World Cup 2010 - Best XI: Red hot Chile

Eurosport - Thu, 17 Jun 07:47:00 2010

Find out who produced the best performance in the opening set of games at the World Cup in our team of the round.

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We combine the expert rating assigned on the matchcast and the user rating at 0800 GMT the following day to formulate the team and here's our line-up.

So four men from Chile, including both marauding full-backs, after an attacking display against Honduras.

Mauricio Isla and Arturo Vidal beat out the likes of Doo-Ri Cha (South Korea), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Nadir Belhadj (Algeria) and Gabriel Heinze (Argentina) for the defensive slots.

Stephane Grichting, who anchored the Swiss defence in their shock victory over Spain, is in defence in a side coach by the mastermind of that upset, Ottmar Hitzfeld.

He is joined by Jung-Soo Lee - one of two men from South Korea in the XI - who completes the back four.

They are ahead of Vincent Enyeama of Nigeria who is in goal after his one-man show to deny Argentina and Lionel Messi, who of course is included, a cricket score.

Mesut Ozil pulled the strings in the Germany midfield while Ji-Sung Park is the other man from South Korea in the XI.

Siphiwe Tshabalala represents the home nation after his wonder strike in the opening game but it is hard to see any South African making the team when the Best XI of the second round of games is unveiled on Tuesday morning.

The third man from Chile is Matías Fernández who completes the midfield quartet, beating the likes of Chung-Yong Lee (South Korea), Ji Yun Nam (North Korea), Andre Ayew (Ghana), Vladimir Weiss (Slovakia), Steven Gerrard (England) and Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) to a berth.

Messi's partner in attack is Chile forward Alexis Sanchez.

The Udinese livewire taking his place ahead of Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Tae Se Jong (North Korea), Thomas Müller (Germany) and Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico).

Goalkeeper

GK: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria)

Defenders

RB: Mauricio Isla (Chile)

CB: Stéphane Grichting (Switzerland)

CB: Jung-Soo Lee (South Korea)

LB: Arturo Vidal (Chile)

Midfielders

LM: Ji-Sung Park (South Korea)

CM: Mesut Ozil (Germany)

CM: Matías Fernández (Chile)

RM: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa)

Forwards

FW: Alexis Sanchez (Chile)

FW: Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Coach: Ottmar Hitzfeld (Switzerland)

Eurosport

Comment 13 - 32 of 32

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  1. what about a crapness­ team?

    domenech

    green
    carragher
    milner
    govou
    demicheli­ s
    sergio ramos
    Italy
    Australia
    ITV HD
    vuve, vuze ..the­ big #u'king horns!
    uruguay (for being spoil sport­ @#stards)
    the 40 oranje blondes (pure evil, lock them­ up
    the @#$% adidas football
    Dunga
    C.­ Ronaldo
    Greece
    Cameroon

    From Niall, on Fri 18 Jun 4:20
  2. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
    Where are Podolski,­ Muller and Lahm?

    From der.spargelstecher, on Fri 18 Jun 4:18
  3. Steve Cherundolo of the USA should be at right back. ­ His performance was amazing.

    From CarlB, on Fri 18 Jun 3:29
  4. What ?
    No Dutch and only one German in this­ selection?
    No way, no how, no sense.

    Podolski,­ Mueller, Lahm, Schweisteiger, Khedira and Badstuber all­ performed much better then the players in their­ respective position give above.
    this can also be said­ for 3 or 4 dutch players.

    Also, the Swiss Goalie by­ far was the best so far.
    Schwarzer of Australia had the­ most safes. If not for him, Germany would have scored 7­ or 8 Goals.
    I agree that he also made mistakes, but he­ is the goalie with most ball contacts by­ far.

    NOTE:
    eurosport only did a voting on this team on­ the english and spanish site.
    No wonder, Chile is­ overrated and Germany and the Netherlands are much­ underrated.

    Risiculous team that would be swept by the­ USA.

    From Ingo, on Fri 18 Jun 2:48
  5. u p'ple are ryt but no body should worry about­­ spain loss, b'cos they re still the favourite. i­­ repeat spain or agentina.

    From Glory, on Fri 18 Jun 1:57
  6. u p'ple are ryt but no body should worry about­­ spain loss, b'cos they re still the favourite. i­­ repeat spain or agentina.

    From Glory, on Fri 18 Jun 1:57
  7. messi world greatest player. superb display. i love it

    From Glory, on Fri 18 Jun 1:55
  8. u p'ple are ryt but no body should worry about­ spain loss, b'cos they still the favourite. i­ repeat spain or agentina.

    From Glory, on Fri 18 Jun 1:54
  9. ...only one German in it? You suffer from Vuvuzeela­ fever?

    From Albert, on Fri 18 Jun 1:17
  10. i thik robinho has been the best player so far with­ lahm, how they dont make the team i dont know, although­ chile's defenders played well they were hardly up­ against the best opposition in the world, in total only­ 9 of the 23 players in honduras squad play outside the­ honduras league, with two of them in the chinese league

    From NaS, on Fri 18 Jun 1:07
  11. Müller or Podolski miss! Both made a goal an assist and­ a lot of dangerous passes.= much better than Tchabala­ or Park!
    Messi? was good but not good enough to score!

    From Asdasdasd Sdsdsds, on Fri 18 Jun 0:52
  12. BUNCH OF BULL------@#$%

    From Aresco, on Fri 18 Jun 0:38
  13. this is @#$%.
    phh... what is that messi guy doing here?­ he didnt do anything... just because he got a goldne­ ball?? according to that he should be in this s.hit­ team....
    maaan, this is bulls.hit

    From Dave, on Fri 18 Jun 0:37
  14. germany had the best scoreline. but chile gave us a­ reason why to watch the boring worldcup. go chile!

    From john t, on Fri 18 Jun 0:30
  15. Where are the Dutch? Didn't they win against­ Denmark?

    Where are the blue samurai? Didn't they­ win against Cameroon?

    How about Benaglio from­ Switzerland? Didn't he save some crucial Spanish­ strikes?

    How about Gyan from Ghana? He played better­ than Messi and at least he scored against­ Serbia?

    Unfortunately from the ones chosen I would­ take only 3 - Grichting, Ozil and Park. For the other­ positions there were at least 20 other players that­ performed better than the ones given here.

    So here is­ my team of week 1

    Goalkeeper - Diego Benaglio­ (Switzerland)

    Defence (right to left)

    Lahm (Germany),­ Grichting (Switzerland), Heinze (Argentina)

    Midfield­ (right to left)

    Elano (Brazil), Honda (Japan), Ozil­ (Germany), Park (South Korea)

    Attack (right to­ left)

    Kuyt (Holland), Gyan (Ghana) and Podolski­ (Germany)

    From Trifun, on Fri 18 Jun 0:19
  16. ENYEAMA... Arsenal needs him

    From steph, on Fri 18 Jun 0:05
  17. Elia did a great job but he was a subsitute so probably­ that doesnt count here. My personal opininon or the two­ players who impressed me where the combination Sanchez­ and Isla! The most dominanat side was definately­ Germany

    From Delyan, on Fri 18 Jun 0:02
  18. Where is Lahm of Germany, and Elia of Netherlands,­ I'd replace Isla and Park by these two they were­ amazing especially Elia!

    From Barca10, on Thu 17 Jun 23:55
  19. where the heck is Lahm? He was incredible. And how come­ this laughable 11 include 3 Chileans - who­ "stormed" to a 1-0 win courtesy of a­ deflection - and only 1 German?

    From blythesimon, on Thu 17 Jun 23:42
  20. enyeama is too good to be in spain or england, great

    From diplomat, on Thu 17 Jun 23:26
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