As alluded to in my previous post, there are some fantastic players who we should be watching. Some are lesser known, and play for not so sparkly teams but they may shine this tournament.
Robert Lewandowski
Okay, so he’s not unknown, but his national side, Poland are definitely not one of the hot favourites. But the Polish have a good chance of progressing, with Colombia, Japan and Senegal in their group. Poland are higher ranked than both England and Spain. Lewandowski, the Bayern Munich striker, has been one of the quiet but regular goal scorers in Europe. For European qualifying he was the top scorer with 16 goals for Poland.
Kevin De Bruyne
Described as the “complete” footballer, De Bruyn is the one to watch in this strong Belgian side. As a play-maker he is coming into his own at Manchester City, with 8 goals and 16 assists this last season. However, I feel that we have yet to see the best from him. With talents like Lukaku and Hazard to feed, I’m hoping we see more from him this World Cup (also, ‘cos he’s on my Fantasy Football team, and he didn’t come cheap.)
Harry Kane
He’s been a force for Tottenham Hotspurs, with 30 goals this last season. However the always underachieving English side has a very inexperienced team this year, and if they are hoping to get far, well I feel that will depend a lot on Kane’s form at the tournament.
Antoine Griezmann
Its no wonder that the Catalan Giants have been on a hunt for Griezmann. In the World Cup Qualifiers he scored 4 goals for France and set up another 4. In the last season gone by he netted a neat 19 goals for Atletico Madrid in La Liga alone. While that may seem low compared to the likes of Lionel Messi, Mo Salah and Ronaldo, he will do well if given the best support in terms of temamates. If rumours are to be believed, he will be part of a big money move to Barcelona before next season.
