Ten emerging World Cup players
This past weekend, when La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid faced Racing Santander, the Galacticos were without their brightest star, Portuguese national Cristiano Ronaldo, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. The absence of the reigning FIFA player of the year turned out to be no matter: Real won on a beautiful volleyed goal in the 22nd minute by Golanzo Higuaín.
Never heard of him? You probably will. The 21-year-old Argentine not only shows the promise of one day taking Ronaldo's spot as Real Madrid's best player, he's perhaps on the cusp of becoming one of the best in the world – and has the potential to shine at next year's World Cup.
Higuaín's talent is so apparent that he nearly got Argentina national coach Diego Maradona fired. Maradona helmed his country through a rocky World Cup qualifying campaign: Despite a lack of imagination and scoring for his side, the coach refused to bring up Higuaín until the crucial, do-or-die final matches. Higuaín scored a goal in his debut, a 2-1 win over Peru. Maradona was roundly criticized for not playing the star-in-waiting much earlier.
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Higuaín's story, however, isn't entirely unique: Several young, somewhat overlooked players from different countries are poised to emerge at next year's World Cup in South Africa as the future stars of the game.
Behind the numbers
We enlisted the help of Castrol Rankings to help us identify soccer's top emerging stars: young players who could have a major impact on the 2010 World Cup. Castrol bills itself as the world's first soccer rankings system based on player performance in Europe's top five leagues (La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, including play in the Champions League).
Castrol relies on data gathered by Opta Sportsdata, which tracks individual player data. The company scores every touch every player makes in every match: A goal or completed pass would be scored as a positive; an incomplete pass would be scored as a negative. And some matches weigh more than others. For instance, a game in the Champions League knockout stage would be more important in the scoring than a regular season Ligue 1 game.
The highest-rated players are the ones you would expect, veteran superstars such as Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But we asked Castrol to dig a little deeper and determine the highest-rated players under the age of 22 who had been on their national squads, but perhaps had not yet cracked their starting lineups.
The best getting better
What we discovered: Argentina and France, already top contenders, may have very bright futures.
Joining Higuaín for Argentina is Sergio Agüero, a 21-year-old who plays forward for Atletico Madrid. Agüero made his national-team debut back in 2006 as a teenager. He scored three goals in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. English Premier League club Chelsea is rumored to be interested in acquiring his services, to the tune of a $62 million transfer fee.
Les Bleus, despite the negative press from entrenched star Thierry Henry's hand ball that led to a tainted qualifying victory over Ireland last week, have two excellent players waiting in the wings. Karim Benzema, 21, plays forward for Real Madrid. Last year with Lyon, Benzema won Ligue 1's player of the year honors. In qualifying for the World Cup, he scored two goals.
Joining him for the French side is Moussa Sissoka, a 20-year-old midfielder who plays for French club Toulouse, and got his first national-team cap in August. He has been compared to the great French midfielder Patrick Vieira who, operating from the center of the midfield, is best known for his ability to hold and feed the ball to other players, thus controlling the tempo and pace of a game.
Brazil, as might be expected, has two players on the list. Alexandre Pato is a 20-year-old forward who is known as "the Duck" and plays for AC Milan in Serie A. In his national-team debut in March, he scored his first international goal within seconds of the opening whistle. Joining Pato is the 21-year-old defender Marcelo, who has been called "the next Roberto Carlos." Marcelo plays for Real Madrid, Carlos’ former team.
Unfortunately, no American players made the list, which could be a sign of a tough 2010 tournament. More troubling, however, is that Serbian national Neven Subotic, a tall defender, does make the list; though he was born in the former Yugoslavia, his family settled in the U.S. when he was young, so he could have donned a U.S. uniform in 2010. He chose Serbia instead.
The top five:
1. Gonzalo Higuaín: Slideshow
2. Karim Benzema: Slideshow
3. Sergio Agüero: Slideshow
4. Mesut Özil: Slideshow
5. Marcelo: Slideshow
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