Could James Rodriguez be the best player in the world?

While it may seem like a sacrilege to think of anyone but Messi or Neymar taking the title of Best Player in the World during the most awaited World Cup of the last 40 years, a small –in frame—Colombian player is actually big enough to contend for the pompous title, and his name is James Rodriguez.

Every four years, FIFA crowns the top of player of their trademark title, and although it rarely has any resonance with real life –or what happens for four years between World Cup–, one man can claim the honor of creeping up to the Olympus of the Gods in just seven games.

SEE ALSO: 17 reasons Colombia is your favorite World Cup team

The man closer to getting there, and perhaps not even needing seven games to do it, is Colombian sensation James Rodriguez, who plays for Monaco and, so far, he is making headlines every single day he steps on to a pitch in Brazil.

James has been named the best players of the best round, is currently the top scorer with the tournament with 5 goals in 4 games, has scored the best goal of the tournament and led Colombia to a quarterfinal for the first time in history.

Pekerman’s team has become the biggest surprise in the tournament, and not so much for the fact they have trekked their way to the quarterfinals, where they’ll face the mighty Brazil, but because of how they’ve made it.

Colombia was drawn in a positive group for their aspirations, as it was presumed they would qualify to the next round after battling Japan, Ivory Coast and Greece, but their next two matchups had a gruesome outlook for the Cafeteros.

They were bound to face a historical World Cup winner in the round of 16, as no one really could foresee Costa Rica to come out leading group D on top of England, Italy and Uruguay. But then even they had been able to clear that first hurdle in the second round, the winner of a match between Brazil and Holland or Spain would await in quarterfinals.

A treacherous road no doubt, in which Chile has given Colombia a ray of light, as after upsetting the World Champs and clinching the second spot of group B, gave Brazil a run for their money and almost eliminated them with a last minute of overtime shot to the cross bar that gave all of the Samba Nation a good scary shake.

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James Rodriguez now has a tough but perfect scenario to prove what he is really worth.

Lots of authorized figures in the sport are claiming to take easy with the 22-year-old man, and not to compare him to other more established players, namely Neymar and Messi, yet.

But what is enough to truly show the world that you are to be respected as any other of best players in the sport?

Well, a match in Fortaleza, against Brazil, just two games away from the final of a World Cup, and facing Neymar –four goals in the tournament so far— may just be the perfect scenario to make a case for it.

James Rodriguez has had to raise up as the attacking leader of Colombia, in the absence of his long time companion, at the club and international level, Radamel Falcao, and the Cafeteros have not shown, even for an instant, that they miss Monaco’s goalscorer.

His performances in Brazil have earned James the right to be one of the top transfer targets of the summer, with Real Madrid and other European giants trying to lock down the hottest footballer of the year, but before that he has a clear mission: to get Colombia as far as possible in the World Cup, and the to also earn the right to –if only for his performance during the last month—be known as the best player in the World.

SEE ALSO: The World Cup quarter finals are set