Final slip costs Kahn first XI place
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Your support makes all the difference.Anyone predicting a team of the tournament would have imagined that it would be dominated by the usual suspects. Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Juan Sebastian Veron, Gabriel Batistuta, Luis Figo, Francesco Totti, Christian Vieri, David Beckham et al, were pencilled in. Think again.
All the above were rubbed out, most while the competition was still searching for meaning. Of other famous names most Brazilians made it, Michael Owen briefly threatened inclusion and Oliver Kahn was 23 minutes away from the first XI.
He still deserves a place in the squad but, harsh as it is, can the man whose mistake settled the final really justify a place in a team of the tournament?
The front three aside it was a difficult team to pick. There are several previously unknown names from Turkey and South Korea – though Hong Myung-Bo declared his class in the friendly with England. Rio Ferdinand is the one inclusion not to make the semi-finals, but he deserved to.
Making up the rest of the squad, are some familiar faces like Raul and more from the game's hinterland such as Landon Donovan and El Hadji Diouf. Having shown his ability with Lens and in the African Nations' Cup Diouf was not, perhaps, such a surprise but Junichi Inamoto, late of Arsenal reserves, was the biggest revelation of them all. Damien Duff, Anders Svensson, Kazuyuki Toda and Marc Wilmots would probably have forced inclusion if their teams had gone beyond the second round.
Guus Hiddink is the clear choice as coach holding off strong competition from Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil), Rudi Völler (Germany), Senol Gunes (Turkey), Bruno Metsu (Senegal) and Bruce Arena (US).
GLENN MOORE'S TEAM OF THE WORLD CUP
Starting XI (3-4-2-1)
Marcos Brazil
Linke Germany
Hong Myung-Bo South Korea
Ferdinand England
Cafu Brazil
Schnieder Germany
Yoo Sang-Chul South Korea
Hasan Sas Turkey
Ronaldinho Brazil
Rivaldo Brazil
Ronaldo Brazil
The rest of the squad: Rustu (Turkey), Kahn (Germany), Choi Sung-Yong (South Korea), Hierro (Spain), Roberto Carlos (Brazil), Fadiga (Senegal), Inamoto (Japan), Ballack (Germany), Basturk (Turkey), Donovan (United States), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal), Raul (Spain). Coach: Guus Hiddink (South Korea)
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