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World Player of the Week: Teo Gutierrez - Colombia
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| Colombia |
4-0 | Uruguay |
As Europe's big guns got their World Cup qualification campaigns under way on Friday, it seemed easy to forget that the South American group had been running for almost a year. And one team who had been in disappointing form was Colombia, who had managed just one competitive victory since their narrow win over Argentina 11 months ago.
That was until Friday, when they entertained Uruguay, the reigning South American champions, and convincingly beat them 4-0 to get their campaign back on track.
One name stood out as Oscar Tabarez's men were convincingly beaten: that of Teofilo Gutierrez, who scored two goals shortly after half-time in Barranquilla, effectively putting the game beyond Uruguay after Radamel Falcao's opener.
| Congratulations to Gutierrez, Goal.com's 173rd World Player of the Week winner! |
Honourable Mention
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Stanislav Manolev - Bulgaria The PSV full-back was instrumental as Bulgaria outplayed Italy and nearly took away a deserved three points. His marauding runs down the right caused the Azzurri all sorts of problems, and he even snatched the first goal of the game with a shot from distance, and had a hand in creating Georgi Milanov's equaliser. |
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Mesut Ozil - Germany As Joachim Low's men started to struggle in their opening World Cup qualifier against Faroe Islands on Friday, the Real Madrid playmaker took control, scoring a brilliant double, as if to show his club side that the signing of Luka Modric was an unnecessary one. |
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| Abou Diaby - France The injury-ravaged Arsenal midfielder continued his recent renaissance at club level with a commanding performance for his country, scoring the only goal as Didier Deschamps masterminded his first-ever win in charge of his country against Finland in Helsinki. |
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Christian Atsu - Ghana The 20-year-old was representing his country on home soil for the first time and continued his fine start to his international career, tapping home a close-range effort after just 10 minutes, and stealing the show as the Black Stars took a big step on the road to January's African Cup of Nations. |
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Steinmetz Alves - Brazil |
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On Sunday, we encouraged our readers to nominate their choices for the best player of the week. Here are some of the comments we received:
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Inside Goal.Com
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Player Ratings: West Brom 5-5 Man Utd
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"Teo Gutierrez. Liverpool should buy him."
Mustafa Kahkashan thought that Diaby or his Arsenal team-mate Santi Cazorla were worthy of recognition.
"Santi Cazorla or Abou Diaby. Messi has many fans, but that doesn't mean he should win it."
Nurul Faizah will find our eventual selection quite baffling ...
"Of course it's Mesut Ozil."
Prince Danish, meanwhile, thinks that Radamel Falcao should have claimed back-to-back awards for his part in Colombia's win.
"I'm not a Falcao fan but he definitely deserves it! Two hat-tricks against Athletic Bilbao and Chelsea and then a goal for Colombia!"
Joseph Miffy was impressed by Pablo Osvaldo, who scored twice as Italy avoided embarrassment against Bulgaria.
"Osvaldo: Saved Italy from losing against Bulgaria by scoring two goals."