ROVERS duo Brad Friedel and Damien Duff have been been judged among the most outstanding players at the World Cup by FIFA's technical studies group.

Friedel got the nod for some outstanding displays for the US as they marched to the quarter finals in the Far East.

And the report also identified Duff as the Republic of Ireland's most valuable player, especially when switched from a central role to his favoured left wing

The report reads: "Duff created a whole host of problems for the opposition with his dribbling and impressive pace".

Robbie Keane and Steve Staunton were also named as outstanding players for Ireland, who were described as "overall very combative and excellent in the air, good team spirit, discipline and a compact and well-organised unit".

Six members of Sven Goran Eriksson's England team also received a mention, including David Beckham, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell.

Other British-based players named as outstanding members of their team at the World Cup were: Juan Sebastian Veron (Argentina/Man Utd), Li Tie (China/Everton), Paulo Wanchope (Costa Rica/Man City), Alen Boksic (Croatia/Middlesbrough), Jesper Gronkjaer (Denmark/Chelsea), Ulises de la Cruz (Ecuador/Aston Villa), Patrick Vieira (France/Arsenal), Fabien Barthez (France/Man Utd), Marcel Desailly (France/Chelsea), Dietmar Hamann (Germany/Liverpool), Junichi Inamoto (Japan/Fulham), Joseph Yobo (Nigeria/Everton), Jay Jay Okocha (Nigeria/Bolton), Aliou Cisse (Senegal/Birmingham), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal/Liverpool), Quinton Fortune (South Africa/Man Utd), Lucas Radebe (South Africa/Leeds), Johan Mjallby (Sweden/Celtic), Anders Svensson (Sweden/Southampton), Henrik Larsson (Sweden/Celtic), Alpay (Turkey/Aston Villa), Brad Friedel (USA/Blackburn), Claudio Reyna (USA/Sunderland).