With less than two weeks until the 2022 World Cup, squads are being announced. Some will inevitably be amended as further injuries are sustained during the final round of club fixtures, but we’re starting to get a picture of who will be in Qatar and who will be getting a mid-season rest.
One player who perhaps surprisingly won’t be taking part is Roberto Firmino. It’s not a shock in the sense than he has not played for Brazil since the final of the 2021 Copa America, being an unused substitute at best in their eight matches this year.
But his omission comes after he had a very productive start to the 2022/23 season. In the space of nine games, only five of which he started, Firmino scored eight goals and provided four assists. Not since the winter of 2017 has the Brazilian made more contributions in an arbitrary time frame of this length.
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