By Cathal Dervan

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy). He may have the worries of Juventus and their match fixing scandal at the back of his mind, but Buffon has been the star performer in terms of goalkeepers at this World Cup. Brilliant in the last 16 game with Australia and the semi-final against Germany and solid in the decider.

Honorable mentions: Petr Cech, Artur Boruc.

Right back: Willy Sagnol (France). The French star came into the tournament with no great expectations, but he was the best right back of this World Cup as he proved against the Spanish and the Brazilians.

Honorable mentions: Fabricio Coloccini, Gianluca Zambrotta.

Center back: Fabio Cannavaro (Italy). Absolutely peerless as a center-back and as a captain at this World Cup, what the Juve man lacks in height he makes up for in sheer heart, power and determination. What price a move to the Premiership if Juventus go down?

Honorable mentions: Ricardo Carvalho, Roberto Ayala.

Center back: Lilian Thuram (France). The Frenchman had to be persuaded to come out of retirement halfway through France’s stuttering qualification series, but proved why he is central to Raymond Domenech’s plans with a stunning semifinal against Portugal. Faultless in the final.

Honorable mentions: Rafael Marquez, Puyol.

Left back: Fabio Grosso (Italy). Amazingly Grosso didn’t make the Euro 2004 squad, but the Palermo defender proved his worth at this competition in spades and scored a quite spectacular goal against host nation Germany in the semi to boot and then kept his cool to score the deciding penalty in the final shoot-out.

Honorable mentions: Philippe Lahm, Ashley Cole.

Midfield: Franck Ribery (France). Didn’t do much in the semifinal win over an inept Portugal, but Ribery deserves to be lauded for the way he played against Spain and then Brazil in the earlier games as his pace and control caused mayhem. Finally ran out of steam in the decider.

Honorable mentions: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Rosicky, Pirlo.

Midfield: Michael Ballack (Germany). Chelsea fans are in for a treat and Frank Lampard has some worrying to do if the World Cup is an appetizer for the prospect of a Ballack-Essien partnership next season after Ballack proved beyond doubt why Mourinho rates him so highly.

Honorable mentions: Patrick Vieira, Torsten Frings, Michael Essien.

Midfield: Juan Riquelme (Argentina). Every team needs a player capable of providing the killer ball and Argentina were at their best when Riquelme was on form, which begs the question as to why Pekerman hauled him off against Germany. Would be brilliant with Zidane just in front of him.

Honorable mentions: Maniche, Marco Bresciano, Didier Zokora.

Forward: Zinedine Zidane (France). Okay, so he got sent off in the final, but he was provoked even if the head-butt was unforgivable in his final game of football. Before that, though, the FIFA player of the tournament lived up to his billing and silenced all the doubters when it really mattered with faultless performances against Brazil and Portugal that may allow us to ignore the fact that this is a role model who smokes and butts people!

Honorable mentions: Arjen Robben, Lionel Messi.

Striker: Ronaldo (Brazil). Okay, so most of you out there in television land wouldn’t have the overweight and over-rated Brazilian in their team of the tournament, but he did break Gerd Muller’s World Cup scoring record against Ghana in a bad Brazil side. Imagine what he could still do with the best players around him!

Honorable mentions: Cyan Asamoah, Carlos Tevez.

Striker: Miroslav Klose (Germany). He scored in the opening game against Costa Rica and kept it going nearly all the way to the semifinal, a remarkable achievement for a deceptive player whose goal ration way outstrips his talent. Klose caused Ireland problems in the past and may do so again in September.

Honorable mentions: Hernan Crespo, Lukas Podolski.

Manager: Marcello Lippi (Italy). We have rarely seen an Italian manager so positive as Lippi at a World Cup finals, with the proof coming when all three subs in the semifinal extra-time win over Germany were attack minded. A tactical genius who had to wait until the penalty shoot-out before his team finally won the trophy he deserved.

Honorable mentions: Jurgen Klinsmann, Guus Hiddink.