Who to watch from the Lowest Ranked World Cup teams? (Part 2)
With the World Cup starting soon, which players from the Ten lowest ranked teams will be worth keeping an eye on and who might have a breakout tournament?
This is Part Two of a two part series. Part One is attached below for those who haven’t read.
(continued)
Canada (Ranked 41)
Canada only lost twice in all of 2021 (both losses came in the Gold Cup), but their form in 2022 has cooled off with four losses, including one to Uruguay in a September friendly. Since a good chunk of their team plays in the MLS, a number of their players will have gone at least a full month without competitive game action due to the league schedule. They have a number of issues coming into Qatar but also plenty of strengths, making Canada a true wildcard in a group with two heavy hitters. Ultimately, this is a side that features a mix of incredibly talented youth and hungry, yet experienced veterans — and all of them with something to prove to a global audience. Canada will be expected to fare better than they did in their one and only previous World Cup appearance. All it needs to do to achieve that is score a single goal after drawing a blank in three straight losses in 1986.
Just qualifying for the World Cup was a massive success, let alone doing so as the best team in their qualifying group, but the Maple-Leafs will have to put together quite a performance to be a success in Qatar in such a tough group. Don’t write them off though. They played half their qualifiers without their talisman, Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies, and with him back they’ll be stronger than ever. Their squad is full of pacy, athletic, intelligent attacking talent, and anyone they come up against will find it hard to keep Les Voyageurs from taking the ball on a nice little trip into the opposing goal.
Player to Watch – Tajon Buchanan (Club Brugge)
The young star made the move from the MLS to Europe last year when he left the New England Revolution for Club Brugge and is only expected to propel himself even further from there. At just 23 years old, Buchanan has already has recorded four goals and five assists in his international career for Canada, but there’s a catch to that: He seems to only contribute to goals when he starts, and in a team full of quality attackers like Larin, David and Davies, that’s never a guarantee. The young man will have to work seriously hard to feature, but when he gets his chance, expect fireworks.
Australia (Ranked 38)
Australia’s qualification for the 2022 World Cup was defined by thin margins. A last-minute loss to Japan and a 1–0 defeat to Saudi Arabia late in the qualifying process meant the Socceroos were going to have to fight through multiple playoffs to reach Qatar. This time, the margins tipped in favor of Graham Arnold’s side. Midfielder Ajdin Hrustic scored an 84th-minute winner over the United Arab Emirates in the Asian playoff to reach the intercontinental playoff against Peru. There, substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne came on for a penalty shootout and made waves with his antics, but eventually made the decisive save to send the Socceroos to their fifth consecutive World Cup. This isn’t a side with big-name stars like its golden generation of the 2000s. But it’s a team that was able to grind out qualification playing a majority of its matches on the road due to its country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions. Some fresh faces from a winless performance in the 2018 tournament, namely speedy wingers Martin Boyle and Awer Mabil, could inject new life for a nation looking to make the knockout stage for just the second time. Expect the Socceroos to sit back as much as possible and try to use their wing pace and set plays to get points.
Player to Watch – Harry Souttar (Stoke City)
Souttar, 24, will be in the running for comeback story of the tournament if Australia is able to make some noise. A breakout performance to start qualifying saw him inserted as a fixture of the Socceroos’ back line. But a devastating ACL injury in a match against Saudi Arabia last November side-lined him for almost a year. Souttar returned to the matchday squad for English second-tier side Stoke City on Nov. 5 after two weeks of game time with the club’s U-21s. His presence will be needed—Australia kept six clean sheets in 10 qualifying matches with the 24-year-old defender, and just two in seven matches without him. He also could provide a crucial goal-scoring threat on set pieces, especially with the Australians’ lack of ability going forward. At 6’6”, he scored six goals in 10 matches, primarily headers off corner kicks. A cheat code for Football Manager lovers.
Costa Rica (Ranked 31)
Costa Rica became the 32nd and final team to qualify for Qatar 2022 following a 1-0 intercontinental play-off win over New Zealand in June 2022. It was a hard road to Qatar for the Central American side, who made a slow start to their CONCACAF qualification campaign. Crucially the introduction of younger attackers such as Jewison Bennette and Anthony Contreras refreshed an ageing side that had previously battled their way to Brazil and Russia. The youthful injection of talent inspired Los Ticos to five wins from their final six qualifiers including a vital 0-0 draw in Mexico to push Costa Rica into a continental play-off against New Zealand. It was Costa Rica who got the better of New Zealand in Doha thanks to a third-minute goal from former Arsenal player Joel Campbell.
There is no getting away from the fact Qatar 2022 is the final hoorah for many of the experienced members of the squad: Record appearance-maker Celso Borges is 34, defender Kendall “La Torre” (The Tower) Waston will turn 35 in January, the aforementioned Campbell is 30 and evergreen skipper Bryan Ruiz, who played over 100 times for Fulham, celebrated his 37th birthday in August. There, however, are a plethora of bright prospects coming through, bringing the average age of the squad down considerably. Costa Rica will be hoping this blend of youth and rich experience can lead them to some solid results at the very least.
Player to Watch – Jewison Bennette (Sunderland)
A hugely promising 18-year-old, Bennette was called into the Costa Rica set-up by coach Luis Fernando Suárez even before making his senior debut at Herediano. The winger won his first international cap in August 2021 aged 17 years and two months – making him Costa Rica’s youngest international – the same month as he made a scoring debut for Herediano’s first team. The 18-year-old winger is Costa Rica’s bright attacking hope, a darting figure who has helped the Central American minnows reach a third straight tournament. Last summer he signed a four-year deal at Sunderland. Bennette comes from strong footballing stock in his home of Heredia, nine or so miles north of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital. His father, who shares the same name, is a well-known figure after winning international honours as an explosive striker in their homeland. Bennette Snr played for Costa Rica at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship, coincidentally in Qatar.
Tunisia (Ranked 30)
Tunisia’s strength is their lack of adventure and they will be among the more tactically cautious sides at the World Cup finals, happy to soak up the pressure, let the opponent have most of the play, and hope for opportunities at set pieces or on the counterattack. It is an approach that has stood them in good stead as they count themselves fortunate qualifiers for the tournament in Qatar. They were then drawn against Mali in the March playoff, the best possible pairing they could have got, but only squeezed through with more dollops of luck. After their exit at January’s Africa Cup of Nations finals, Tunisia went seven games without conceding a goal. That is their strong point and one of the reasons a relatively small country is able to punch above its weight in African football.
Player to Watch – Hannibal Mejbri (Manchester United, on loan with Birmingham City)
Mejbri, named after the great Carthaginian general, is seen by many as Tunisia’s brightest hope, with plenty of fans tuning in for Birmingham matches to follow his progress on loan from Manchester United. His style is slightly languid but he has great vision, technique and skill. He can play in several midfield positions but for now, it looks like his best position is a creative number 8. He also has , to put it lightly, a bit of aggression in his game. He was praised last season for coming on for his Manchester United league debut against Liverpool and hacking down an opposing player. United fought off very strong competition for his signature, and United & Tunisian fans alike will be hoping the young man is able to make a major name for himself in this tournament.
South Korea (Ranked 28)
South Korea cruised through its qualifying campaign, losing only one game and finishing behind Iran in the group. Son Heung-min was tied for the Asian qualifying lead with four goals and no team conceded fewer than South Korea’s three goals from 10 matches. But the competition in Qatar will be drastically different than qualifying, and the South Koreans will be well aware of that. Manager Paulo Bento is very aware of some of the opposition they will face in the group stages, having coached Portugal for the 2018 World Cup, and having faced Ghana in the group stage that time too. South Korea didn’t look particularly inspiring in its last international window, drawing with Costa Rica and squeaking by an unimpressive Cameroon side with a 1–0 victory, but recent wins over Iran, Egypt and Chile should give it some hope. Still, hope won’t be enough to get through this group—especially with their talisman suffering from a recent fractured eye socket suffered in the Champions League. He’ll be in Qatar, but his effectiveness is now a question mark for a side without a large margin for error. Keep an eye out for Kim Min-jae of Napoli as well. The large, pacy replacement for Kalidou Koulibaly at Center Back has impressed in Serie A and the Champions League this season and is sure to make a major move some time soon
Player to Watch – Jeong Woo-yeong (SC Freiburg)
Jeong was plucked from South Korea by Bayern Munich at 17 and went on to star for Bayern Munich II the following year. In 2019, he made the move to Freiburg with Bayern retaining the right to buy him back. Now 23, he has steadily become an integral force in the Bundesliga side’s attack with 10 goals over the last two-and-a-half seasons. He made his debut for the national team last year and has already scored two international goals this year. Jeong will most likely be paired up with Son in South Korea’s attack as Bento will try to utilize his pace and playmaking abilities in order to help create chances alongside their injured idol.