Team of the World Cup: Matchday 1

After the first round of games has ended we try to come up with a starting 11 of those who performed best in those ties.

Enner Valencia (Ecuador) – You’d be forgiven for forgetting that the former West Ham and Everton forward was still playing professional football but he certainly showed that he still has a lot to offer in Sunday’s opening match. Qatar may be in for a shout of being the worst team to ever play at a World Cup and I don’t see them getting on any better in their next match against Senegal, but Valencia’s deft header for his second goal would have beaten any World Class goalkeeper. It will be interesting to see how he does against Van Dijk on Friday but it won’t be easy for the Liverpool defender.

Richarlison (Brazil) – There was lots of talk in England when Richarlison who hasn’t scored a Premier League goal this season was picked over Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino in the Brazil squad. But the Tottenham striker proved his doubters wrong with two great finishes for Brazil against Serbia. The striker nicknamed ‘the pigeon’ soared like his namesake to thump home what was probably the goal of the tournament so far.

Bukayo Saka (England) – Bukayo Saka put right some of the demons from the EURO 2020 final with a fantastic display against Iran, he absolutely ran rings round their defence and it’s refreshing to see a winger so direct. The hope for England now is that he can continue this form deeper into the tournament. My hope is that if England win a penalty then captain Harry Kane MBE will give Saka the penalty to make up for that miss last year.

Jude Bellingham (England) – Another young Englishman who just absolutely oozed class in the first round of World Cup games. It’s incredible to think a lad who is just 19 years old is performing to this level on the World’s biggest stage, at 19 I think I’d just realised that February had two R’s in it.

Pablo Gavi (Spain) – Another teenager now who also grabbed a goal in the first set of World Cup games, his ability on the ball and the late runs he makes into the box are so intelligent he was a joy to watch. That being said Costa Rica were absolutely abysmal and looked surprised that a Spanish side passed it round them? Maybe FIFA need to bring in a policy where if a team concedes five or more goals they’re kicked out the tournament and replaced by another team.

Salem Al-Dawsari (Saudi Arabia) – Al-Dawsari managed to score the winner in what will surely go down as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history and prompted the King of Saudi Arabia to give the country a bank holiday the following day to celebrate. His footwork to create the space was Messi-esque and the curling finish was beautiful, might Newcastle look into using their Saudi links to bring the forward in for some competition for Calum Wilson?

Ritsu Doan (Japan) – Doan plays his club football for Freiburg in Germany and he used all that experience of his time in Germany to tuck home the winner for Japan. Germany fell to yet another embarrassing World Cup defeat, perhaps they were distracted by the beautiful kit of the Japanese? Whatever the issue they’re going to have to step it up in the next round of games.

Toby Alderweireld (Belgium) – Veteran former Spurs-defender Toby Alderweireld used all his experience to expertly pick out Batshuayi for Belgium’s only goal and defended very well throughout. It is worrying that Belgium are still relying on basically the same team from the previous 3 World Cups, quite how Roberto Martinez still has a job after wasting the best Belgian generation of all time is astonishing. How a man who got relegated with Wigan ended up with this job is bonkers, his assistant is Shaun Maloney for god sake.

Angelo Preciado (Ecuador) – The Ecuadorian defender who was playing as a wing back showed his attacking quality by providing a great cross for Enner Valencia to head home. Granted he didn’t have to do too much defending to do against Qatar but he looks like a solid player.

Al-Tambakti (Saudi Arabia) - To hold off the likes of Messi, Martinez, Di-Maria and Alvarez is no mean feat especially when they’re spending the last twenty minutes of a game throwing everything at you. Al-Tambakti was an absolute rock at the back for Saudi, again Newcastle would do worse if they were looking for some January depth.

Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico) – Robert Lewandowski has been the best goal-scorer in world football over the last few years, so when he stepped up to take a penalty against Mexico it felt like a done deal. Not if Ochoa had anything to say about it. The man who was cryogenically unfrozen to play at this years World Cup. He absolutely oozes World Cup, his blood cells are shaped like Jabulani footballs and he eats an exclusive diet of oranges which he draws smiley faces on and calls ‘Naranjito’.