My team through the group stages: Ochoa -- His performance vs Brazil alone would get him in the conversation. Blind -- Though he was less impressive in his last game. Ambrose -- Really a beast on the ground, not as good in the air Jose Gimenez -- Uruguay looked much better once he replaced Lugano. Aurier -- A beast. Really. James Rodriguez -- Best player of the tournament, so far. Lahm -- Guardiola's been calling him the smartest player he's ever been associated with. Easy to see why this tourney. Vazquez -- I like how Marquez has played, but Vazquez has been the stud. Enner Valencia -- Gosh, he's made a lot of money this tourney... Messi -- Looking to make good on the promise of becoming the 3rd or 4th best player ever. Robben -- So good, so quick, and amazingly for him, staying on his feet and being unselfish.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y...t-as-perisic-goes-home-in-second-2387611.html James I ahead as expected, but I thought Robben would be higher.
Neymar. He's the only one playing with the weight of the world in his shoulders. Messi is a close second, since he's in a similar situation. All in all, I think Robben is showing amazing form as well, but he doesn't have anywhere near the amount of pressure the entire Brazil team has on them right now (all focused on Neymar). Besides, he's got Van Persie and Sneijder along with him, while Neymar really has nobody.
it will be decided between Neymar, Messi and James. by the way, anyone have a great suggestion for James' nickname? he's been called El Bandido, which i like... i've just built an app (@socctail) which celebrates the game's big legends and a lot of the players at the world cup, but have not been sure about El Bandido, maybe there are better ideas out there, please let me know... cheers!
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y...-aiming-to-emulate-james-heroics-2390906.html Hazard's respect towards James.
After today I agree with David Luiz being the best, James is definitely top 5. 1. David Luiz 2. Neuer 3. James 4. Robben (so far) 5. Lahm 6. Neymar
James, Luiz, Howard, Robben in no particular order but we still have the rest of the quarters and beyond. Messi is just moments of brilliance with his goals but otherwise I think he looks quite poor. He gave the ball away countless times in the first two games and I agree with his grandpa who says he looks lazy but the rest of his squad look even worse. They would not get out of a tougher group and are lucky not to get exposed badly thus far vs a much stronger team like Germany.
So judging from the goals, assists, and total amount of minutes and game played, James has been the ONLY consistent player. Messi hasn't done anything since the round of 16, Muller has been back and forth so he's got the best chance to be the best player of this world cup depending on how he plays the final, and Robben can make something special of the 3rd place match against Brazil. Neymar is injured and won't play in the last match....so who is the fifth player? So far: James Messi Robben Muller have the best stats/chances to take the golden ball.