OCEANS APART XI
With every squad for the Geopolitics World Cup now finalised – Turkey, Jordan, Ghana and Uzbekistan were the last teams to confirm their 26-man rosters on Tuesday – we now know exactly who is making the trip to the tournament. But as a leading expert in rejection, constantly trying and failing to convince your inbox to let us out of the spam folder, Football Daily is just as interested in those who have been snubbed than those that will be subbed. The reactions to the omissions was also fascinating: sure, being selected to represent your country at the GWC is cool, but have you ever had to trawl through the Social Media Disgraces of Harry Maguire’s mum as she reacts to her son’s omission from the England squad with all the rage and injustice of Germany reacting to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles? And with that image seared into our collective brains, we humbly present our Omitted XI (4-3-3), the best non-knacked players (of qualified nations) that didn’t or won’t make it on to planes bound for the USA USA USA, Canada and Mexico.
Goalkeeper: Lucas Chevalier (France): Chevalier has had a brutal season after a €40m move from Lille last summer. He lost the gloves at PSG to a Russian who could potentially be mistaken for a Games Workshop employee and now is fourth or fifth choice in the French pecking order.
Right-back: Jeremie Frimpong (Netherlands): as much end product as an asthmatic balloon entertainer but an electrifying player nonetheless, who suffered from being played out of position by Arne Slot at Liverpool. The man he was meant to replace at Anfield, Trent Alexander-Arnold, also missed out.
Centre-back: António Silva (Portugal): much-hyped 22-year-old fell out of favour for club and country at the worst possible time. Roberto Martínez named Silva as the man who accidentally leaked Portugal’s XI against Georgia at Euro 2024 but the Portugal manager insisted that was not a factor here.
Centre-back: Dean Huijsen (Spain): there are no Real Madrid players in a Spain World Cup squad for the first time ever. The Dutch-born defender’s decision to switch allegiance after a youth career with the Netherlands looks to be something of a gaffe.
Left-back: Alejandro Balde (Spain): admittedly, Spain have excellent options in Marc Cucurella and Alejandro Grimaldo, but with 42 appearances in all competitions for La Liga champions Barcelona, Balde can feel unlucky to miss out.
Central midfield: Adam Wharton (England): we can only hope those Jordan Henderson vibes are worth it, Thomas.
Central midfield: Eduardo Camavinga (France): another Madrid casualty. Yes, France’s squad is stacked but central midfield is arguably their weakest position and the 23-year-old has heaps of elite experience, including the 2022 final.
Central midfield: Diego Luna (USA USA USA): after featuring on Times Square billboards and pre-GWC Nike adverts, Luna was informed via email by Mauricio Pochettino that he was out, despite seven goal involvements in 16 internationals.
Right wing: Mika Godts (Belgium): the wonderkid can play off both flanks but his versatility and more than 30 goal contributions for Ajax were still not enough to convince Rudi Garcia of a place in the squad. Oh, Rudi!
Left wing: Morgan Gibbs-White (England): as Phil Foden struggled for form and Cole Palmer for fitness, Gibbs-White was arguably the best player in the Premier League in 2026, scoring 12 league goals since early January for a Nottingham Forest side at the wrong end of the table.
Striker: João Pedro (Brazil): evidently, being player of the year for a mid-table Premier League side based in west London doesn’t mean much to Carlo Ancelotti and Brazil (unless, of course, you are Brentford’s Igor Thiago).
HERE. WE. GO
The GWC player interactive has arrived! Thanks Fifa. Read up on all 1,248 players, from the Paraguay striker called “Viking” to the Irish-born Cape Verde defender who received his first call-up via LinkedSky. Once you’re clued up on all 48 teams’ strengths and weaknesses, you can have a go at Bracketology, our World Cup simulator game where you can click your way through the group stage and the knockouts to predict a champion. And for bookmarking, you can keep tabs on the sharpest shooters with our Golden Boot tracker.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There are low points, there’s depression. You can suffer from depression in football too; there’s no need to be ashamed to say so. It’s true that I’ve often heard players say they were suffering from depression and that fans or people on the outside didn’t understand because they were earning a lot of money. But no, that’s rubbish and you shouldn’t say that. Depression is personal; it’s deep inside you. When you’re depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body. For me, that’s what’s hard, and we need to talk about it” – the France and departing Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté opens up about the struggles he has faced during a year of personal tragedy in which the death of teammate Diogo Jota was followed by that of his father.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Maybe as an American I don’t have the necessary perspective, but if I’m Andoni Iraola, do I really want the Liverpool job? ‘Hey, we just pitched the last gaffer out the door marked Do One only 12 months removed from winning the title in the toughest league in the world because this year we only finished fifth and got bounced out of Bigger Cup in just the quarter-finals by the defending and eventual champs. What shoddy performance … So, you interested?’” – Ray Anselmo.
If the current trend at the French Open is any indication, get ready for a Curaçao v Jordan GWC final” – Krishnamoorthy V.
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily letters. Right, Mike Wilner, we may have tolerated each other in the same virtual bar for nigh on two decades, but now you’ve got my goat. If you are telling me that Carly Simon isn’t a significant figure in 1970s Adult-Orientated Rock (album-oriented rock being an early-80s mangling of the term to justify the existence of Toto, Boston and bloody Journey) then I’ll give you Nobody Does it Better, which is probably slightly overdoing it when it comes to a Kiwi centre-half, and also ask to you to consider the clear evolutionary lines between early groundbreaking AOR classic ‘Tapestry’ by singer-songwriter Carole King and the work of Ms Simon. Yes, nothing in Tapestry can in any way be adapted to further the cause of Antipodean Journeymen, but seriously, I’d be asking someone to hold my pint at this stage, alas as you can probably tell I don’t actually have any friends” – Jon Millard.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day is … Krishnamoorthy V. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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