It has been the busiest World Cup group stage ever.
Forty-eight group matches took place over 13 eventful days at Qatar 2022, with the usual drama, spectacular goals and plenty of upsets.
We’ve asked you to rate the players in every game played so far and now we’ve calculated the numbers to find out successes and failures.
It looks like Brighton fans have been busy – six of the top-rated XIs have played for the Seagulls – and many of your side have appeared in the UK at some point, with Arsenal, Stoke City, Celtic and Sheffield United all represented.
Meanwhile, there’s no place for Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Co in BBC Sport’s user-rated player XI.
Your group stage team
Group stage XI, decided by the best average BBC Sport user rankings…
Goalkeeper: Mat Ryan, Australia (7.59).
Defenders: Tariq Lamptey, Ghana (7.98); Pervis Estupinan, Ecuador (8.17); Harry Souttar, Australia (7.85); Takehiro Tomiyasu, Japan (8.71).
Midfielders: Aaron Mooy, Australia (8.18); Ao Tanaka, Japan (8.25); Moises Caicedo, Ecuador (8.11).
Forwards: Iliman Ndiaye, Senegal (8.22); Daizen Maeda, Japan (8.57); Kaoru Mitoma, Japan (8.48).
The five best players
Before each World Cup, countless players are presented as the ones who will light up the tournament or the potential stars. We doubt that any of our top five group stage performers figured prominently, if at all, in any of these threads.
Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu has only played two substitute games for Japan, but tops the list with an average rating of 8.71 (we stipulated that players must have appeared in at least two games to qualify) ).
Celtic striker Daizen Maeda is the second of four Japanese players in the top five with an average rating of 8.57. Like Tomiyasu, you think he could also have benefited from not being involved in the loss to Costa Rica.
The same goes for Ao Tanaka, although scoring the goal that put Japan through to the knockout stage probably helped a bit too, justifying his 8.25.
Speaking of this controversial goal, the man who was tried for having just kept the ball in play was Kaoru Mitoma. The Brighton forward came off the bench in all three of Japan’s group games and never failed to make an impact – a well-deserved 8.48.
Senegal’s Iliman Ndiaye completes the top five with 8.22. The Sheffield United striker, who spent three years in non-league English football with Boreham Wood, made a strong impression from the bench in a 3-1 win over Qatar, scoring the third goal.
How did the Home Nations players fare?
It will come as no surprise to learn that England’s players fared much better than those of Wales, with Robert Page’s side on their way back after one point from three and the Three Lions unbeaten in the second round.
What may come as a slight surprise is that you’ve ranked Phil Foden as England’s star performer so far, with his scores from a substitute appearance against Iran and his first start against the Wales with an impressive average of 7.54.
Looking at the England players who have started each game, it is Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham who leads the way, averaging 6.64, down from just his 4.7 score in the goalless draw with the United States, leaving him below Foden – who did not feature.
Chelsea’s Mason Mount, whom Foden replaced in Tuesday’s win over Wales, has been your scorer so far, with the lowest average of 5.04 in his two starts.
For Wales, you ranked Bournemouth leader Kieffer Moore as their best performer, with an average of 5.03.
Moore was substituted at half-time in their first draw with the United States, before retaining his place for the last two group games.
And your worst player for Wales? It’s Gareth Bale with 3.57…
Outstanding performances
There was no shortage of shocks in the group stage, but one in particular seemed to stand out, with three of the best individual performances, as you noted, all coming in the same match – and all were substitutes like Japan came from behind to beat Germany.
Brighton winger Mitoma was on the pitch for just 40 minutes, including stoppage time, but did enough to claim the second-best match score of 9.13.
Ritsu Doan came on in the 71st minute and fired the ball into the back of the net four minutes later to bring Japan level to earn a 9.05 rating. Tomiyasu arrives on 9.01 just before.
But the highest individual ranking of all? Son Heung-min, whose tears of joy after South Korea’s win over Portugal on Friday, earned the striker a heady 9.15 rating.
