Brazil's Golden Boys

Brazil’s Golden Boys

Over the 60 games that have been played in what is arguably the greatest World Cup ever, some of the 736 players that took the plane to Brazil have managed to display enough skill and style to stand out amongst their peers.
These 5 men will be duking it out for the FIFA Golden Ball Award, to have their names engraved in footballing history as the dominant force in Brazil 2014. Here they are:

Neymar Da Silva

The host nation have been heart-wrenchingly robbed of their biggest star, their hero and the tournament’s poster boy. All over the nation, images of the 22-year old dominate the scene as he dribbled and danced his way past every team he faced to propel the 5-time Champions into a daunting semi-final bout with Germany.

He has scored 4 goals, but will be OUT of the biggest game of his career due to a cowardly knee in the back from Colombia’s Zuniga, which almost paralysed him. Still, his mazy runs and supernatural handling of the pressure on him will last eternally.

James Rodriguez

After almost saving his nation’s hopes – with a giant grasshopper on his back – the Colombian superstar was left to exit the stage in tears against Brazil. Having scored 6 tremendous goals and notching up 2 assists, he was hailed as one of the world’s best by the players who knocked him out of the competition – and all this at 22.

He almost made Colombia forget that Falcao existed, and one can only tremble at what the superb young star will do when he has a more potent striker next to him. His passing was superb and his vision unique, and the tournament will be a lesser one without him.

Arjen Robben

Despite coming under heavy criticism for his dive against Mexico, the Dutch superstar is completely tearing apart every single team he faces. Spain were brutally annihilated at the hands of this speed devil as he made sure that he punished them (almost criminally) for their 2010 triumph, and he has just gone from strength to strength. He has almost single-handedly carried his team’s venomous counter-attacking threat and he is absolutely unstoppable on the break.

At 30, this could feasibly be his last World Cup at this level and he has roared into action, netting 3 goals and bursting past every defence he has faced.

Thomas Mueller

The 24-yr old German never stops surprising the world with his tremendous positioning and footballing intelligence, and is already on 8 World Cup goals (he has scored 4 in Brazil) and is on course to being one of Germany’s greatest strikers despite not even being one as such. He has outshone every single one of his more skilled teammates and scored a hat-trick against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in a lesson of utter footballing demolition.

He is fast, efficient and completely undetectable. His lanky style and flustered face belie an awesome footballing intelligence that is akin to some of Germany’s greatest players. He is an invisible threat to every side he faces, and is ravenously hungry to win.

Lionel Messi

The world’s finest player is here as much on a national mission as on a personal mission; he finally has the chance to silence his international critics. Winning this World Cup will not only bring Argentina their most incredible victory – at the home of their greatest rivals – but it will also place him on the pedestal graced only by Diego Maradona and Pele. Having done it all at club level, his 4 goals (of the 5 winners Argentina has needed) and 2 assists (both winners) mean that Lionel Messi is very well on course to cementing his name as an immortal star of international football.

He has only impacted games when it was necessary, and he has displayed the finest array of skill at this World Cup. He has turned Argentina into a one-man team, reminiscent of a certain World Cup winner in 1986.