1. Igor Akinfeev: For CSKA Moscow, he has been excellent and has been tipped to be one of Europe’s top ‘keepers. Unfortunately for Russia, he has been extremely poor this World Cup, most notably in his performance against South Korea where he fumbled the ball into his own net in one of the most embarrassing moments of the tournament. If he wants to hold his spot as number one for Russia’s home World Cup he has to improve.
2. Diego Costa: 27 goals in 34 games in La Liga and a further 8 in the Champions League, at 25 he is undoubtedly a proven goalscorer. For Spain, however, it’s been an entirely different story. With Spain heavily reliant upon him for goals he failed to perform and was certainly one of the main reasons why Spain failed to deliver.
3. Pepe: His disciplinary record for Madrid speaks for itself; a mean streak which he’s allowed into his performances for the Portuguese team. Pepe’s red card, coinciding with the injury of Fabio Coentrão left Portugal defensively vulnerable. It was arguably one of the key reasons for their failure to qualify from the group and Pepe’s sending off seemed to be the catalyst for further failures.
4. Mario Balotelli: Of course he found a way to score against England, however apart from that goal, his performance was fairly underwhelming. He missed many important changes against Costa Rica and showed his more reckless side with a careless booking which would have meant he would miss the next game had Italy qualified. Balotelli is likely to have put off some major European clubs with his performance.
5. João Moutinho: Moutinho would have hoped to offer more of a creative flair in midfield. In the end he helped Portugal live up to their label of being a ‘one man team’ and left Ronaldo to try to guide Portugal through the group on his own.
6. Sergio Aguero: Messi has taken the headlines at this World Cup; Aguero has been left in his shadow so far and has lacked the goalscoring form he has shown for Manchester City. Perhaps the injury he had this year is still with him or he simply is struggling to fit into Argentina’s impressive attack. Regardless, he hasn’t performed to his usual standards.
7. Steven Gerrard: In what is likely to be his last World Cup he was quiet and didn’t come close to having the dream end to his captaincy. Gerrard, although perhaps somewhat accidentally, made a crucial error against Uruguay and for a player of his standard he will have certainly been disappointed by his performance. After the failure to win the league at Liverpool and a strenuous season, he will have been worn out both emotionally and physically. If he is to play in Euro 2016, Gerrard will hope to exit with a more convincing performance.
8. Iker Casillas: He has been part of Spain’s golden generation, but now has seen it come to an end in a style which was far from glamorous like the Spain of the past. Conceding 5 against Holland in the opening group game will have been humiliating for such an experienced keeper. Last season he saw his place taken by Diego Lopez in the Real Madrid side and the signs that his best days are behind him may be starting to show.
9. Fred: He simply hasn’t shown the quality needed to be part of a Brazil team trying to win a World Cup in their own country. At time positionally he seems to put very little effort in to provide goal-scoring opportunities. If Brazil are to go all the way in the tournament then Fred is going to have to provide more of an option for Brazil. So far, he’s stood out in nearly every game for being below par and will need to dramatically improve as the standard will inevitably raise against Germany.
10. Leighton Baines: An outstanding player for Everton, England fans had high hopes for him coming into the tournament, however in reality he did very little to live up to the high expectations. He summed up England’s World Cup with a poor defensive performance. Baines left many wondering if Hodgson made the right choice in leaving a more experienced Ashley Cole out of the squad.
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