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Monday, July 2, 2012

EURO 2012 Team of the Tournament

It may have been a slightly underwhelming knockout stage after an exciting round robin but there have been a few standouts in Poland & Ukraine.

Having watched pretty much all the games I can watch depending on where I am and what is being shown, here are my thoughts on the team of the tournament.

I've gone for 4-3-2-1 given most teams appear to have gone for this formation in this tournament.

Manuel Neuer (GK) - best goalkeeper in the world surely? Hasn't put a foot wrong in this tournament.

Philipp Lahm - Germany's captain is Mr Consistent whichever flank he's playing.

Matt Hummels - The one constant in the German central duo. Very consistent and not bad in the air too.

Sergio Ramos - Played at centre-back despite a full season for Real at right back but has filled the hole left by the influential Carles Puyol nicely.

Glen Johnson - a bit of a surprise pick but Johnson has been very good scurrying back and forth his flank. Great in attack and defense.

Andrea Pirlo - A bit of a Christopher Plummer style comeback, Pirlo is once again showing the form that got pundits rating him as the best midfielder in Europe. A very cheeky penalty against England was definitely a key moment in that shootout.

Andres Iniesta - Spain's best midfielder and most dangerous attacker. Has provided the energy in the team for the full 90 or 120 minutes.

Cesc Fabregas - Has shown his class whether he's playing as a striker or midfielder. Has sort of justified del Bosque's decision to leave out Torres and play a midfielder-laden forward line.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal is Ronaldo. Never has one team been dominated by one player. A surprise he didn't take the 4th penalty against Spain but has had a fine tournament nevertheless to justify his tag as Europe's most potent midfielder.

Jesus Navas - The Sevilla winger who shares his first name with our Lord Jesus Christ has saved Spain as a super sub with some quality passes and runs into the box. Surely a big club will pick him up this summer for a lot of money.

Mario Balotelli - The mercurial City striker has been outstanding in the last 3 games, creating scoring opportunities for his team and scoring key goals himself. This could be the tournament where he finally quiets the doubters.



1 comment:

  1. I'd have to agree with most of your picks here. The only change I'd make would be to drop Navas, simply because he just hasn't had enough game time. I'd put Ronaldo up front instead. In goal Casillas has to be No.1 and I would argue the best keeper in the world. The other change would be Fabio Coentrao for Glen Johnson in defence.

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