Truly commanded his area looked almost unbeatable at times you felt that once an attacker had gone past the German defence he would have to do even better to get past this determined keeper. There were many other great goalkeeping displays in this tournament but Neuer towered over everyone; a truly memorable display by a new great goalkeeper.
The Man City full back was consistently solid for his country he put a little more metal in Argentina’s iron defense. Lahm would have made this position his own if he had played there earlier in the competition rather than the sitting role, his contributions in the semi final and final almost made me put him there, but Zabaleta just edges him out.
Was a superb outlet for his team and provided memorable assists for Van Persie against Spain. It was only fitting that he got a goal from the tournament in the 3rd placed play-off
It took me a while to figure out who would partner Hummels at centre back, Garay, Medel or Vlaar.(I chose Vlaar) But that just demonstrated how dominant Hummels was at the heart of the German defence. Going forward at set-pieces he was also a threat. He won the Germans the game against the French with a match winning display. He has surely cemented himself as one of the finest centre backs of today.
Uncompromising and solid in a tackle, he was also a leader in the Netherlands back line who were not backed to do much at the start of this competition but with his displays in this world cup has only seen the Aston Villa mans stock rise.
The most important player for a defense minded argentinan team his intellgience and reading of the game were unparraelled in this tournament. This was exemplified in the semi final match up against Netherlands where he kept an in-form Arjen Robben under wraps.
It could have easily been Schweinsteiger but his display against a hapless Brazil side in semi final nudge him just ahead of his compatriot with the best midfield display of the tournament where his precision absolutely put the Brazilians to the sword.
Unlucky in my view not to win the Golden Ball, losing out to Lionel Messi, (controversially in my view) but he was a true talismanic figure for a young dutch team with his mercurial dribbling age defying pace; he seems to be getting faster with age!
This may be seen as a controversial decision but I have put Neymar ahead of Messi in my team of the tournament. Messi produced the goods when his side needed him in the group stage but he just didnt seem the same player from a season or two ago who simply could not be tackled fairly. In my opinion Neymar really showed the world what he is capable of he took the weight of an entire footballing nation onto his shoulders and nearly provided a miracle. However his team mates were simply not up to scratch and this definitely showed in the semi-final in Neymar’s absence as the Brazilians were truly humbled by the eventual winners Germany.
At the 2014 World Cup a star arose. If you did not know about James Rodriguez before Rio now your certainly do. He was at the centre of everything for an exhilarating Colombian team who captured the hearts of all footballing neutrals with their Joga Bonito football. His goal against Uruguay was arguably the goal of the tournament.
Muller is not a traditional number 9 like Benzema or Van Persie (who both had good world cups) but they have been overshadowed at this World Cup, instead goals are coming from more deep lying players such as James Rodriguez, Neymar and Messi. One of Muller’s great strengths is his intelligence in the final third, he gets in the right positions at the right times and yet again he has showcased his ability at grandest stage of them all.
Manager — Louis Van Gaal (NET)
Who could ever forget that decision of replacing Cillissen who played 120 mins for Tim Krul; It proved in the end to be a masterstroke and provided a tactical masterclass against Spain in the opener.
Keylor Navas (CRC), Lionel Messi (ARG), Gary Medel (CHI), Phillpe Lahm (GER) Ricardo Rodriguez (SWI) Sami Khedira (GER) Sebastien Schweinsteiger (GER) Juan Cuadrado (COL) Alexis Sanchez (CHI) Karim Benzema (FRA) Tim Howard (USA) Robin Van Persie (NET)
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