Statistics diehards, club sporting directors, their football scouts and even technology freaks interested in anti-aging genetics ought take a closer look at the top performing players at the Copa America and Euro 2024 tournaments currently raging in USA and Germany.
Copa America 2024’s outstanding player ahead of quarter final action is 34-year-old former Everton forward Salomon Rondon. The Pachuca striker has won three official man of the match awards following stellar displays for Venezuela who have upset the form book to earn a last eight berth against Canada.
Shipped out of Everton after netting just once in 27 outings, Rondon has found a new lease in his career, first at River Plate in Argentina and now with Pachuca in Mexico. He’s trim, fast and hungry – not the lurching, lunging heavyweight forward you remember in the English Premier League.
Rondon was unplayable as Venezuela, the lowest ranked team still in the competition upstaged Ecuador 2-1, masterminded their 3-0 triumph over Jamaica and scored the solitary goal as they toppled Mexico 1-0 despite being ranked 40 places below them in world football governing body Fifa rankings.
How can a mere change of address unleash so much inherent potential in a player? And yet Rondon isn’t an isolated case.
Colombia’s best player at the Copa America is James Rodriguez, not Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, even though the Anfield hero was man of the match when Colombia beat Costa Rica 3-0. 33-year-old Rodriguez has three assists to his name and was official man of the match in Colombia’s 1-1 draw with Brazil and their 2-1 win over Paraguay.
Rodriguez’s exit from Everton was just as inglorious as Rondon’s but he’s back playing in his element at Sao Paulo in Brazil. World Cup 2014’s outstanding performer now has 27 goals in 103 outings while Rondon has an enviable record of 43 strikes in 107 games.
The other veterans punching their full weight at the Copa America were 41-year-old keeper Claudio Bravo who was man of the match in Chile’s 0-1 loss to Argentina, a game in which he made eight saves; and 35-year-old Alexis Sanchez who picked up two man of the match gongs in Chile’s goalless draws with Peru and Canada.
France’s Ngolo Kante, Belgium’s Kevin de Bruyne and Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka, all of whom have won two man of the match awards, are the over thirties showing youngsters how it’s supposed to be done.