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As we await the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, Sportskeeda can reveal that each of the four remaining countries has at least one player who has played in India either for their club or national team. Here is the list below.
Brazil
Hernanes, Luiz Gustavo
The hosts have two such players in their squad. Most people will recall Luiz Gustavo featuring for Bayern Munich when the German giants came to New Delhi with their first-team squad to play the farewell match of Bhaichung Bhutia against the India national team. Gustavo appeared as a second half substitute in the 4-0 win back in January 2012.
Hernanes came to India back in 2007 when he was part of the Sao Paulo youth team that played five matches in five different cities during the Super Soccer Series. The Brazilian outfit won all five games, scoring 17 goals and conceding none, with a 21-year-old Hernanes impressing from midfield with goals and assists.
Germany
Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller
Six of Bayern Munich’s German stars, who have been regular members of their World Cup campaign so far, started in the 4-0 win over the India national team two years ago at the JLN Stadium in New Delhi. The match was Bhaichung Bhutia’s swansong but it also gave Indian fans the rare opportunity to watch some of the best players of the world in action. Muller bagged a brace in that game while Schweinsteiger also got on the scoresheet.
Unsurprisingly Neuer didn’t have much to do in this game while central defender Boateng also had a comfortable outing. Lahm played at left back while Kroos produced a vintage display in midfield.
But this was not the first visit to India for either Kroos or Muller. Back in 2008, Kroos started in Oliver Kahn’s farewell game against Mohun Bagan, which was witnessed by more than 100,000 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Muller was part of the Bayern Munich youth side that came to Kolkata for a couple of friendly matches against East Bengal in 2009. Playing on the right wing, Muller scored in one of the games.
Argentina
Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Marcos Rojo, Javier Mascherano, Ricardo Alvarez, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Federico Fernandez, Ezequiel Garay, Mariano Andujar
The South American giants have the maximum representation with as many as 13 current World Cup players having visited Kolkata back in September 2011 for the international friendly against Venezuela. It was a historic occasion for the City of Joy as it witnessed the world’s best player in action. Personally it was a massive game for Messi also as it was his first cap after being named the captain.
Nine of those 13 - Romero, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Rojo, Mascherano, Alvarez, Messi, Higuain, Di Maria – started in the 1-0 victory with Messi providing the assist for the winner. Seven of them are expected to start against Netherlands on Wednesday. Aguero and Fernandez came on in the second half while Garay and reserve goalkeeper Andujar were unused substitutes. Additionally it was Alejandro Sabella’s first-ever game as Argentina coach.
But this Argentina team’s Indian connection doesn’t end there as assistant coach Julian Camino is a former East Bengal player, having played for the red-and-gold brigade in 1988.
Netherlands
Arjen Robben
Robben, who has been one of the best players of the 2014 World Cup, is the only member of the Dutch squad to have an Indian connection. He was of course part of the Bayern Munich squad that faced India in Bhutia’s farewell game. Robben started this game and there were a couple of instances when he got annoyed by the physical challenges of India’s left back Syed Rahim Nabi. Robben though had the last laugh as he set up one goal and terrorised Nabi for the rest of the game.
