Brazil, France Head All-Star Team

Ronaldo’s brilliance and Marcel Desailly’s tough defense earned them spots on the FIFA World Cup all-star team, which includes six other players in the championship game.

The 16-man team also has three players from the Netherlands, two each from Paraguay and Denmark and one from Croatia.

Brazil’s Ronaldo, a striker for Inter Milan, and France’s Desailly, who plays for AC Milan, often have faced each other in Italian league play. In the Cup final Sunday, they’ll be matched once again as Brazil seeks its fifth title and France its first.

“We recognized players we think brought dimension to the competition or added value to their teams’ performances,” Gerard Houllier of FIFA’s Technical Study Group said. “We are aware many other players could have been in this group.”

Joining Ronaldo from Brazil were defender Roberto Carlos and midfielders Rivaldo and Dunga. The other French players were goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, defender Lilian Thuram and midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who was selected despite missing two games because of a suspension.

The Dutch selections were striker Dennis Bergkamp, midfielder Edgar Davids and defender Frank de Boer. Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert and defender Carlos Gamarra were chosen, along with Danish brothers Michael Laudrup, a midfielder, and Brian Laudrup, a striker, and Croatia’s top scorer, Davor Suker.