Iker Casillas - Spain

It wasn't supposed to end like this, for Casillas or Spain. But it turns out that sitting on a bench all season is not the best way to prepare for a major finals. Who knew?

Casillas was, of course, not the only guilty party in Spain's criminally weak defence of their title. But three ruthlessly-punished mistakes in two games in addition to another four goals conceded make the Real Madrid reserve a obvious scapegoat.

Casillas is still only 33 - middle-aged in goalkeeping terms - so he could yet add to his 156 caps, but only if he leaves Real Madrid for a number one role elsewhere. He's too good to be remembered for a couple of horror shows in Rio and Salvador.

Dani Alves - Brazil

The Brazil full-back makes the XI largely because of his own high standards and the expectation around the hosts to perform.

Alves admitted his side had "not yet shown the best of ourselves" and the Barca flier is one of those who can do better. So far, his tournament is best remembered for keeping his hair stylist busy and getting stuck into Alan Shearer.

Pepe - Portugal

If the Portugal defender's red card "wasn't really aggression", as he claims, then the 31-year-old is best swerved when he does actually lose it.

If indeed Pepe is "never a hot head", as he suggested in the build up to the Ghana clash, then the centre-back must have made the conscious decision that, at 2-0 down to Germany and with Cristiano Ronaldo not fit, the 37th minute was the perfect time to stick his nut into the seated Thomas Muller's mush.

The loss of Pepe effectively ended any remote hope of fighting back against Germany and also led to Paulo Bento having to change three of his back five for the draw with United States, who ended up pipping the Portuguese to second spot.

Philippe Senderos - Switzerland

The Aston Villa new boy came off the bench early on against France, and secured an immediate return there for the next game by having a nightmare against France, who scored five but could have rattled up many more.

After a hopeless air-kick to allow in Karim Benzema to score and generally waving France through for most of the afternoon in Salvador, Senderos found himself dropped again, with the inexperienced Fabian Schaer chosen instead for the Ecuador game. In his absence, Switzerland kept a clean sheet and qualified for the second round.

Leighton Baines - England

The Everton full-back has been a solid defender at Premier League level for a number of years, but the notion that he was better suited to the England role than 107-cap Ashley Cole was questionable at best.

He and Wayne Rooney struggled badly to work together against Italy, resulting in a chastening 90 minutes for Baines, whose brief spell as England number three is likely to be brought to an abrupt end by Luke Shaw.

Paulinho - Brazil

As the more attacking of Brazil's two central midfielders, the Tottenham man failed to impose himself on any of Brazil's group games, completing only two passes into Cameroon territory before he was hooked at half-time.

Fernandinho managed 10 more in his 45 minutes and capped his display with a goal, meaning the bench beckons for Paulinho.

Xabi Alonso - Spain

Like Casillas, it was almost painf