The face and seal of Qatar: the ideal eleven vs. the one of disappointments

The twenty-second World Cup ended days ago, with the celebration of Argentina. There are still traces of what happened in Qatar. From the numerical point of view, the World Cup complied, since it broke the goal record in one edition (172), surpassing the mark of Brazil 2014 and France 1998 (171). As there is still some World Cup atmosphere left, there is a common exercise after any competition of this lineage.

Deportivo drew up the ideal eleven for the World Cup, those that reflected a high level and positive statistical records (data from FIFA and SofaScore). On the other hand, we propose the eleventh of disappointments, those players who did not find the tone and who coincided with the failures of their respective teams.

In the eleven of the highlights, a site to which several applied was for the bow. Livakovic (Croatia) and Bono (Morocco) had a great World Cup, however Emiliano Martinez was who he won the Gold Glove. Although the Argentine is not among those who made the most saves, he had key appearances in favor of the Albiceleste, such as his agonizing covers against Australia and France, and his plus in penalty shootouts. He had three games with his undefeated fence, like Bono and Englishman Jordan Pickford.

The right side is Achraf Hakimi, one of the pillars of the Moroccan team. He was the one who gave the most passes in the North Africans (360) and who completed the most line breaks (86). The central duo has Nicolás Otamendi and Josko Gvardiol. The Argentine had a superlative performance, becoming a pattern. He was the second with the most successful passes in the World Cup (530) and the second on his team with the most clearances (24). Meanwhile, the Croatian Gvardiol had his ideal platform in Qatar to take the next step. He is 20 years old and is on the radar of teams like Real Madrid. He was the tournament’s second-most interceptions (11) and the leader in clearances (37). The rear completes it Theo Hernandez, France left back. He registered 87% of accurate passes and added two assists (in addition to his goal against Morocco, in the semis).

The midfield has on the axis a Sofyan Amrabat. The 4 of Morocco was one of the best interpreters of the seasoned style of the Lions of the Atlas. so much so He was the one who ran the most on his team. He had a total distance traveled of 81.44 km. who accompanies him is Luka modric, the powerhouse of Croatia, reaching his second consecutive podium. A link converted into an extremely neat mixed midfielder with the ball. He logged 520 passes and 231 line break attempts (183 completed).

Although his participation in the final was not decisive, the balance of Antoine Griezman in Qatar it is positive. His presence was less prominent, but highly effective in Deschamps’ France, being a link. Or as he defined it, the “link” between the middle and the offense. He stood out with 274 defensive pressures and three assists.

The forward integrates two champions. One is obvious: Lionel Messi. It was the Flea World Cup, making his dream come true. He was directly involved in 10 of Argentina’s 15 goals (seven goals and three assists) and he was the one who tried the most on goal: 32 shots. He broke the record that came before him and scored in all phases. Your partner Julian Alvarez It became the perfect complement. La Araña entered for Lautaro Martínez and justified his ownership. The Manchester City forward contributed with four goals.

The ideal team closes it Kylian Mbappe, the other star who left Qatar in 2022. Although he could not repeat the 2018 title, he graduated as a crack. He was the top scorer in the World Cup, with eight goals, three of them in the final.

The thankless part The eleven that disappointed. Most were left out in the group stage. In goal, appears Keylor Navas, substitute at PSG. The Costa Rican, a benchmark for his country, conceded 11 goals in two games (7 from Spain and 4 from Germany).

The sides are from Belgium, one of the great failures of the contest. on the right, Thomas Meunier, who did not comply with his headline poster. He was from the start in two of the three games and never completed 90 ′. On the left side, Yannick Carrasco. He did not give the necessary depth to the Red Devils for his band. He had no assists and only had one completed dribble. The central duo is in Europe: Kamil Glik (Poland) and Nikola Milenkovic (Serbia). In the Poles, in the round of 16 the defensive strength they showed in the group phase collapsed. In the Serbs, the Fiorentina defender could not avoid the cracks at the bottom: eight goals conceded.

The midfield of this team could be a starter in a top team. Fede Valverde He arrived at the World Cup with the poster of being one of the best in the world in his position. However, the Uruguayan did not show anything of what he does at Real Madrid (also because of Diego Alonso’s approach at La Celeste). He registered only one shot on goal, in the context of a team that barely scored two goals. The Serb accompanies him Sergej Milinkovic-Savicanother with a sign that did not show his credentials.

Who had an ungrateful World Cup was Thomas muller. The German arrived with the weight of being the active scorer in the World Cup, a seat from which he was displaced by Messi. He left Qatar without converting, without finishing on goal and eliminated in the group stage, again.

The offensive trident has bloodline types. Cristiano Ronaldo He played his fifth World Cup, but it was not the way he wanted. Although he reached a record (scoring in five editions), he was involved in the controversy since he set foot on Qatari soil and ended up losing the position. He left crying after being eliminated. Lothar Matthäus called it “the great failure of the Cup.”

Romelu Lukaku He played at half speed and that hurt Belgium’s options. The icon of his bad tournament was the match against Croatia, in which he missed three sung goals. In the item ‘clear chances missed’, he added four in total. The XI completes it Gareth Bale, who did not help Wales in the effort to go to the second round. He scored one goal, from a penalty, and had less than 70% passing accuracy.