t play at all: Pauleta (Por), Deco (Por), Sheveshenko (Ukr).

actually you guys are so stuped, beckham is always going to be one of thr best no matter what happens he just has the skills, even though he doesnt do alot of tricks but he really effects his team and believe me beckham is very important is one of the best.

safraz bulu ur a mut wat can u do ill bang u out watch afta skool u swore at my mom watch

u mom is da slag