Top 10 Fastest Players At The 2014 World Cup With Arsenal & Liverpool Target Topping The List

The quickest stars of the group stage of the tournament in Brazil.

With Netherlands and Costa Rica triumphing over Mexico and Greece respectively on Sunday, the duo join Brazil and Colombia as one half of the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals.

There have been some superb performances so far at the tournament, both from teams as a whole and individuals.

One thing that has been prominent is the pace of players and here are the 10 fastest stars of the group stage, with statistics courtesy of Inside Futbol.

10. Alejandro Bedoya, USA – 32.3 kph

This Nantes midfielder helped the Americans progress from Group G at the expense of Portugal and with Belgium in the next round a last eight place is not beyond the realms of possibility.

9. Raphael Varane, France – 32.3 kph

The Real Madrid centre-back has been included in the French back line ahead of Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and the 21-year-old has proven why with some solid performances.

8. Giovanni dos Santos, Mexico – 32.5 kph

Fans of Tottenham Hotspur will not have great memories of this forward, but dos Santos’ performances for Villarreal last term proved why there was so much hype surrounding the Mexican when he was at FC Barcelona.

7. Shkodran Mustafi, Germany – 32.9 kph

This Sampdoria defender only made the 23-man German squad after injury to Lars Bender and is unlikely to play a huge part for a nation strongly tipped to win the competition.

6. Fabian Johnson, USA – 33.0 kph

A second American now and a right-back who has been posing all sorts of threats with his marauding runs down the flank to support the attack.

5. Darijo Srna, Croatia – 33.0 kph

Age is clearly no object as this Croatian captain managed to clock this impressive speed at 32-years-old, although could not help his nation to progress from Group A.

4. Angel di Maria, Argentina – 33.0 kph

It’s been a really impressive past 12 months for this Argentine, who helped Madrid win the Champions League and Copa del Rey with his fine performances and is also a key player for his national team.

3. Mario Balotelli, Italy – 33.0 kph

There has been much speculation over the future of this AC Milan striker, who had an indifferent World Cup with the Italians and is said to be unhappy at the San Siro.

2. Alvaro Pereira, Uruguay – 33.1 kph

Another full-back now as it becomes more and more common in the modern game for those in the position to be just as important in attack as they are in defence.

1. Serge Aurier, Ivory Coast – 33.5 kph

Top of the pile is a 21-year-old Toulouse right-back who has caught the eye of both Arsenal and Liverpool for his performances on both the domestic and international stages over the past year.

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