Players at the 2018 World Cup: Europe XI vs Rest of World XI

REST OF THE WORLD XI: 4-3-3

GOALKEEPER: Alisson Becker

The goalkeeping position was a hotly-debated choice with Alisson and Keylor Navas in prime positions to land the role. The other goalkeepers such as Muslera and Caballero were simply not good enough to warrant a place in this discussion.

In the end, I went for Alisson after looking at his performances for Brazil. Alisson has been a very safe keeper and gets in due to his ability to cut out the errors from his game. Though Navas has shown the ability to turn games around with mind-boggling saves, he also comes up with his fair share of errors which tilt the game in the other direction.

DEFENCE: Hiroki Sakai, Diego Godin, Yerry Mina and Diego Laxalt.

The defense line of this team was very easy to select as Mina and Godin have been ‘rocks at the back’ for their respective sides. Both of them possess strength and excellent tactical awareness.

Godin, especially, is an old-school defender and adopts a ‘no-nonsense’ approach. He averaged 4.7 clearances per game in the season gone by. Godin's Uruguay conceded only three goals at the World Cup and were a hard nut to crack throughout.

Mina also had a good World Cup, coming up with three goals in the process. His most important goal was the equalizer against England in the dying moments of normal time.

Hiroki Sakai was the best option available and he slots into the Right Back position. He was in inspired form for Japan and made a total of 19 ball recoveries throughout the tournament. In addition to this, he was a constant attacking outlet for Japan.

For the Left Back position, Diego Laxalt gets in ahead of Marcelo and Filipe Luis. Laxalt was brought into the side against Russia and never looked back after that. He was a menace on the left and carried out his defensive duties with aplomb as well.

Laxalt would play high up the pitch and try to stretch the game as much as possible. He is an attacking full-back by nature but has enough tactical nous and speed to get back into position when required. Sakai, on the other hand, adopts a more conservative approach and would venture forward when the time is right.