Five stars for the future
Five stars for the future
Posted: 2010-07-02 10:02
With the second round over and only eight matches to go, Castrol Performance data reveals which young players have made a name for themselves on the biggest stage of all.
One player who has definitely left his mark on this tournament is Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan. The striker is still only 23 years old, but is already playing in his second World Cup and has now established himself as the second most prolific African goalscorer in World Cup history.
Gyan has four goals, one behind Cameroon’s Roger Milla, and one ahead of Papa Bouba Diop of Senegal and Samuel Eto’o.
So far, in South Africa, Gyan has been involved in 75 percent of Ghana’s goals.
Another player who has caught the eye is Germany’s Thomas Müller. The young midfielder has already scored three goals and provided as many assists. The Bayern Munich winger is the player with the most goal involvements after the Round of 16 with six, one ahead of Spain striker David Villa, who has scored four and provided one assist.
Gonzalo Higuain, Robert Vittek and Luis Saurez are on four each.
However, Müller isn’t the only great prospect in Joachim Löw’s team. Germany’s playmaker Mesut Özil has been hailed for his creativity and his tireless movement off the ball and scored a superb goal in Germany’s last group game against Ghana.
The Werder Bremen midfielder has also created more chances from open play for his teammates (13) than any other player after the first knockout round, doing so with a passing accuracy of 84 percent.
Ghana’s Andre Ayew is second with 12 chances (84 percent passing accuracy), one ahead of teammate Kevin Prince Boateng and exciting Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez.
One of the centre forwards sure to have caught the eye of Europe’s top clubs at the tournament is Suarez. The Uruguayan was the decisive man in the South Americans’ Last 16 clash with South Korea, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win for his team.
However, Suarez has not only shone at the World Cup, but also had a magnificent season for Ajax Amsterdam, for whom he scored 35 goals in the Eredivisie. Despite only being 23 years old, Suarez captained the Dutch giants last season and is one of the key players under Oscar Tabarez in the Uruguayan national team.
The fifth hot prospect is Portugal’s Fabio Coentrao, who has been one of the best full-backs in the tournament so far, according to his performance data. Only Brazil’s Maicon has created more chances for his team-mates and completed more dribbles from this position than the 22-year-old Portuguese defender.
The Benfica player has also found a teammate with over 45 percent of his crosses, a better accuracy rate than any other Portuguese footballer since the 1996 World Cup.
As none of these five players who have caught the eye in South Africa are older than 23, they are all still in the early years of their respective careers and have plenty of time to leave an even more indelible mark on world football in the next decade.
* For more key insights, visit Castrol Football
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