12th July, 2014
Netherlands winger Arjen Robben has been the standout performer of this year’s World Cup in the eyes of Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Brazil and the Netherlands meet in Saturday’s third-place play-off in Brasilia and Scolari indicated that he will be making a special effort to stop Robben from hurting his side as they try to end the tournament on a high.
“I think Robben has been the best player of the World Cup,” said Scolari on Friday as he confirmed that Brazil have trained with the focus on stopping the Bayern Munich winger from causing havoc with his favoured move of cutting in from the right wing onto his left foot.
Earlier on Friday, Robben was included on a 10-man shortlist by FIFA for the Golden Ball, the prize given to the player of the tournament.
A total of seven players from finalists Germany and Argentina, including Lionel Messi, are also on the shortlist along with Neymar of Brazil and James Rodriguez of Colombia.