World Cup 2018: 5 most creative players so far
Croatia beat England in the second semi-finals on Wednesday to set up the blockbuster clash with France in the 2018 World Cup final on Sunday.
This World Cup has witnessed some great football and stunning goals over the last few weeks. Harry Kane leads the goal-scoring chart with 6 goals so far.
Football is not just about scoring goals, the hardest part is creating them. Creativity is one of the major factors that determine the success of a team. One key reason why England, Belgium, Croatia, and France have qualified for the semifinals was because of their creativity and the presence of quality playmakers.
Players like Eden Hazard, Lionel Messi, Mbappe, Mesut Ozil, Carlos Vela, Aleksandr Golovin, Joshua Kimmich, and Aaron Moy created a lot of scoring opportunities for their respective teams in the group stages of the tournament. But the ones on this list did it consistently throughout the World Cup and feature in the top five.
Without much ado, let’s take a look at the 5 most creative players at the 2018 World Cup.
#5 Philippe Coutinho - 13 chances created
Philippe Coutinho arrived at the World Cup after a good finish to his 2017-18 season at the Camp Nou. Deployed behind Gabriel Jesus as a number 10 at the World Cup, the Brazilian was phenomenal in the tournament and played the playmaker role to perfection.
Neymar grabbed all the headlines but it was Coutinho who showed consistent quality on the pitch throughout the World Cup. Coutinho linked up well with Neymar and the duo created most of the scoring opportunities for Brazil.
The 26-year-old created 13 chances in 5 games, which equates to 3.3 chances per game. Coutinho did not just stop with creating goals, he scored two himself. His pass accuracy was close to 90 percent in the tournament.