The World Cup is here!
As with any tournament of this kind, we are punctual as ever for our scouting appointment. With Driblab's ability to reach anywhere in the world where a football is rolling, we couldn't miss the "players to watch" auction.
We have selected eight, of different ages, but all young and playing in their first World Cup. Some of them we have already covered in depth; others we are introducing to you for the first time.
Two quick notes and we get going: unless stated otherwise, the minimum number of minutes a player must have played to be considered in charts, radars or comparisons is 450 minutes.
To make things easier, from here on, if you see a scatter plot in which the bubbles are orange, those are midfielders. If they are green, defenders. If they are pink, wide players.
Let's go!
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Gustavo Puerta - Colombia - 2003
Like almost everyone on this list, Puerta will play in his first senior international tournament. Despite being only 22, the Colombian has racked up more than five thousand minutes over the last two seasons. Both in second divisions, at Hull City and Racing de Santander respectively.
He makes his international debut after a fantastic season at Racing de Santander, newly promoted to LaLiga, a side that plays an extremely interesting brand of football, closely linked to the relationist school.
In that context of movements and positional rotations, Puerta has shone as a possession organiser and a short-range connector in Racing's attacks. He is a first and second line player who barely engages with creation or final production. He is not creative, but he is extremely functional through his passing.
Luckily for Puerta, at a frenetic Racing with an enormous variety of movements, there are always free options to pass to. It is not a context where he has to cover huge stretches of pitch without the ball or carry it over long distances.
The main weapon of the Colombian from La Victoria is his pass: it is sharp, progressive and frequently breaks lines. On top of that, when he has to pass under pressure from an opponent he barely struggles. He is the player who attempts the most passes under pressure in LaLiga Hypermotion.
He uses body feints to create advantageous situations before receiving the ball and once he has it at his feet, but he has no tricks and does not dribble. He gets the minimum amount of space and releases the ball. He carries only when strictly necessary. His first step gives him just enough advantage to play the next pass.
Defensively, like a good South American, he goes hard into duels, commits fouls and is quite active, making numerous tackles per match.
