World Cup 2018: 4 midfielders who excelled in Russia
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was quite eventful and full of surprises. It was enthralling, mesmerizing and a different World Cup from the previous ones. With the 2014 Champions Germany crashing out the group stage, Argentina, Portugal, and Spain soon followed suit.
On the other hand, underdogs such as Russia, Sweden, and Croatia reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The midfield battles decided the proceedings in many games at the World Cup. They were intense, entertaining, decisive and clearly showed the quality of a team which had a formidable midfield.
It was quite evidently visible in the group stage game between Argentina and Croatia in which the Croatian Midfield dominated the Argentinian midfield and gave them a humiliating 3-0 defeat.
The midfield of the 2 World Cup finalist France and Croatia was probably the best in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and hence it was one of the key areas for both the team's success. In spite of Croatia winning the midfield battle in the final, France were the worthy winners due to their clinical finishing.
Due to their superb performance at the World Cup, the transfer prices of the midfielders will surely increase and hence they will be quite lucrative in the transfer market. Let us have a look at the 4 midfielders who have proved their worth at the World Cup.
#4 Coutinho
Coutinho was probably the best player for Brazil at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Being the main playmaker, the chances which he created were either sadly not converted into goals due to Gabriel Jesus's mediocre finishing or were wasted by Neymar due to his antics.
Nevertheless, his long-range goal against Switzerland in the first group stage match was probably one of the most wonderful goals of the tournament. His spirited efforts in the quarter-finals against Belgium when Brazil were 2-0 down were commendable.
Having scored 2 goals and provided 2 assists from 5 games, Coutinho completed 293 successful passes at the rate of 89.9 percent and at an average of 67.3 passes per game. He also had a passing accuracy of 88.2 percent, a success rate of 66.7 percent at long passes, covered 32.41 miles in 436 minutes. Out of 22 attempts, Coutinho had 7 attempts on target.
Hence, his marvelous display at the World Cup will help him to play well right from the start in his first full season at Barcelona.