FIFA judges Duff as Ireland's World Cup star

DAMIEN DUFF has been judged Ireland's outstanding players at the World Cup by FIFA's technical studies group.

The Blackburn winger was identified as the most valuable player, especially when switched from a central role to his favoured left wing.

The report said: "Duff created a whole host of problems for the opposition with his dribbling and impressive pace."

Robbie Keane and Steve Staunton were also named as outstanding players for Ireland, who were described as "overall very combative and excellent in the air, good team spirit, discipline and a compact and well-organised unit". They encountered problems when forced to dictate the tempo of the game; little variation when attacking; physically-draining game plan."

The only tactical change identified during games was the introduction of Niall Quinn with Duff moving out wide.

"Quinn was very adept at flicking on the long, high balls aimed at him and he created goal-scoring opportunities for his advancing team-mates in this way," the report adds.

"The tactic was effective as it meant the opposition were suddenly confronted with a brand new Irish attack."

Meanwhile David Beckham has been judged one of England's outstanding players in the competition fuelling the debate over his success at the tournament.

The Manchester United midfielder was clearly not 100% fit in Japan and there has even been a suggestion that his most valuable role in the competition was as a commercial figure to secure income for himself and the English FA from his millions of Far Eastern fans That theory should be killed off by FIFA's experts, who have rated him as one of six outstanding England players. Their report also highlights his movement off the ball and ability from set-pieces.

The analysis on England, published this week, accepts he was not fully fit but says: "Beckham frequently switched his position, sometimes playing in the middle or even out wide on the left. In doing so he got away from his opposite number and was almost always in a good position to receive a pass. Almost all the set-pieces were taken by Beckham. "In defence... wide midfielders Beckham and (Trevor) Sinclair often took up more central positions to close down space and slow down opponents' attacks." Liverpool's Michael Owen was also singled out for praise, as having "fine movement, creativity and a predatory instinct in front of goal".

In analysing the weakness of Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad the report said England "lacked creativity in attack without Michael Owen".

The other players highlighted for their contribution to the England cause were Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell plus Manchester United pair Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt. Their weaknesses were: "Key players not fully fit and vulnerable to swift counter-attacks."