FIFA 12 Ultimate Team: Team Of The Week

Last weekend featured no domestic football in Europe, which is a distasteful state of affairs however you look at it. It’s like a pub without beer; a TV without a power cord.

On the plus side, we did have a few international games to watch, and it’s from that transcontinental festival of footballing superstardom that we have plucked our top performers this week.

Gentlemen, your Team of the Week. You could be lucky enough to find one or more of these upgraded players in your FUT packs from 18:00GMT on 12October to the same time 19 October.

Manuel Neuer- GK - Germany - 86>87
Germany’s No. 1 made a truly world class save against Turkey’s Hamit Altintop, as well as a string of good stops throughout the game. He also assisted two goals with his clearances in Germany’s 3-1 away win.

Laurent Ciman- RB - Belgium - 70>73
Belgium tonked Kazakhstan 4-1 on Friday and Ciman put in a dominant performance on the right flank for the home side, particularly when it came to his crossing and long balls.

Aleksandar Kolarov- LB - Serbia - 79>81
Arguably Serbia’s best player in their 1-1 draw with Italy. Despite playing left-back, Kolarov was their most active and dangerous player, creating a bunch of good chances for Serbia.

Diego Lugano- RB - Uruguay - 81>83
A right-back with goals is always a valuable asset, and his 83 rating proves it. He was man of the match after bagging a brace against Bolivia.

Eliseu- LB - Portugal - 74>78
Portugal made hard work of their 5-3 win over Iceland on Friday, but Pereira Eliseu’s goal and two assists certainly helped.

Thomas Müller- RM - Germany - 83>85
Man of the match for Germany against Turkey. He set up Mario Gomez's opener with a fine cross, scored the second, and won a late penalty.

Andrea Pirlo- CM - Italy - 83>84
Pirlo put in a masterful shift in Italy’s draw with Serbia, bossing the midfield and judging his movement and passing to perfection.

Xabi Alonso- CM - Spain - 86>87
He scored. That doesn’t hurt your chances of getting in the team of the week. But more than that, he was easily one of the best players on the pitch for Spain against Czech Rep. It’s probably quite tough to be the best in that team.

Andreas Ivanschitz- LM - Austria - 76>79
Austria travelled to Azerbaijan and beat them 4-1, the first time in six years that the Austrians had notched an away win. Andreas ‘Austrian Beckham’ Ivanschitz drove his team forward, scoring one and assisting another.

Paolo Guerrero- CF - Peru - 76>79
Scored both goals in Peru's 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against Paraguay on Friday. They don’t half start the World Cup stuff earlier over there, eh.

Loïc Rémy- ST - France - 82>83
Man of the match in France’s 3-0 win over against Albania, a result that saw Rémy’s side assured of qualification for Euro 2012.

THE BENCH

Vyacheslav Malafeev- GK - Russia - 79>81
Russia’s game against Slovakia was a tense affair – both sides needed a win. Malafeev was confident, though, commanding his back line and making six important saves as Russia squeaked the victory they needed.

Raio Piiroja- CB - Estonia - 67>71
Northern Irish folks turn away now.  Piiroja played a key part in Estonia’s triumph at Windsor Park. While the manner of Estonia’s 2-1 victory was controversial – the late winning goal could have been disallowed had the referee heeded his assistant’s flag in the build up – the fact they deserved it wasn’t. Piiroja was imperious at the back and even recorded a couple of shots on goal himself.

Erik Pieters- LB - Netherlands - 74>78
Pieters plays for PSV, in case you were wondering. Say that 10 times quickly. Go on, bet you can’t. Anyway, he had a stormer for the Netherlands as they emerged 1-0 victors from a tough game against Moldova. His crosses were excellent, as were the Netherlands, who continued their 100% qualification record for Euro 2012.

Zvjezdan Misimovic- CAM - Bosnia - 81>83
Bosnia-Herzegovina thrashed Luxembourg 5-0 to guarantee at least a play-off for the Euros. Man of the match was Misimovic, who bagged a brace.

Simeon Jackson- ST - Canada - 68>72
Simeon Jackson, if you didn’t realise, is from all over the place. Born in Jamaica, he leads the line for Canada and currently plies his professional trade in the Premier League for Norwich. He scored a first-half hat-trick against St. Lucia as Canada romped to a 7-0 win. It’s only the second hat-trick for Canada in World Cup qualifying history.

Yura Movsisyan- ST - Armenia - 70>74
Movsisyan pitched in with a brilliant performance in his side’s 4-1 demolition of Macedonia, providing three assists on the way. Thanks to him, Armenia retained a chance to reach the play-offs. That chance has now gone away of course, thanks to Ireland. But never mind that. We’re not counting the mid-week games this time – it was too late - so Yura’s still a hero for us. Yay Yura!

Andrija Delibašić- ST - Montenegro - 69>72
He reached into a Montenegrin bag of tricks and pulled out a 90^th minute equaliser against England. We’ve spent the intervening days pretending that didn’t happen, so can’t tell you anymore. Sorry.