Mexicos Dos Santos - A True Playmaker

A player who brought the gold home for football in the 2012 London Olympics, Giovani Dos Santos is another forward whose keen sense of attack saw his team rise to victory in Mexico’s match against Cameroon. Together with Peralta, who scored the first official goal of this match, Santos effectively broke down Cameroon defences to create more goal-scoring opportunities. Despite the goal-line technology is place, it is difficult to accept the first goal attempt by Santos (and assisted by Herrera) as an offside, and the second one looked like too much of an own goal for Mexico which was assisted by Santos. Even though these shots weren’t ultimately considered goals, the winning goal by Peralta resulted out of a rebound shot by none other than Dos Santos.

Brought up playing with the Barcelona youth team, Santos has been loaned out to various European teams during the course of his adult career and is currently the forward at Spanish club Villareal. His ability to crumble the defence of the opposite team is what resulted in Mexico’s win against Cameroon, and it is to be seen whether his talents can be of any match to the globally renowned Neymar, against whose team he plays tonight.

Dos Santos has proved to have an even temperament on the field and doesn’t generally cause fouls or disgraces. The disappointment and anger on his face when the two goals he scored against Cameroon were disqualified was evident, but it was a sad situation for Mexico and even more so for the player who tried again and again to score for his home country. His game is characterised by sharp, accurate shooting and though he is not a selfish player, he ensures that he gets the ball when at an advantageous position and goes for the goal.