-------------------Stekelenburg-------------------
Maicon------Lucio----Puyol----Van Bronckhorst
-------Schweinsteiger-----Schneijder-----------
---------------------Iniesta------------------------
Robben-------------Forlán-------------------Villa
Casillas was a bit overhyped. He made a lot of errors in earlier matches, but they went unpunished and all is seemingly forgotten. Nevertheless he was good in the final, and his reactions to lifting the trophy and winning the game were priceless. Stekelenburg gets my vote because I thought he was pretty consistent. He made an extra great save or two in the final, compared to Casillas, but sadly for him he wasn't on the better team.
In a few games, Maicon was Brazil's main attacking threat. That says it all really. Lucio, as much as I hate his theatrics, was immense and Puyol is my hero. Van Bronckhorst was a true captain, and gave us the goal of the tournament.
Schweinsteiger petered out, but was instrumental in some big wins for the Germans. Class act. Schneijder kept the dutch ticking, and got 5 goals from midfield (however contentious). Iniesta was not as good as some pundits seem to be making out. In fact he missed the first game or so, and took a while to get into his stride. However if not for him the trophy might well be in the Netherlands right now, and that's reason enough.
My manlove for Forlán is already documented in another thread, so I won't say any more! Villa petered out too, but he really dragged the Spanish through the opening rounds, and he was just humiliating teams from the left. Robben, thank God, did get his chance to shine this year -- and shine he did. As much as he would have liked to? No, but nevertheless watching him carve open scared, and seemingly surprised, defenses (did you not know he likes his left foot??) was a joy.
Got to give some mentions to pretty much all of the German team too. Really impressive stuff.
All in all, people can moan about how the biggest players didn't turn up, but I say to them they did. Because the biggest players are the ones that turn up, not the ones with the biggest paycheques. Mueller, Forlán, Robben, Villa, Maicon and even Tshabalala all made a mark, and I'll remember this tournament fondly for a good while.
