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SWC team after Round Two

Cape Town - The SWC is in full swing and after tonight, four teams will be heading for the airport. Here is the team of tournament, so far.

Sport24's, Wade Pretorius, has been hard at work, analysing the best players, weeding out the under-performers and casting aside any English or Spanish players in order to decide on the SWC team of the tournament, so far.

SWC Team of the Tournament, so far XI:

Coach: Marc Wilmots (Belgium)

Formation: 4-2-3-1

1. GUILLERMO OCHOA - MEXICO

Ochoa had a stellar performance against Brazil where he produced a number of stunning saves from the likes of Neymar, Hulk, Fred and Thiago Silva. He goal line is yet to be breached which stands Mexico in good stead for their "qualification final" against Croatia tonight.

Ochoa had the pundits and fans in awe after his man of the match performance against Brazil. He was thrust into the World's spot light and was even compared to England great Gordan Banks.



2. MATHIEU DEBUCHY - FRANCE

France have started off like a house on fire at this tournament. For a change this is a good thing for Les Blues. The days of squad in-fighting are gone have been replaced with fluidity and teamwork. And goals. Plenty of goals. Newcastle United's Debuchy has been pivotal to the success of France so far, his defensive work has been good and his work rate getting forward has been impressive.



3. DALEY BLIND - NETHERLANDS

With Patrice Evra on his last legs at Manchester and Louis Van Gaal the new manager in charge, Blind has been and will continue to be linked with the Red Devils. His price tag might go through the roof if he continues with his SWC form.

Blind played in that cross for Van Persie against Spain. The rest is history. 



4HECTOR MORENO - MEXICO 

It’s not been a great World Cup for central defenders so Mereno gets into the team ahead of much higher esteemed players. Rumours are currently circulating that both Everton and Swansea are looking into acquiring the services of Espanyol-based Moreno. 

The 26 year old centre back reads the game well and is able to stand up to the physicality that is required at the top level, which is a great combination for the English Premier League. 



5. RAPHAEL VARANE - FRANCE 

Varane, the Real Madrid centre back, has quickly established himself as definite star for the French. At only 21, the youngster has developed into one of the World's finest defenders. His tournament performances thus far see him included at the heart of the "Team of the Tournament, so far" eleven's defence. 



6. ARTURO VIDAL - CHILE 

Italian based Vidal gets into the team partly due to form and partly due the fact that he scares me. Have you seen the man's haircut? It's outrageous. Speaking of outrageous, Vidal's performance against Spain was just that. He broke down Spain's attacking threat, what little there was, while his passing was accurate and distribution superb.

He has declared himself fit to face Netherlands tonight. The Dutch will want to make sure Vidal doesn't feature prominently in tonight's game or it will be the Dutch and not Chile that will be facing Brazil in the next round.



7. ANDREA PIRLO - ITALY

My only biased pick for the team. But who can hold that against me. Pirlo's performance against England was phenomenal. Almost as phenomenal as the man himself.

If Italy go far in Brazil, it will be down to the 35 year old and his ability to control the game and pick a pass that would make Pele blush. 



8. ENNER VALENCIA - ECUADOR 

The lesser known Valencia who plays either on the wing or as a striker for Ecuador (he is related to Antonio Valencia) has been sublime for Ecuador as they look to reach the Round of 16. His performance against Honduras left the pundits running out of superlatives to describe his impact.

How Enner stands up to the French challenge in their final group game could decide which club he plays for next season. 



9. THOMAS MUELLER - GERMANY 

We all know the qualities of Thomas Mueller. He shot to stardom at the 2010 Soccer World Cup and has remained there ever since. In Germany's first game against Portugal, he reaffirmed his true class and scored his first ever hat-trick for the national side against the hapless Portuguese.

Muller has scored three goals so far in Brazil but his his cross which found Mario Goetze for Germany's first goal against Ghana was unbelievable. 



10. LUIS SUAREZ - URUGUAY 

He has only played 88 minutes of this SWC. He has scored two goals and knocked one team out of the tournament along with the hopes and dreams of 53 million fans.

Luis Suarez always feels hard done by and he exacted his revenge on those that continue to tarnish his name.

It is unknown whether he still has Phil Jagielka in his back pocket



11. ROBIN VAN PERSIE - NETHERLANDS 

He scored THAT goal of the 2014 SWC so far. His performance against Spain was out of this world. The Dutch have turned from pre-tournament dark horses into favourites in the space of 180 minutes. RVP has scored three goals so far and is likely to be a contender for the Golden Boot come 13 July 2014.  

Should Van Persie lead the Dutch to victory against Chile side, I predict many fans will be running off to the bookmakers to stake their houses on the Oranje to win their first SWC crown.



SUBSTITUTIONS:

Sergio Romero (Argentina), Mats Hummels (Germany), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Clint Dempsey (USA), Gervinho (Ivory Coast) and Andre Ayew (Ghana) 
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