Fine, everyone did their bbest or bust XI.

Those are great and also a subjective matter. So for the record here is mine...

Casillas, Maicon, Puyol, Lugano, Coentrao; Schweinsteiger, Sneijder, Xavi, Müller; Villa, Forlán

We just all see the game from that perspective but this post was more aboutt he players that truly racked up some major points as well as a big payday or they were not considered by many as the top of the heap in South Africa but did deserve some mad props individually and in the overall function of their team in South Africa.

How can a goalkeeper that allows only one goal in the entire tournament. Eduardo, alongside Fabio Soentrao were the two biggest stars of a Portuguese side that disappointed in their overall performance in the World Cup. The Sporting Braga goalkeeper had a brilliant club season leading one of the teams that is not considered one of the Big Three to a spot in Europe after finishing in second place this past season.

Mauricio Victorino was a player that Oscar Washington Tabarez counted on in the back when some of his key pieces were out due to injury or suspension. The Universidad de Chile man was vital in keeping the battered Uruguayan back stable and the team did not lose that much when he played for the injured Diego Lugano against Ghana.

Antolin Alcaraz was a rock in the back for Gerardo Martino and he proved it time and time again throughout the World Cup. On top of that he was a threat in the air for the set piece-oriented Paraguayans.

Per Mertesacker, was instrumental in the middle for a rock solid German middle. Also give credit to players like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira for protecting him as well.

Egidio Arévalo Ríos not only earned a spot on the Toughest for English announcers XI but he was also one of the surprise call ups for Oscar Washington Tabárez. The Peñarol man did not take part in the qualifying phase, but his run of form with the reigning Uruguayan champs got him a spot in the final 23. Not only that, he virtually booted Sebastían Eguren from the starting lineup and earned himself a nice contract with Italian side Cagliari.

Mesut Özil was being talked about throughout the Bundesliga season as the player that had the most promise for Joachim Löw's team coming into South Africa. That is why if you speak to anyone who follows that league... they weren't surprised by his explosion onto the international scene.

Eduardo, Victorino, Alcaraz, Mertesacker, Fucile; Khedira, Arévalo Ríos, Özil, Honda; Asamoah Gyan, Vittek

Simply Futbol's World Cup Underrated XI

The excitement is building as we get a week away and the anticipation of the 1st African World Cup is building, its going to be great. We finish Group F with Slovakia.

OFFICIAL NAME: Slovenský Futbalový Zväz



NICKNAME: Bojovni Jondovci (The Fighting Jondas)

FIFA CONFEDERATION: UEFA (Europe)

FIFA CODE: SVK

HOW THEY QUALIFIED: 1st place in Group 3 of UEFA Qualifying

WORLD CUP APPEARANCES (INCLUDING 2010): 8 as Czechoslovakia, 1st as Slovakia

BEST WC FINISH: Runners-up in Italy 1934 & Chile 1962 (Both as Czechoslovakia)

WORLD CUP RECORD (MP: Wins - Draws - Losses): 30: 11W - 5D - 14L (As Czechoslovkia)

HEAD COACH: Vladimír Weiss

MOST CAPPED PLAYER (# of caps): Miroslav Karhan (96)

ALL-TIME GOAL SCORING LEADER (# of goals): Szilárd Németh (22)

BRIEF FOOTBALLING HISTORY:
Slovaks participated in international football as part of Czechoslovakia for 50 years until Slovakia gained its independence in 1993. As part of the Czechoslovakia team, Slovaks contributed to 2 World Cup final match appearances. Losing to Italy in the 1934 final and Garrincha & Pele's Brazil in the 1962 final.

Slovakia's national side played its first game as an independent nation in 1994 and 16 years later qualified for its first World Cup. Slovakia exacted a bit of political and football revenge by eliminating the Czech Republic who were in the same qualifying group.

PLAYER TO WATCH:
Slovakia's player to watch has an excellent professional reputation in Italy and could be on his way to a big club, he is Marek Hamšík.
(Marek-Hamsik.com)
The 22-year old Napoli star has already earned his nation's captaincy and is the key to Slovakia's attack. Hamšík is in a position to play his way to a bigger club if he plays well and can lead Slovakia out of the group stage. Hamšík will be the focus of opposition defenses so his playmaking abilities will have to be sharp for Slovakia to advance.

OUTLOOK:
Slovakia can take a page from Ghana in 2006 in that their 1st WC appearance they can advance out of the group stage. Slovakia is not to be taken lightly and tactically Slovakia can give fits to both Italy and Paraguay.

FINAL 23-MAN WC ROSTER:
Goalkeepers: Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw, Poland), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui, Romania), Dusan Pernis (Dundee United, Scotland)

Defenders: Marek Cech (West Brom, England), Jan Durica (Hannover, Germany), Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg, Germany), Martin Petras (Cesena, Italy), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool, England), Radoslav Zabavnik (Mainz, Germany)

Midfielders: Marek Hamsik (Napoli, Italy), Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Jan Kozak (Politehnica Timisoara, Romania), Juraj Kucka (Sparta Prague, Czech Republic), Marek Sapara (Ankaragucu, Turkey), Zdeno Strba (Xanthi, Greece), Miroslav Stoch (Chelsea, England), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City)

Forwards: Filip Holosko (Besiktas, Turkey), Martin Jakubko (Saturn Moscow, Russia), Erik Jendrisek (Schalke, Germany), Stanislav Sestak (Bochum, Germany), Robert Vittek (Lille, France).

WC GROUP SCHEDULE:
June 15 vs. New Zealand
June 20 vs. Paraguay
June 24 vs. Italy

Up next are the teams from Group G, the so-called "The Group of Death"

Slovakia - WC Team Breakdown

Simply Futbol is glad to have joined up with our boy George Tsitsonis at One Game, One World to help fans further get a grasp of the game from an overall perspective.

We will have some excerpts from his articles on our page as well as guest posts by George. You will truly like his work. Our first piece will previewing the Slovakian national team for the upcoming World Cup.
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THE SKINNY

For so long in the shadow of their former countrymen, Slovakia finally exorcized some football demons by beating out the Czech Republic in Europe’s Group 1 to qualify for the World Cup.

In fact, the group was quite tricky considering it was full of other quality sides such as Slovenia and Poland. Slovakia however went about their business and despite a slip-up here and there against Slovenia mainly, qualification to South Africa finally came against Poland on the final matchday.

This will be the country’s first ever international tournament since becoming an independent nation and while the pressure might be on, this is a talented side who have the makings of a classic tournament sleeper. In Group F with Italy, Paraguay, and New Zealand, the team have the ability to challenge for a place in the Round of 16.

TALE OF THE TAPE

FIFA Ranking: 38

World Cup Appearances: 0

World Cup Record (W-D-L): 0-0-0

Best World Cup Finish: N/A

Road To South Africa: Qualified as 1^st-placed team in Europe’s Group 3

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE

World Cup Preview: Slovakia

Paraguay officially began their World Cup preparations as Gerardo Martino gave out his preliminary list of players and as expected Lucas Barrios was on the list.  The former Colo Colo man is happy to have been called up weeks after he did his paperwork for Paraguayan citizenship. 

He will fill in for America star Salvador Cabañas who was shot in a club in Mexico City back in January. 

The Argentine-born Barrios is yet another nationalized player to join the Albirroja much to the controversy in Paraguay. He is the third nationalized player alongside Jonathan Santana and Néstor Ortigoza who plays for Lanús. Barrios will form part of a formidable group of forwards led by Borussia Dortmund teammate Nelson Haedo Valdez, Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz, and Benfica's Oscar Cardozo.

Overall the majority of the team comes from Germany, Argentina, and Mexico.   Martino did count with four domestic players that came from the two top teams in the Paraguayan league- Cerro Porteño and Libertad. 

The biggest shock was the inclusion of 36-year-old Denis Caniza to the list. Caniza could make it to his fourth consecutive World Cup. The former Cruz Azul, Olimpia, and Nacional man is currently also playing in the Mexican Primera A with León.

Coach Gerardo Martino will give out the final 23-man roster on June 1st. Paraguay will participate in Group F alongside Italy, Slovakia, and New Zealand.

Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Valladolid-ESP), Aldo Bobadilla (Deportivo Independiente Medellín-COL), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteño)

Defenders: Denis Caniza (León- MEX), Darío Verón (Pumas-MEX), Julio Cáceres, Antolín Alcaraz (Brugge-BEL), Paulo Da Silva (Sunderland-ENG), Claudio Morel Rodríguez (Boca Juniors-ARG), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo-ARG), Julio Manzur (Racing Club-ARG), Marcos Caceres (Cerro Porteño).

Midfielders: Enrique Vera (LDUQ-ECU), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul-MEX), Edgar Barreto (Atalanta-ITA), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg- GER), Néstor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors-ARG), Víctor Cáceres (Libertad), Eduardo Ledesma (Lanús-ARG), Marcelo Estigarribia (Newell's Old Boys- ARG), Sergio Aquino (Libertad).

Forwards: Osvaldo Martínez (Monterrey- MEX), Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City-ENG), Nelson Haedo Valdez(Borussia Dortmund- GER), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund- GER), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica-POR), Edgar Benítez (Pachuca- MEX), Jorge Achucarro (Newell's Old Boys- ARG), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad).

Related Articles

• FIFA.com: Santa Cruz: We will be hard to beat
  
• USA Today: Slovak defender Skrtel recovers from broken foot
  
• Yahoo UK: Barrios included in 30-man roster
  

Martino divulges Paraguay list

Italy coach Marcello Lippi named his 29-man roster prior to the World Cup.

He did exclude players from both Inter and AS Roma as they will be playing in the final of the Coppa Italia. These two sides are also battling for the Scudetto as well. Inter meantime are looking to become the first Italian side to win the treble. So players like Daniele De Rossi and Luca Toni. This also gives Inter's mercurial striker Mario Balotelli a chance to still be part of the squad.

Lippi will have to decide which six players he will have to leave out prior to his trip to South Africa. Based on the initial list, the big shock could be the exclusion of Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi.  The native of Tea Neck, New Jersey was a constant call for the Azzurri during World Cup qualifying and was the team's leading scorer in last year's Confederations Cup.  But his current campaign with the Yellow Submarine

Another player that will not get the callup from Lippi will be Juventus striker Amauri. The Brazilian-born poacher was being speculated to go with the Italians after well over two seasons of speculation over which colors he would be defending come South Africa. In the end he will be left out by both Italy and Brazil.

Other that were left out of the mix were Palermo's Fabrizio Miccoli as well as Sampdoria's Antonio Cassano.

Italy begin the defense of their title on as they face Paraguay on June 14th. They will then play Slovakia and finish off group play against Oceania champs New Zealand.


Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti and Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Grosso and Nicola Legrottaglie (all Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro German Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva and Claudio Marchisio (all Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese)

Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

Lippi announces Italy pre-World Cup roster