The World Cup is just days away. We thought we’d take a look at a few unlikely stars, likely to do well in Russia this summer. For the purposes of this article we’re going to overlook some of the biggest stars and delve a little deeper and see if we can uncover some hidden gems that we believe will set the tournament alight.
James Rodriguez
Last tournament’s golden boot winner, seems to love the World Cup and we think that he’s set to do well again this year. Life at Real Madrid hasn’t been as plain sailing as he would have hoped, having moved there after his display in 2014. With the rumours swirling about another possible transfer after the tournament ends, he could well be playing for a new deal.
Marcus Rashford
He’s only 20 years old but has already achieved so much. England seem to have a habit of bringing youngsters to tournaments, that end up leaving as superstars. Who can forget Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney bursting onto the scene. With bookmakers offering as high as 200-1 on him picking up the golden boot, they seem to think it’s impossible. If he has a massive impact from the bench in the first game, we can see him having a fantastic tournament.
Sadio Mane
Mane has had a great campaign with Liverpool this season. So much so that in the Champions League final, he seems to have turned the head of his opponents, Real Madrid. Senagal’s group isn’t the toughest out of the 8 groups and for a player in form, we reckon he could be the one that helps Senegal progress through to the last 16 this summer.
Timo Werner
RB Leipzig have a real gem on their hands in Timo Werner. So much so that Liverpool are already sniffing around. We can see why that would make sense. He’s a big fan of Klopp and if the reds can keep him as the manager next season, we may well see Werner in a Liverpool shirt as well. Germany normally do very well at tournaments and Leipzig may well be hoping that he has a blinder of a tournament so that his value increases, especially if they are resigned to losing him.
Photo Credit: By Copa2014.gov.br [CC BY 3.0 br], via Wikimedia Commons
