If the football world was already quite familiar with that list of front men, Iran’s Mehrdad Pooladi is rather less well known outside of his home country but the Persepolis full-back sits second in the ranking with a score of 9.7 after helping Team Melli earn a point in the tournament’s first goalless match against Nigeria.
A measure of Iran’s defensive effort against Nigeria is that have posted more completed clearances than any other team aside from Mexico – and Pooladi’s performance included six tackles, a header off the line from Shola Ameobi and, when the opportunity allowed, some steady work in the final third of the pitch where he completed five of six attempted passes.
The full list of the top ten is as follows:
Thomas Muller, Germany (9.75); Mehrdad Pooladi, Iran (9.7); Geoff Cameron, USA (9.64); David Luiz, Brazil (9.6); Phil Jagielka, England (9.56); Robin van Persie, Netherlands (9.52); Arjen Robben, Netherlands (9.48); John Boye, Ghana (9.45); Alexis Sanchez, Chile (9.42); Tim Cahill, Australia (9.39).
