They were not alone in choosing team-mates: The German captain, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Joachim Löw – named coach of the year after winning the World Cup – picked entirely Teutonic top threes. The Sweden coach, Erik Hamren, diplomatically favoured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Holland’s Robin Van Persie and Guus Hiddink both thought Arjen Robben was best, while two of the three players and coaches to put James Rodriguez in first place were, like him, Colombian (the other was Noel Sanvicente, coach of Venezuela).