35-year-old Messi and 37-year-old Ronaldo have already said that the World Cup in Qatar will most likely be their last. The two main players of the 21st century, who have dominated for 15 years, have one last chance to take the main trophy in football. At the same time, the teams of both are now one of the favorites of the tournament and have good composition, and Leo and Krish, despite their age, will be important for their teams.
In general, both legends will definitely be prominent players in the upcoming tournament and will do everything possible to make their dream come true. Today we’ll take a look at 5 players who could possibly become the heroes of the World Cup. Note that this is only the first part of this top. There will be both football stars who should drag their teams directly, as well as new names for you that can surprise you with their game.
1 – Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka
The three lions include several young players whose price tag is already under 100 million. But for the first team, not many people show their best football so far. And in general, England with such players shows very boring football. Now England has a gaming crisis. 3 draws and 3 defeats in the last 6 matches. Ugly football played by the Southgate team can brighten up one of the young.
There will be goals from the same Kane, but we bet on Bellingham. He has an important role to play – promoting the ball and delivering it to the attack. Usually, Jude pairs up in the support zone with the more defensive Rice, so Bellingham, one of the leaders of Borussia, who already has 4 goals in the Champions League, should also become an influential player in the national team. At the age of 16-17, he began to break various records.
To this, we add Bukayo Saka, who, instead of with Arsenal, spends a super season, leading the Premier League standings. The 21-year-old player already has 10 points in the goal + pass system. In the national team, Saka has long been the main one. In the Euro final, he was given the right to take a penalty and the young Bukayo could not cope with the pressure. It will be symbolic if it is he who drags England.
2 – one of the goalkeepers
Here I immediately recall the World Cup in Brazil, when several goalkeepers became heroes at once and declared themselves. Only Keylor Navas who was and who he became after that every World Cup. And after almost every big tournament we admire someone as a goalkeeper. And now several top goalkeepers are approaching the World Cup in excellent shape at once.
Cameroonian Onana with his saves practically dragged Inter into the playoffs of the Champions League. A big contribution to first place in the group stage was also made by the Portuguese Diogo Costa. Thibault Courtois in 2022 is unmatched. Just remember how he dragged Real into matches with PSG, Chelsea, and Liverpool. But we will separately single out 1 goalkeeper, who, in our opinion, can become the main reason for the success of his team. We are talking about Emiliano Martinez.
Martinez defends the gates of the national team, which is considered one of the main favorites of the tournament. Without his cool game, this trophy is impossible to win. Winning America’s Cup was made possible largely because Martinez showed a great game. In the semi-final penalty shootout, he repelled 3 Colombian shots at once, which delighted Messi. In total, he conceded only 2 goals during the tournament. This guy is able to bring Messi the coveted trophy.
3 – Aurélien Tchouameni
It was impossible not to take him to this top, if only because 2 key French players – Pogba and Kante will not go to the tournament due to injuries. With these guys, France reached the final of Euro 2016 and won the 2022 World Cup. It will be hard without them, but there is someone to replace them. Aurélien proved it in the 2020 Nations League victory for France.
Tchouameni immediately replaced Casemiro in Real Madrid, why not repeat this trick in the national team? It is not clear who will play next to him in the center line, but no doubt Tchuameni will be an iron player in the base. He’s good without the ball, but he’s not bad with the ball either. Having a top line-up, Deschamps never bet on dominance. And in such football, the role of a defensive midfielder is extremely important. If France goes far, Tchouameni will be one of her heroes.
4 – Rafael Leao
Fernando Santos has super players at his disposal. The role of Ronaldo remains a coaching puzzle, but now we will talk personally about Leao as a player who is able to shoot for the national team by stepping out of the shadow of Cristiano. Leao should become the brightest player in the Portuguese team.
He can beat one-on-one and combine with partners, but most importantly, Portugal with strong opponents will still prefer to give the ball away and catch their chance on counterattacks, and this is Leao’s favorite football. He is very fast. Leao will stay in a high position, receive the ball and turn on the speed. In the absence of an injured Jota, Rafael is the only candidate left winger. Especially after a great last season, Leao is back in great shape.
5 – Neymar
Brazil can shoot any of the most powerful attacking lines. Anthony, Vinicius, Rodrigo, Richarlison, Jesus… But with such competition, any of the players on this list can simply lose time on the field. At Tite, everyone is replaceable except for Neymar. He is the leader of this team, and recently also a football player without health problems and in his best shape. 11+9 in 13 Ligue 1 matches – that says a lot.
That is why now it will be possible to make such a bold prediction – this tournament will be the Neymar tournament. The main Brazilian football player of the last decade has finally matured. We see his professional attitude to the matter, the killer instinct. For the national team, Neymar has 6 goals and 5 assists in his last 7 matches. Brazil is the main favorite for the World Cup, and Neymar is the main leader of the Brazilian national team.
Neymar will not have another chance to take the World Cup. This is the right time. We hope that he will be able to avoid health problems. And yet, at the World Cup, Ney can become the best scorer of the Brazilian national team in history, beating the legendary Pele. We are waiting for a fairy tale.
This was the first list of players who can become heroes of the upcoming World Cup.
