Costa Rican in World Cup Dream Team

A COSTA RICAN and a Colombian are among the  11 players chosen by the football (soccer)pundits  as the “World Cup Dream Team.

Defence  player Giancarlo Gonzalez. of the Costa Rican giant killers was one of the performers of the tournament  says The Week as Costa Rica shocked the world. “A towering figure at the back who did more than any other Costa Rican player to ensure that the underdogs only conceded two goals in five games,” notes the Daily Mail

Among the attacking positions there is a player who featured in every single expert’s World Cup dream team – James Rodriguez. “A star is born,” says Michael Owen in the Daily Telegraph “The world did not know much about him before Brazil but after winning the golden boot he is a superstar now.”

The other positions chosen by The Week from the pundit listings were

Goalkeeper:

Manuel Neuer (Germany)

Defence:

Philipp Lahm, Mats Hummels (Germany),), Daley Blind (Netherlands)

Midfield:

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Arjen Robben (Netherlands)

Attack:

Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany)

No place for Neymar in attack. The Brazilian wonderkid hardly gets a sniff as the experts are almost unanimous in their choice of strikers. Henry. Messi may have been a controversial choice for the golden ball award but “to overlook him would be to take his brilliance for granted”, says The Times. He was not the player we are used to seeing at Barcelona but, as Goal.com notes, he carried his country through the group stages. “He is judged by higher standards than everyone else. You can’t leave him out because he is a genius,” says Michael Owen. ·