Kicker's Team of the QFs

[Haddock]

Pickford looks like he should be saying "Look after your car for a quid, Mister" outside the stadium.

Or working in the NAAFI on a base in Helmand Province. My mate, though, had him as hanging around the slots in the amusement arcades on Piccadilly Circus, as was.

[anton pulisov]

Wouldn't have Vida in there. Needless yellow card for the shirtless celebration.

[ursus arctos]

Which was wiped clean at the final whistle . . .

[Patrick Thistle]

Scarily pasty chest as well. Mrs Thistle reckons if it came out he was a neoNazi she wouldn't be surprised. (The irony of the prejudice in the statement "He looks like a neoNazi" isn't lost on me.)

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I don't get that, particularly in a neutral(ish) country. Pickford's saves against Sweden were obviously entirely competently done but none struck me as massively outstanding. Rather they were ones you would expect an International class 'keeper to make. The praise of him in the UK press and TV had a slightly hysterical feel.

yeah, this. He had a job to do, and he did it. You can't really ask for much more, but if he had let any of those shots in people would not have been impressed.

I'm not sure why you'd go for hazard over lukaku, for one of the two forward slots. I thought he was a bit better.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Yes, Hazard over Lukaku with a nose.
Griezman is the one I didn't get. He's been rather invisible the entire tournament. Until you remember that this is the best from the QF only and he had one goal, one assist in that game.
Lindelöf has been one of the best. Better than Granqvist if you look at overall defending and how important he's been Sweden only allowed 2 goals before the game against England while only winning possession in one game (Korea) as far as I know. But this is about the QF and none of the Swedes very very good in that game so why he's in, is strange.
I though Kompany was brilliant in the QF against Brazil and if I was to pick best XI from the QF only, he would be in my line up.

[G-Man]

As I've said, kicker is going by the player ratings they've awarded. Based on German school report cards, these range from 1 (akin to 10/ 10) to 6 (akin to 1/10), with fractions in between. At school, a 5 and 6 is a fail.

Lukaku and Hazard both scored 2,5 -- so there wasn't much to separate them. De Bruyne got a 2. Strangely, Coutinho also got a 2,5 rating.

The central defenders scored as follows:

Varane 2
Umtiti 3,5
Gimenez 3
Godin 3
Alderweireld 2,5
Kompany 4 (very harsh)
Vertonghen 4,5
Thiago Silva 3,5
Miranda 3,5
Stones 2,5
Maguire 2
Lindelöf 2
Granqvist 2,5
Augustinsson 3
Kutepov 4
Ignashevich 3,5
Lovren 3
Vida 2,5