The Real Madrid French midfielder played 77 minutes in France’s impressive 4-1 win vs Australia to kickstart their World Cup defense. Tchouameni is the player looked at to help soften the blow after France announced they would be missing both Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante. The player did not disappoint in the opening game and received a standing ovation from the French supporters in his first-ever World Cup start:

Aurelien Tchouameni vs Australia:

• 89 touches 

• 73 passes completed (96%)

• 6/6 duels won 

• 10 ball retrievals

• 4 tackles 

• 3 interceptions 

• Only lost the ball 3 times (!).

Antonio Rudiger:

Germany came into this tournament hoping to put the 2018 World Cup group stage exit behind them, however, they were on the end of a special Japan comeback. In the first half, Germany looked secure, starting from Rudiger. The Real Madrid defender played all 90 minutes which included 8 defensive actions, 125 touches, 107 passes, and 7/7 duels won but Germany’s defeat overshadowed his performance.

Marco Asensio:

The in-form forward started at false 9 in Spain’s opening game vs Costa Rica. The player showed why Luis Enrique placed trust within him. Two weeks prior to the World Cup, Asensio mentioned ‘I prefer playing more centrally’ and this game showcased this. Marco was fully involved in Spain’s play, his team-mates trusted him in the build-up and he scored Spain’s 2^nd goal in a historic 7-0 victory. Carlo Ancelotti praised Asensio’s performance within his post-game analysis, deservedly so. 

Luka Modric:

Croatia’s talisman, the 37 year old footballing legend became the first player to start in a EURO and a World Cup in 3 different decades – later matched by Cristiano Ronaldo. This was not an easy game for Croatia. Luka Modric after the game agreed: “We did not play our best game, but we will get better, we want to go far, we didn’t come here just to play in the group stage or just qualify to the round of 16.” Luka Modric did receive the official World Cup man of the match after the game, but knowing Luka’s mentality, this was not his main focus.

Eden Hazard:

The Belgium captain came into this World Cup after not featuring in Real Madrid’s last 9 La Liga games but he came with a point to prove. Prior to the tournament, Eden Hazard apologised to Real Madrid fans that it has not gone the way all parties dreamed it would in an interview with Marca’s Mario Cortegana. Following on, he admitted his level is no longer the same: “The level of 2018, I no longer have it, I don’t show it, I suffered too much, im not ashamed to say it. In 2018, I was perhaps a top 10 player in the world.” [he did not do his 2018 self any justice with this statement – we all know you that year Eden!]. Belgium kicked off their campaign vs Canada, a final dance for the ‘golden generation of Belgium’. Eden showed some signs especially in the first half, with some clever flicks and turns before being taken off in the 62^nd minute, which shows he isn’t physically ready to play a full game as expected. But Eden wanted to show more as he stated after the game, he wants to do more and be more involved. He has Roberto Martinez’s trust to show that. 

Thibaut Courtois:

The Yachine award winner – regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world came into the 2022 World Cup as the reigning World Cup Golden Glove winner. The Real Madrid goalkeeper once again showed his elite level, saving Belgium countless times including a penalty save on Canada’s Alphonso Davies. But not only his saving ability, his ball-playing ability and leadership saw him receive plenty of plaudits from the footballing world, especially from Spain and Belgium media. The best goalkeeper in the world, what else can be said?

Federico Valverde:

The all-action Uruguay midfielder went into this World Cup as one of the very best players in the world this season. 8 goals and 2 assists including big goals vs Barcelona, Sevilla, and Atletico. To kick start their World Cup campaign, they faced Paulo Bento’s South Korea, a well-organised side who do not concede a lot of goals and this was on display once again. Federico Valverde’s trademark rocket from outside the box was the closest to making a breakthrough but it hit the bar. The midfielder did receive the official man of the match award for his display. 1st a World Cup game, 1^st Man of the Match award. 

Vinicius Jr:

This was also Vinicius Jr’s very first World Cup game, a proud moment for the player as we saw prior to kick-off. Brazil began their campaign vs a tough Serbia side but showed why they are the favorites during the second half. That is exactly when Vinicius began to shine, every dangerous attack was started by him, he was fearless, he was electric, his decision-making was sublime, and it resulted in him being heavily involved in both of Brazil’s goals. The winger created 5 chances, completed 2 dribbles, and was involved in 6 defensive actions which saw him receive plenty of praise around the media world. Gilberto Silva highlighted his performance: “Nearly every positive attack came from Vinicius’ side, he looked the most lively and likely Brazilian player the whole game.” [BBC Sport]. Following Neymar’s injury – who is now expected to miss the other two group-stage games, Brazil will hope Vinicius can take the mantle.  

Rodrygo:

Rodrygo replaced his Real Madrid teammate, Vinicius, in the 76^th minute to play on the left side and he impressed the coaching staff. Rodrygo’s preferred position has always been down the left but rarely given the chance to show his true self in that position. Following Neymar’s injury, Tite moved Rodrygo to a central position and every action was positive, involved in numerous attacking moves as Brazil and could have scored his first World Cup goal if it wasn’t for a solid save from Serbia’s goalkeeper. His cameo has put him with a chance to start Brazil’s next game vs Switzerland, as per Mario Cortegana.

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Qatar:

The host nation are ranked 50^th in the world by the FIFA rankings and will be competing on the biggest international football stage for the first time in their history. Felix Sanchez, Qatar’s manager has worked his way up from Qatar U19 to U20 to U23 teams to become the coach of the first team in 2017. The Spanish coach began his career in Barcelona’s La Masia where he was part of the staff for close to a decade and has been regarded to play with the ‘Barca DNA.’

To host the World Cup in Qatar has always been a controversial decision, with former FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitting that it was a mistake to host the tournament here just last week. The current FIFA President Infantino has made jaw-dropping headlines in the past couple of days regarding the outburst of holding that has been transmitted worldwide since Qatar won the World Cup bid in 2010. The FIFA president has stated ‘today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel a migrant worker’ following on with ‘I know how it feels to be discriminated… I was bullied because I had red hair’ these statements have rightfully been met with an uproar around the world. Melissa Reddy, Sky Sports, branded these comments ‘disrespectful’ and ‘underpins how dirty the game really is’. The manager of Qatar, Felix Sanchez has stated the criticism wont affect the performance of his team, ‘We have been waiting so long for this moment to arrive, we are very much aware of who we are, who we are facing and how we want to play’

Felix Sanchez has taken charge of 70 games; winning 36 games, drawing 13 and losing 21. His side was the 2019 Asian Cup, beating Iraq, Korea, United Arab Emirates and Japan before claiming the trophy, with their manager receiving plenty of praise for the way they played their football, showing ‘personality’. Qatar even featured in the 2019 Copa America facing the likes of Colombia, Paraguay and Argentina before being knocked out in the group stage, a step too far for a side that’s only been in the works for two years at the time. Following on, Qatar also featured in the Gold Cup before losing to the eventual champions, USA 1-0 in the semi-finals but the spirit of their performance and the system of Sanchez’s side was on full display. His side finished 3^rd in the Arab Cup in 2021 by defeating Egypt in the 3^rd place play-off match via a penalty shoot-out. Felix Sanchez knows how he wants his side to play and that’s without any fear. Their World Cup group is anything but easy with Netherlands, Senegal; the current Afcon champions and Ecuador; one of the most exciting attacking teams within South America. The coach has mentioned that their sight is on ‘making history and getting out of the group’, it won’t be easy, but anything that history has taught us is to look out for the host nations. 

Qatar’s Expected XI: Al-Sheeb; Miguel, Al-Wari, Salman, Hassan, Ahmed; Hatem, Boudiaf; Al-Haydos; Ali, Afif. 

Netherlands:

The 8^th ranked nation going into the World Cup will be hoping to go the step further than they did in the 2010 World Cup and they do believe they can win the competition, as stated numerous times by their legendary coach, Louis van Gaal. The team has been unbeaten since van Gaal took over from Frank de Boer after the EURO defeat to Czech Republic in 2021. During the 15 game unbeaten streak they have beaten Belgium twice, Wales twice and Poland, all of these teams will participate at the Qatar World Cup. 

The Dutch qualified to the World Cup by finishing top of their qualification group that featured the likes of Turkey, Norway and Montenegro. For the qualification group standards, not a simple task. Their attacking talisman, Memphis Depay showed once again why he is one of the players to look out for going into the 2022 Qatar World Cup by scoring 12 goals in 10 games, the top scorer during the whole of the European qualifiers, whilst also registering 6 assists, joint most in the European World Cup qualifiers.  

Louis van Gaal has taken Netherlands to a 3^rd place World Cup finish in the 2014 edition, a team built around getting the best of Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, whilst being very strong defensively, with only Argentina having a better defensive record during the 2014 World Cup. Louis van Gaal’s positional sense of football has always been noted with fitting the style of play in the international football. Fast forward to 2022, the defensive system seen in the 2014 World Cup remains at large the same. The Dutch are favourites to finish top of the group, but this is a tricky group and they wont take anything for granted, which should be helped by van Gaal’s experience. 

The Dutch have one of the strongest back line in the World Cup with the likes of Van Dijk, Timber, Ake, de Ligt and de Vrij, In the midfield, they look at Frenkie de Jong to deliver, with the midfielder being a strong performer for his nation and Teun Koopmeiners, from Atalanta who is an all action midfielder and having a stellar start to the season for the Italian side. In the attack, Memphis Depay is their main-man, he will be supported by the likes of Steven Bergwijn and Cody Gakpo, an exciting looking attack. Cody Gakpo is a player to look out for and will be watched by many of the top football teams during this winter World Cup with a view of a transfer. 

Netherland’s Expected XI: Noppert; Dumfries, Timber, van Dijk, Ake; Blind; De Jong, Koopmeiners; Gakpo; Depay, Bergwijn. 

NOTE: Depay has been declared fit, but may not start the opening game, with Janssen being the replacement. 

Senegal:

The current Afcon champions are ranked 18^th in the FIFA rankings. Their manager, Aliou Cisse has been taking charge of the side since 2015 taking them to two international finals during that time. His side has suffered a major blow before the start of the World Cup with their star man Sadio Mane missing the tournament due to injury, Cisse has stated that Senegal won’t change their system to compensate for the injury of Mane and will stick to the principles that got them to the World Cup after defeating Egypt on penalties. The side will aim to make it into the knockout stages for the second time in their history.

There’s no Sadio Mane, but Senegal still have a squad filled with talent including Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, Ismaila Sarr amongst others. Aliou Cisse’s side is credited with a strong defensive unit highlighted throughout his 79 games in charge whilst only suffering 10 defeats. Senegal have kept 6 clean sheets in their past 8 official international games showcasing where their strength starts within a compact 442 defensive shape. On the other hand, Senegal have been struggling with finding the back of the net despite creating great goalscoring opportunities, within those last 8 official international games they have scored 12 goals from an xG of 17.2. 

Expected Senegal XI: Mendy; Sabaly, Cisse, Koulibaly, Ballo-Toure; Kouyate, N Mendy, Gueye; Ismaila Sarr, Dia, Diatta

Ecuador:

The South American side arrive to the World Cup ranked 44^th in the world by FIFA. They qualified for the World Cup above the likes of Colombia and Chile. Their manager, Gustavo Alfaro will take charge in his second international tournament after the 2021 edition of Copa America where they went out to eventual champions Argentina in the quarter finals. Alfaro’s side play exciting attacking football with non-stop running, fighting for every ball and duel. 

During the World Cup qualifiers, only Brazil outscored Ecuador’s 27 goal tally (equal with Argentina) and following on the theme, only Brazil created more big chances than Ecuador’s 37 tally. This portrays the type of side that Gustavo Alfaro’s team is; they want to attack the opposition as fast as possible, especially down the left hand side. This is where the left back, Brighton’s Pervis Estupiñán is expected the make the difference in regards to chance creation, he was the defender who created the most chances CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers region [Opta Analyst].

Ecuador have appeared at three editions of the World Cup, in 2002, 2006 and 2014. The only time they came past the group stages was in 2006, which is also the only time they won their first game hence a positive start vs the host nations Qatar is what Ecuador desire to build confidence and to play freely. Gustavo Alfaro has played down expectations for his side by making a comparison to the other three teams in the group: “They are teams that are superior to what we are, for a reason we were in pot number four in the draw, if we had been the best we would have been in pot one or two. Instead we must make things difficult for them.” A statement to relive pressure from his players or a statement to warn the opposition about Ecuador playing with no fear. Time will tell. 

Ecuador Expected XI: Dominguez; Preciado, Torres, Hincapie, Estupinan; Gruezo, Caicedo; Mena, Plata, Valencia, Estrada. 

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Real Madrid are unbeaten in all competitions, making their best start to a season since 1968/69. Rudiger’s warrior like header vs Shakhtar in added time made it 12 games without a defeat for Los Blancos heading into El Clasico. The German international will play with a mask during the game, as pictured in training. However, Real Madrid will be without Thibaut Courtois for the clash, as he has been described ‘not quite match fit’ by Carlo Ancelotti. This is obviously a huge miss for the current European Champions. The goalkeeper is expected to pick up the Yachine Award at the France Football ceremony on Monday. Andriy Lunin, Ukraine international will replace the Belgium international for Sunday’s game, he is labelled as a ‘modern day goalkeeper’ due to his excellent ball playing abilities, on the other hand, there are some concerns with his positioning and box commanding ability. Tchouameni, the €80m summer signing from Monaco who has greatly impressed whilst being tasked with replacing the legendary Casemiro will make his El Clasico debut, expected to form a trio with Kroos and Modric, ‘KTM’. 

Real Madrid’s expected XI:

Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius.

Carlo Ancelotti is expected to trust the back four and the attacking trio that won him the Champions League and La Liga double last season once again. As usual, Real Madrid will look to Toni Kroos and Luka Modric to assert the tempo of the game to fit Real Madrid, now aided by the signing of Tchouameni, whilst relying on Vinicius Jr to progressively carry the ball and create danger. Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping that Karim Benzema who is expected to pick up the Ballon d’Or a day after the Clasico will find his shooting boots from last season. 

ONE TO WATCH: Federico Valverde.

Barcelona come into this game with a heart-break sensation after the draw in the Champions League vs Inter Milan, leaving them an Inter Milan win vs Viktoria Plzen away from being eliminated into Europa League for the second season running. On the other hand, their results in La Liga have been impressive. They have only conceded 1 goal in 8 La Liga games this season, with the revived Marc-André ter Stegen contributing significantly to this record. Barcelona will be without Bellerin, Depay and most notably Christensen and Araujo for this fixture, with the latter two being devastating misses for La Blaugrana. On the positive side, Xavi has confirmed that Kounde has recovered and is expected to start in El Clasico. It will remain to be seen whether calls from the Barcelona fanbase to leave Pique, Busquets and Jordi Alba on the bench in favour of players like Frenkie de Jong and Alejandro Balde come to fruition. 

Barcelona’s expected XI:

Ter Stegen; Balde, Kounde, Eric Garcia, Alonso; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele.

According to AS, Xavi has set the task for Alejandro Balde to battle vs Vinicius Jr. He is expected to continue trusting the midfield trio that he has prioritised this season. The 19 year old Pedri continues to be one of the most outstanding players this season, often finding himself near the top of both progressive passes and progressive carries per game. Xavi will be hoping his goalscoring talisman, Robert Lewandowski will continue his scoring streak which has seen him find the net 14 times in 12 games this season.

ONE TO WATCH: Pedri.

This match-up promises to be exciting, with both teams wanting to grab the all-important win. A Real Madrid win could see Barcelona’s week be remembered a historic heartbreak, as they are already on the brink of Champions League elimination. A Barcelona win could see their season be revitalized, with focus shifting on becoming the Spanish Champions for the first time since 2019. A draw would keep Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid on goal difference, but this is never what these rivals come and play for. Another legendary battle awaits. 

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