World Cup 2014: James Rodriguez Pips Karim Benzema to Best Player Title

James Rodriguez is the player of the World Cup - at least until the Argentina versus Germany final on Sunday.

The Colombia striker, who scored six goals in five matches in Brazil before his nation was knocked out by the hosts, pipped Karim Benzema, Thomas Müller, Lionel Messi and Xherdan Shaqiri to the top spot of Bloomberg Sports Power 25.

The list is compiled by analysing how players perform in their respective positions and considers other factors such as the strength of the opposition.

Rodriguez topped the index with a Bloomberg Sports rating of 83.84. Benzema (France - 83.24) was second, ahead of World Cup finalist Müller (Germany - 82.82), while Messi (Argentina - 82.25) ranked fourth.

The comprehensive study covers the entire World Cup, highlighting the performance of players in the most successful teams, along with some top performers in teams who crashed out earlier in the competition.

Finalists Germany have both Müller and Toni Kroos on the list while their Argentinian opponents can only boast Messi.

Excluding Costa Rica's Joel Campbell (who is on loan from Arsenal to Olympiakos), the Premier League was represented by just two players on the list - Tim Howard and Alexis Sanchez.

The best represented clubs in the list are Bayern Munich (four), FC Barcelona (three), and AS Roma (two), while the league from which the most players come is La Liga (six), Bundesliga (six), Serie A (four), Premier League (two), Ligue 1 (one). Six players plied their trade in other leagues around the world.