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Top 50 players of the World Cup
Originally Published: March 1, 2010
ESPN.com
Lionel Messi or Wayne Rooney? Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaka? Iker Casillas or Gianluigi Buffon?
Whatever your choices, we can all agree that the world's biggest sporting event can't arrive soon enough.
South Africa and Mexico kick off the World Cup on June 11, but until then we can only count down the days until the tournament begins. We're going to do that with 101 different stories running over 101 days -- call it World Cup 101.
We begin with the top 50 players ...
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TOP 50 PLAYERS IN THE WORLD CUP
Click on a player's name to go to his individual profile:
| NO. | PLAYER |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi, Argentina |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal |
| 3 | Wayne Rooney, England |
| 4 | Kaka, Brazil |
| 5 | Xavi, Spain |
| 6 | Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast |
| 7 | Andres Iniesta, Spain |
| 8 | Fernando Torres, Spain |
| 9 | Steven Gerrard, England |
| 10 | Michael Essien, Ghana |
| 11 | David Villa, Spain |
| 12 | Franck Ribery, France |
| 13 | Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon |
| 14 | Luis Fabiano, Brazil |
| 15 | Iker Casillas, Spain |
| 16 | Cesc Fabregas, Spain |
| 17 | Gianluigi Buffon, Italy |
| 18 | Dani Alves, Brazil |
| 19 | Nemanja Vidic, Serbia |
| 20 | Wesley Sneijder, Netherlands |
| 21 | Maicon, Brazil |
| 22 | Frank Lampard, England |
| 23 | Andrea Pirlo, Italy |
| 24 | Carlos Tevez, Argentina |
| 25 | Robin van Persie, Netherlands |
| 26 | Gonzalo Higuain, Argentina |
| 27 | Diego Forlan, Uruguay |
| 28 | Thierry Henry, France |
| 29 | Sergio Aguero, Argentina |
| 30 | Michael Ballack, Germany |
| 31 | Julio Cesar, Brazil |
| 32 | Arjen Robben, Netherlands |
| 33 | Gerard Pique, Spain |
| 34 | Miroslav Klose, Germany |
| 35 | Lucio, Brazil |
| 36 | Javier Mascherano, Argentina |
| 37 | John Terry, England |
| 38 | David Silva, Spain |
| 39 | Carles Puyol, Spain |
| 40 | Nicolas Anelka, France |
| 41 | Ashley Cole, England |
| 42 | Patrice Evra, France |
| 43 | Marek Hamsik, Slovakia |
| 44 | Karim Benzema, France |
| 45 | Yoann Gourcuff, France |
| 46 | Daniele De Rossi, Italy |
| 47 | Philipp Lahm, Germany |
| 48 | Yaya Toure, Ivory Coast |
| 49 | Giorgio Chiellini, Italy |
| 50 | Landon Donovan, United States |
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