With the World Cup Quarter-Finals just around the corner, we are now down to eight teams. From
those eight teams, FC Barcelona has 10 players left in this tournament. The tournament started with
14 Barça players, a big majority of them representing Spain, and although not all advanced to the
knockout stages, some left a positive and negative lasting impression. The 10 Barça players means
that FC Barcelona is the most represented club left in this tournament and some of those players
have even been selected as man of the match in this tournament.
For Spain, FC Barcelona has Victor Valdes, Pique, Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta and
the new addition to the club, David Villa representing “La Furia Roja.” The other two players are
Argentina’s Messi and Brazil’s Dani Alves. It is possible that all ten players will be participating in the Semi-Finals and it is also possible that all ten players can be returning home if they suffer a defeat in the Quarter-Finals. Fortunately, none of the teammates will be facing each other this round but there is a strong likelihood that Messi might face his fellow teammates in the Spanish squad in the Semi-Finals if both teams are victorious.
Additionally, four players thus far have been chosen as man of the match. Messi was chosen for his
performance in Argentina’s match against Greece. The other three were all for Spain with David Villa
being chosen in Spain’s match against Honduras, Iniesta against Chile and Xavi in Spain’s Round
of 16 against Portugal. The four players who are no longer in the competition are Rafa Marquez,
Touré Yaya, Abidal and Henry. Rafa Marquez was the only one eliminated from the knockout stages
while the other three were eliminated in the group stage. France’s Abidal and Henry had a
tournament to forget with France’s horrible performance and off the pitch controversies that made
them the least liked country in the competition. Abidal especially will want to forget the game against
fellow teammate Marquez after committing a foul inside the box that gave Mexico a penalty kick. Touré Yaya also could not participate in the knockout stages after the Ivory Coast finished third in their group. Rafa Marquez captained the team in their last two games of the group stage and the Round of 16 loss to Messi’ Argentina.
The World Cup also has had its fair share of Blaugrana players doing well in this competition with
Xavi completing the most passes in the tournament with 368 passes, with Sergio Busquets second
with 327, and Piqué fourth with 306 passes. New addition to FC Barcelona, David Villa is tied for
joint top scorer of the World Cup with 4 goals, together with Slovakia’s Vittek and Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain, Even though Messi has not scored any goals, he has the most shots and shots on target in the tournament with 23 shots, 13 of them on target. Yet, both Rafa Marquez and Touré Yaya did manage to score a goal in this tournament. Andres Iniesta also scored against Honduras in the
group stages and perhaps Messi will finally break that goalless streak against Germany in the
Quarter-Finals. Only 3 more wins ensures one of the remaining eight nations will be crowned as the
new World Cup champions, will one of the Barcelona players be hoisting that precious trophy?
