The World Cup is now over and for Tottenham Hotspur's players it's time to look back on what some achieved and for others what did not go their way.
In all 11 Spurs players made their way to the first ever winter version of the tournament, held in Qatar over a month, and in the end they all departed the competition one by one until there was only Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero left to do battle in the final on Sunday afternoon for France and Argentina respectively with the latter coming out on top.
Tottenham were represented across more countries playing at the World Cup than any other club in the world. Now it's time to reflect on the tournament for those Spurs players and work out the winners and losers after their exploits, with 'losers' being used in the loosest possible sense as these players have all achieved the laudable feat of representing their country at the highest level football has to offer.
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Winners
Cristian Romero
What an 18 months for Cristian Romero. First a Copa America winner, then a big money move to the Premier League with Tottenham and now a world champion with Lionel Messi.
After a shaky display in the first game against Saudi Arabia which saw him lose his spot in the next game, the 24-year-old steadily improved and starting every match after that, he put in an imperious performance in the final against France.
Now for the Argentinean it is time to push on with Spurs and get a consistent injury-free run of games for Conte's men. The Spurs head coach has big plans for Romero and now he's a World Cup winner at such a young age he should have all the confidence in the world to push on.
Hugo Lloris
The Frenchman had a good tournament and stood on the brink of becoming the first male captain to lift the World Cup in back to back tournaments. It was not to be as Lionel Messi & Co capitalised on a poor team performance from France but that should not detract from Lloris' performances across the month of football.
The France and Spurs captain was picked out publicly by the English media as the weak link in Didier Deschamps' team but responded on the pitch with an impressive display in goal against Gareth Southgate's men and he was again in control against Morocco as he took away a clean sheet.
The final was a step too far for France, with Lloris making a number of big saves but unable to do much about Argentina's clinical goals. He had a very positive tournament overall in what might have been his last appearance at the World Cup.
Ivan Perisic
The Croatian had a great World Cup with his country as they once again overachieved for a nation of their size. The 33-year-old was in fine form throughout the tournament with three assists and one goal as Croatia finished third.
Perisic created six chances for team-mates from the left-hand side and continues to roll back the years with his performances. He'll continue to bring that experience to Conte's team when he returns.
Richarlison
The Brazilian is the one Spurs player who manages to make both of our lists. He's among the winners because of his three goals in four matches.
Richarlison had the tournament of his dreams before Brazil's exit, scoring arguably both the best and second-best goals at the tournament. The best was his controlled flick and acrobatic volley against Serbia and then his strike against Son Heung-min's South Korea, dribbling the ball on his head before finishing off a great move, was almost as good.
Antonio Conte
The Tottenham boss gets on this list because, Richarlison's injury aside, he watched one of his players enjoy the ultimate success in football while also getting most of his key men back in good time for a little rest before the return of the Premier League season.
Even Ben Davies and Rodrigo Bentancur look like recovering from the injuries they picked up in Qatar in time for them to return for their first games back with the Welshman already back in training.
Conte also got the overworked (in the Premier League) players such as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Eric Dier and Harry Kane back before he perhaps would have expected them to return, although with the latter there could be some man-management to be done.
Losers
Harry Kane
This seems so harsh for a player who provided three assists and scored twice at this World Cup but unfortunately all Kane and most are going to focus on is that skied penalty that would have kept England in their quarter-final against France.
The 29-year-old striker admitted it's going to take him some time to get over that moment and that defeat but his Tottenham team-mates have already said that Kane's strong mentality will mean he will take out his hurt on Premier League defences in the weeks and months to come.
Richarlison
The Brazilian gets on this list twice because he unfortunately picked up a hamstring during the quarter-final defeat to Croatia and it is an injury that will keep him out for a total of five to six weeks.
The suggestions from Qatar were that Richarlison picked up the injury during the warm-up for the game yet went on to play 84 minutes in the encounter which in hindsight does not seem to have been the best choice by whoever made it despite the scale of the occasion.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
Hojbjerg said after Denmark's exit from the group stages: "A World Cup that didn’t go as expected. It is a great wake up call for us, to be reminded that we can only compete with the biggest and largest nations if we push and perform to our limits as a group. We didn’t manage to do so this time. So we can only learn, grow and punch back harder than ever to make sure we reach our full potential and make the country proud. We will be back."
For a man who was a creative force in the Euros and has weighed in with his fair share of goals and assists for Spurs this season, the midfielder was not able to spark Denmark to life as they scored just one goal in their three matches before heading home.
Rodrigo Bentancur
Again harsh this time on Bentancur, who impressed for Uruguay and we use 'loser' in the loosest sense, but ultimately it was an unsuccessful tournament for the 25-year-old after his wonderful start to the season with Tottenham.
Not only did Uruguay crash out in the group stages of the World Cup after a dramatic last day in their group, but the midfielder also suffered a small tear in the adductor muscle of his right leg just 33 minutes into the final game against Ghana which ended his involvement.
There is a hope that Bentancur will be fit in time for the New Year's Day match against Aston Villa, as he's suspended for the Brentford game anyway.
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