15 Brilliant Young Players To Watch At The World Cup

Ollie Irish

3rd, June 2010

26 Comments

By Ollie Irish

In the interests of being interesting, we’ve gone for some of the lesser-known youngsters – so no room for superstars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney…

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ANGEL DI MARIA, ARGENTINA, 22 - The Benfica winger is wanted by pretty much every big club in the world, and when you watch him in action, you can see why. He's not just fast and full of tricks, he also has a football brain beyond his 22 years.

Posted in Featured, Photos, Top 10s & lists, World Cup

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26 Comments

  1. Logan says:

    Hey Ollie what about Afelly for the Netherlands? Search him on youtube and also Elia for the dutch.

  2. Ben says:

    Di Maria has a football brain?I`m not sure.

  3. Chris says:

    Personally, I’m hoping we see a bit of Denmark’s 18-year-old whizzkid Christian Eriksen at SA2010.

    Anyone who comes so highly rated by Dennis Bergkamp must be a bit special.

  4. Meji says:

    Chicharito will run things. Di Maria too

  5. Ruperto says:

    My Money is with Chicharito, Di Maria, Ozil, And Javier Martinez

  6. jamjam says:

    marek hamsik will rule !!

  7. I’m really looking forward to see van der View at the World Cup. Haven’t seen much of him in action, but I liked what I saw.

  8. mizman says:

    Uruguay have lots of young guns i expect to do well. Cavani, Suarez and Lodeiro have a lot of potential….

  9. Deckard says:

    Rafael Van Der Vaart mentioned in an interview once that Gregory Van Der Wiel would be one of the Dutch players to watch at the WC. He’s destined to go to a big European club question is when.

    Ozil, gifted little player, could become a star of the WC, he’s Germany’s creative spark.

    Di Maria, liked what I saw of him at the Olympics. One of them wingers with a magical left foot. Argentina’s Robben perhaps.

    I think Luis Suarez of Uruguay (& Ajax) could’ve made the list. I think he won the European Golden Boot this season.

  10. INTER291103 says:

    You missed Javier Pastore of Argentina, one of the best Serie A players last season.

  11. Joe says:

    Affelay’s 24, not THAT young in football terms. Good choice with Van Der Wiel, he showed his class with a stunning ball on VD Vaart against Ghana the other day. And yeah Eriksen, Suarez and Lodeiro are class. Lot of Ajax kids to look out for, surprise surprise.

  12. martin says:

    what about thomas muller? he had an excellent season at bayern. i’m looking forward to seeing him at the world cup. germany has a habit of producing some younger players that tend to do well in international competititions (e.g., podolski, schweinsteiger).

  13. mogler says:

    nice to see doumbia on this list. he played two incredible seasons in bern and i hope he’ll show his skills in south africa and in moscow

  14. Marcamps says:

    ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez could not have picked a better time to shine; his performance with then-club CD Guadalajara & Mexico elevated him to New National Hero status. he’s got a lot of hype to live up to, but can surely pull it off in South Africa.

    helps to have fellow youngsters Giovani Dos Santos & Carlos Vela up top in Mexico’s attack, too.

  15. Mervyn Lionel says:

    It would seem that Chile will make good progress in the tourment as I have chosen the young Alexis Sanchez as one of the youngster who will make a good impression. My second and only other choice is Michael Bradley of the USA. Having said that, my national team, England, will have some extra work to do next Saturday.

  16. […] features the best young players to watch out for at the World Cup. Spread The Spurs […]

  17. Gerardo says:

    Di Maria Doesn’t have a Football Brain

  18. j says:

    I’m a benfica supporter and believe me, Di Maria has as much of a brain as a right foot, which is to say, he’s brainless. Just mind the quick-as-hell left foot of his.

  19. daniel4ing says:

    Gregory van der wiel has discipline problems? Wtf are you talking about? The guy only had a twitter page where he mentioned that he went to a concert in a period when he was injured. People told ‘m to approach this kind of stuff differently.

  20. kaya says:

    I have to disagree on choosing Michael Bradley for the US. He’s more likely to get red-carded than have a breakout world cup imo. I think there’s plenty of nepotism there as we haven’t seen any midfield combo that doesn’t involve him. I think Stuart Holden is the guy most likely to make a splash for us. If I had even the slightest fondness for either of our jerseys, I’d get one with Holden on the back.

  21. a says:

    Hey, what ever happened to the 100 Greatest Premiership Players series? I can’t seem to find it anywhere…

    Cheers

  22. Wes says:

    I am here in SA and watching the WC. Gotta say that even though I am yet to see Holland play (just now in fact, I am EXTREMELY impressed with what I saw in the 2 German youngsters Samir Khedira and Mettu Ozil. Ozil is especially gifted. As for the Dutch contingent….when have the dutch NOT prepared players for greatness?

  23. Krholikr says:

    Mesut Ozil : ABSOLUTELY UNDENIABLE. He’s great & hot. He SHOULD be a star in the near future! (in fact, i love the WHOLE GERMANY TEAM)
    Beside Ozil, in the list, i’m highly interested in MAREK HAMSIK. I think i’m his fan now. He’s really good.
    The rest of the list… i’m not really interested. Out of the list, I’ll pick Jung Sung-Ryong Of South Korea. He’s a clever goalkeeper. But I didn’t understand him in the match against Argentina.

  24. freya says:

    why javier pastore did not show up.
    i think he is the only one who can do the same work as xavi in Argentina.
    though he has a long way to go.

  25. Anonymous says:

    chris wood for new zealand will come good

  26. wwwwwwww says:

    andre ayew best young player

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