UEFA's Best Players of the Tournament
UEFA's listed their picks for players of the tournament. As usual, there are some head-scratching omissions and inclusions.
Here's the full list.
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).
Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).
Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Turkey), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).
Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).
Of the inclusions in this list, I don't think Pepe, Modric, Ballack, Iniesta, and Podolski should be there. Pepe didn't show that he had a Scooby when asked to defend, Modric was very weak in the midfield, Ballack didn't carry his team like so many other German captains have in a pinch, Iniesta was not nearly as effective as he is in the Barca system, and Podolski looked good in precisely one match, against the Poles.
I wonder why Raszdan Rat and Daniel Goian for the Romanians weren't considered. I wouldn't suggest any of the Romanians for their attacking qualities but they didn't ship many goals at all. In the midfield, there's not one Turk, despite the constant running of Tuncay, Turan, Balta. They're aced out up front too, despite how well Nihat played and how many times "Lifeguard" Semturk came through in the clutch.
How is it that the classy David Silva got overlooked? Didn't he have a ton of assists and chip in with a goal to boot?
So who would make up your players of the tournament?
Labels: Euro 2008
posted by gooner71 @ 2:33 PM
3 Comments:
I don't really have any issues with the players listed by UEFA but I'm certainly on board with you in terms of the omissions.
Often UEFA and FIFA go for the obvious choices - big name players playing for big teams. You can see that especially with the keepers. Sure, Buffon made a spectacular penalty save against Mutu. But generally speaking, these three were competent keepers playing behind strong teams. I'd save my powder for more incredible performances by Poland's keeper Borucs and Romania's keeper Lobont who kept their teams in games when under siege.
It's always more fun to be mean, so here's my Worst XI:
1. Petr Cech - Czech Republic
2. Marcell Jansen - Germany
3. Philippe Senderos - Switzerland
4. Emanuel Pogatetz - Austria
5. Ludovic Magnin - Switzerland
6. Jeremy Toulanlan - France
7. Tranquillo Barnetta - Switzerland
8. Florent Malouda - France
9. Martin Harnek - Austria
10. Milan Baros - Czech Republic
11. Mario Gomez - Germany
Manager - Otto Rehhagel (Greece)
Cech did not have a good tournament. But really? He was worse than Nikopolidis? Georgios Clooneyopolos was much worse.
And Sendaros was good in the second and third game. I'd say that the Swedish guy was much worse, and there must be another Austrian defender who was too. And Abidal of France was stunningly awful.
I don't expect anything great from Barnetta and he was just sorta mediocre. So I'd offer up Amanatidis from Greece who was just as shockingly poor as Martin Harnik who you rightly include.
And either Niculae for Romania are good for preserving the paint on Transylvanian barn-doors too.
Luca Toni was woeful and I'm surprised he didn't make your list.
But you hit the nail squarely on the head when you named and shamed Mario Gomez. Worst. Euro. Player. EVER.
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