World Cup 2014 - Players looking to make a name for themselves

matherto

matherto

20 times 20 times Man United
13 October 2004
St. Helens, Merseyside.
Manchester United
There's always a handful of players in each tournament who come out of nowhere and suddenly have a great few weeks. Usually earning themselves a new contract or move to a decent team.

Who's it gonna be this time around?

One of my favourites from the last WC was Robert Vittek of Slovakia. Scored 4 goals in 4 matches and was a genuine nuisance in all of Slovakia's games.

FIFA even produced this clip of his tournament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ApScHRqBGs
 
To be fair, Vittek was afterwards never as successful as he was during his stint in Nuremberg and this was way before 2010.

I think there are better examples to be listed, first one in my mind is El Hadji Diouf (and his good performances in Asia in 2002), who was (relatively) unknown before that tournament and afterwards joined Liverpool.
 
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Alireza Jahanbaksh (Iran) is a very promising young player. Iran will probably not get out of the groupstages but Jahanbaksh is a gem to look out for. A few other youngsters looking to make a name for themselves and letting the world know who they are:

Memphis Depay (Netherlands)
Daryl Janmaat (Netherlands)
Yoichiro Kakitani (Japan)
Christian Atsu (Ghana)

Not very unknown players, but I'm looking forward to seeing those players play.
 
With the world game as it is today, it's very rare for relative "unknowns" to be in the World Cup and surprise everyone or take everyone by storm as they used to in the past.

I do feel that there will be break-out players and of course those that only do well in these 2-4 weeks and then never again for any club, but rare will there be absolute unknowns with the skills to "misguide" scouts.

I do feel Depay should drop a few jaws and land a new lucrative contract...
 
I forgot about Najar, hopefully he'll get some minutes. I can imagine it wouldn't be easy for a young player like him to break into the established group Honduras have. Same goes for Fidel Martínez at Ecuador.
 
Damjan said:
Alireza Jahanbaksh (Iran) is a very promising young player. Iran will probably not get out of the groupstages but Jahanbaksh is a gem to look out for. A few other youngsters looking to make a name for themselves and letting the world know who they are:
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Tell me more about him please Damjan.
 
PLF said:
Tell me more about him please Damjan.
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He was brought to NEC as a surprise signing, financed by a private-sugardaddy (Marcel van Boekhorn) who's a big NEC supporter. I believe he captained the U-20 squad. He's a tricky winger, and he's also good in front of goal. He's become a fan favourite at NEC (he sang a few songs etc.). He scored twice at Ajax on the last day of the season, which prevented them from finishing bottom, but they ended up going down via the Play-Off system. I think NEC will sell him, he's too good for the Dutch second league and if he impresses at the World Cup they could sell him for a few million which is massive for a club like NEC.

Here's a FIFA clip about him, he's on their 'Stars to Watch' list:
YouTube - Brazil 2014 Stars to Watch: Alireza Jahanbakhsh
 
Thanks for the info. I knew a bit about him being Persian myself but haven't had the pleasure of watching him in action yet.

Looks like the video is no longer available. Let me know if there's an alternative source.
 
I hope Peña from Mexico do a good role. Some people says that he already has offers from good clubs of europe, let's see how he does in the WC.
His club is the actual champion of Liga MX for second consecutive time and he made this beauty on Semi-Finals:

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Hope he do something like that in Brazil :BOP:
 
If I have to talk about young promises, will say Joel Campbell from Costa Rica has a lot of chance to steal the show, hope this time Arsene Wenger(?) calls him for Arsenal First Squad, after the jewel he scored against Manchester United, or this one against Spain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ZMYlFizU0
 
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gerd said:
Najar from Honduras has shown some good things with Anderlecht this year...
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Gerd glad you like him. He comes from my hometown, truly amazing story. As a young boy he crossed the border into the land of opportunity. He went to school and never played organized soccer. One day when he was a freshman in high school the coach of the team saw him playing with his friends in front of the school. He asked him to play on the team. Two years later he was the best youth player in the region. One year later he signed a professional contract with my team, dc united. Quickly becoming one of my all time favorites. Now he is at the World Cup!!!!! You can't make this shit up, although it is oddly similar to goal the movie LOL!!
Go Andy!! Vamos United!!
 
That's a nice story!

I'll be on the lookout for him.

Kanouté said:
PLF, just click on the link ffs, man. don't be too lazy :P
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Hahaha thanks just noticed I can watch it and it just can't be embedded here. :P

I thought the content had been removed by FIFA for rights and stuff.
 
Just seen this thread, I only had one player in mind: Taïder.
He's has a mediocore season with Inter, but really boomed with the NT and has been one of our top performers and has a nice goal scoring record to show for it as well. Hope he'll turn on that beast mode he's been showing off for the WC.
 
I think Rebić might do wonders if he is brought in by Kovač. He did OK in few games he played for Fiorentina and did great for Croatia U21, as well as for senior team when he was given few minutes here and there. As Kovač fancies 4-2-3-1 formation we need wingers and only two we have are Perišić and Rebić, while Olić and possibly Rakitić can play in that role too.
 
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