Group Stage is Over

All group stage games have been completed and there have been a few surprises (Italy going out and how poor England have been). Without further to do, let's get on with the awards!!

Best Goalkeeper: Raïs M'Bolhi - Did very well to keep USA to one goal though this could quite easily have gone to Mark Paston (New Zealand).

Best Defender: Arthur Boka - Great going forward for Ivory Coast as well as solid at the back. Worked very hard down the left. I know he was only playing North Korea but you have to give him credit for a fantastic performance.

Best Midfielder: Keisuke Honda - He gave a fantastic performance drawing 7 fouls during the game and capping the performance off with the all important first goal of the game.

Best Striker: Róbert Vittek - Scored 2 goals against Italy in a fine display for the Slovak. More performances like this could ensure a move to a good club as it seems his career at Lille is over.

Best Match: Slovakia 3 - 2 Italy - This was a game full of goals which was difficult to call. Both teams could have won it though I wouldn't have said either team played particularly well. I was very tempted to pick the Japan Denmark game but decided that this was a more open game where as Japan dominated their game.

Worst Match: Slovenia 0 - 1 England - This wasn't unbearable to watch but there wasn't an obvious game to choose. This round of games was perhaps the best to watch so far in the tournament.

Surprise Player: Róbert Vittek - He made Georgio Chillieni look like a very average defender at times and tore apart an Italy defence which was made up of some very experienced players. I had never seen Vittek play before this tournament and I have to say that he looks like a good goal poacher.

Best Manager: Takeshi Okada - The Japanese manager set out his team perfectly. Rommedahl, who had been one of the players of the tournaments before this match, was met perfectly by multiple defenders and aggression. This was one of the performances of the tournament so far, perhaps only overshadowed by Germany against Australia in their opening match.

Team of the 'Round':

------------------- M'Bolhi --------------------

Lahm----Pique----------- Nakazawa ---- Boka

Iniesta---Inler-------------Matsui---------Özil

-------------------Honda-------------------------

--------------------Vittek----------------------

Predictions

Golden Boot: David Villa (Unchanged) - Villa has been on fire this tournament and has been racking up the goals. I can't see anyone catching him up at this stage but one hat-trick can change the race for the most goals at any point.

Player of the Tournament: Özil (previously Maicon) - Özil and Schweinsteiger have been the two most consistent players but Özil has more flair and creativity than Schweinsteiger meaning that he would be a more preferable choice as Player of the Tournament.

Winners: Spain (previously Brazil) - I think it is between Spain and Germany to win the tournament. Spain have the best players of any national team that I have ever seen but Germany seem to have a fantastic team spirit and great balance to their team.

Surprise Team: Japan (previously Mexico) - Japan produced a display of the highest quality and if they can do that against Paraguay there should be no reason why they shouldn't easily dispose of Paraguay. However if they don't perform like they did against Cameroon, it could be a difficult day for them. Other dark horses include Ghana and Uruguay.

Overperformers: Slovakia (Previously Denmark) - I was surprised that Denmark were knocked out but I was even more surprised by Slovakia qualifying ahead of Italy. They are clearly the weakest team left in the competition but performed well against Italy and hopefully they shouldn't embarrass themselves against Netherlands.

Underperformers: France (previously Cameroon) - I thought that there would be a chance that they would pull themselves together and qualify but coming last in their qualifying group is just embarrassing. To lose to South Africa is unacceptable and the managers and players alike should be ashamed of their performances at this tournament.