Player of the Tournament

[pagey]

For me it is Cannavaro. He has been outstanding throughout the World Cup. A lot of the others above have had one or two poor matches and haven't shown the leadership that Cannavaro did even when the team were not playing well.

[therock67]

Agreed on Cannavaro. Interesting to look at the domestic leagues of those you've nominated:

Spain 4
Italy 4
France 1
Germany 2
England 0

[steamboatsam]

Cannavaro with an honourable mention to Klose

[bandage]

Agreed on Cannavaro too, honourable mention to Ayala who was also class in every game he played in and to Klose and Zambrotta. Definitely wouldn't give it to Zidane - think Gallas and Thuram have been the best French players. As Brady said last night it's been a good tournament for defenders more so than attackers.

Is football becoming too conservative and tactical? One up front, 5 midfielders, a 4-3-3 being a 4-5-1 in reality. Look at Portugal 1-0 down last night and so fooking cautious. Only put 2 up front for the last 15 minutes.

[ironbar1690]

fred west

[jimmyhillschin]

Is football becoming too conservative and tactical? One up front, 5 midfielders, a 4-3-3 being a 4-5-1 in reality. Look at Portugal 1-0 down last night and so fooking cautious. Only put 2 up front for the last 15 minutes.

At one stage they had no striker on the pitch.

Anyway Cannavaro has been the outstanding player. Best defender around.

[iamthelaw]

jimmyhillschin said:

At one stage they had no striker on the pitch.

I don't think Portugal have had a striker on the pitch since Eusebio retired.

And yes I know Pauleta has scored a truckload of goals for Portucal, but factor in quality of opposition (often poor), quality of service (probably excellent given their attacking midfielders) and the fact he's played about a thousand games and it's not as impressive.