World Cup underrated/most improved 23-man squad

[Trumo]

All of these are guys that haven't been bigged up before the tournament, so can be classed as underrated, under-valued or just plain better than I thought they were. That's not to say we haven't heard of some of them before (Kuyt anyone?), but there are some players in the list who have caught the eye without exactly shining the way the likes of Sneijder, Schweinsteiger, Forlan or Villa have. What do you think?

 

Goalkeepers

Eduardo (Portugal)

Itumeleng Khune (South Africa)

Maarten Stekelenburg (Holland)

 

Right-backs

Mauricio Isla (Chile)

Maxi Pereira (Uruguay)

 

Central defenders

Arne Friedrich (Germany)

Diego Godin (Uruguay)

Joris Mathijsen (Holland)

Waldo Ponce (Chile)

 

Left-backs

Fabio Coentrao (Portugal)

Carlos Salcido (Mexico)

 

Midfielders

Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)

Michael Bradley (USA)

Lee Chung-Yong (South Korea)

Yasuhito Endo (Japan)

Sami Khedira (Germany)

Cristian Riveros (Paraguay)

 

Forwards

Lucas Barrios (Paraguay)

Keisuke Honda (Japan)

Dirk Kuyt (Holland)

Fabio Quagliarella (Italy)

Kalu Uche (Nigeria)

Robert Vittek (Slovakia)

[Il Fenomeno]

What about the Nigerian keeper?

[Red Banjo]

'Prince' is a cunt

 

And the young lad Muller for the Germans surely warrants a place? I was completely unaware of him before this world cup

[KinskiRage]

Alexis Sanchez for Chile. I'd never heard of him but he looks a player.

[Red Banjo]

Alexis Sanchez for Chile. I'd never heard of him but he looks a player.

 

 

Footy manager legend. I've made him world player of the year before

[Wor Horse]

I knew of Muller simply from Bayern's CL run last season.

 

Vittek's a good shout as well.

[Jokerman]

My squad would be similar:

 

Goalkeepers

Enyeama (Nigeria)

Khune (South Africa)

Villar (Paraguay)

 

Right-backs

Isla (Chile)

Pereira (Uruguay)

 

Central defenders

Alcarez (Paraguay)

Ponce (Chile)

Mathijsen (Netherlands)

Godin (Uruguay)

 

Left-backs

Coentrao (Portugal)

Morel (Paraguay)

 

Midfielders

Annan (Ghana)

Ozil (Germany)

Khedira (Germany)

Vidal (Chile)

Ayew (Ghana)

Chung-Yong (South Korea)

Endo (Japan)

 

Forwards

Gyan (Ghana)

Honda (Japan)

Bausejour (Chile)

Sanchez (Chile)

Vittek (Slovakia)

[Johnni]

No Forlan for Uruguay?. He's a pretty well known player in Europe but was never expected to be as good as he was or did i miss the hype before the WC?

[Trumo]

If I had to pick a first XI out of the 23-man squad I named earlier, it would be a 4-3-3 formation consisting of

 

Goalkeeper

Eduardo (Portugal)

 

Defenders

Mauricio Isla (Chile)

Arne Friedrich (Germany)

Diego Godin (Uruguay)

Carlos Salcido (Mexico)

 

Midfielders

Kevin-Prince Boateng (Ghana)

Michael Bradley (USA)

Cristian Riveros (Paraguay)

 

Forwards

Keisuke Honda (Japan)

Fabio Quagliarella (Italy)

Robert Vittek (Slovakia)

 

I left out Kuyt since we know what he can do, and I also made sure I didn't pick more than 1 player from any side.

[Liam]

Gyan is shit.

[Mbrownrigg]

No Forlan for Uruguay?. He's a pretty well known player in Europe but was never expected to be as good as he was or did i miss the hype before the WC?

 

Totally agree. Think he has improved every season since leaving united, but he's possibly been my Player of the tournament.

 

He does everything, free kicks, corners throw ins and never stops working.

 

And it almost seems like he doesnt quite believ he's there contributing to it all.

 

But most of all, his performances must be making Fergie kick himself or letting him go!

[James]

Manuel Neuer.

Diego Lugano.

Alex Sanchez.

Mesut Özil.

Keisuke Honda.

Javier Navarro.