World Cup Special: The players from the Super League who can be found in Qatar
World Cup Special: The players from the Super League who can be found in Qatar.
By Andreas Mitsis
It is, to say the least, a controversial championship signed by a FIFA that has been surrounded by scandalous headlines. Everything from the way in which Qatar was awarded the tournament to how the host country treated its guest workers in the job of building stadiums for the championship.
Important factors to bear in mind regarding this in many ways special World Cup finals. To the sporting events that will take place on the Arabian Peninsula.
Our Greek national team is unfortunately conspicuous by its absence. Qualifying for a World Cup is anything but a simple task as many nations have experienced, even if the championship will in future increase the number of participating nations which is for better or for worse.
The last time it happened was the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. There we were, under the leadership of Fernando Santos, a penalty shootout and a great Keylor Navas between Costa Rica's posts from the quarter-finals. With the absence of the national team, the undersigned will instead focus on our Super League representatives in Qatar. 13 players represent our Greek top league and most come from AEK, who have as many as five players in place. There would even have been six from the club with the newly inaugurated Agia Sophia Stadion in Nea Filadelfia, had it not been for Steven Zuber's decision to turn down his Switzerland due to injury.
The main forward of the last EC playoffs instead prioritized surgery to get rid of his stomach muscle problems. Worth noting is that league leader Panathinaikos, with its Greek, Slovenian and Icelandic national team members among others, does not have any players in place in Qatar.
Join us below to take part and get the scoop on which 13 players from the Super League are in the WC!
Name: Damian Szymanski
Nation: Poland
Caps/Goals: 9/1
Position: Central Midfielder
Comment: It was happily a well-deserved call-up to the World Cup for Damian Szymanski. The midfielder has a brilliant autumn behind him where he shone in AEK's midfield. Coach Matías Almeyda has shown great confidence in his abilities and Szymanski has not disappointed AEK's Argentine coach. In Almeyda's 4-4-2 with diamond or 4-3-1-2, the 27-year-old has shouldered a big defensive responsibility where he covered areas in a road-winning way with tireless lungs and won the ball.
He has distributed the ball with care and managed to combine that with simultaneously becoming more creative and progressive in his passing game. In addition to Almeyda, his national team colleague Grzegorz Krychowiak (played for AEK last spring) should also be praised for his guidance, which contributed to Szymanski's development.
Name: Domagoj Vida
Nation: Croatia
Caps/Goals: 100/4
Position: Midfielder
Comment: 2018 World Cup silver medalist with Croatia and joined AEK this summer. The 33-year-old has been exactly what AEK hoped for when he signed a 2-year contract with "Enosis". Among other things, Vida has taken the leadership role in defence, shown a winning mentality and been reliable in his actions.
Formed a really nice collaboration with Harold Moukoudi, who surprisingly did not make Cameroon's World Cup squad. The international friendly earlier this week against Saudi Arabia brought jubilee for the seasoned defender. Vida's inclusion in the match meant he reached 100 caps for Croatia. Croatia's squad also includes e.g. the former AEK player Marko Livaja. The Croatians face Belgium, Morocco and Canada in Group F.
Name: Ehsan Hajisafi
Nation: Iran
Caps/Goals: 122/7
Position: Left Back, Midfielder.
Comment: Team captain for the national team with a total of 122 international matches to his credit. That says something about the experience the 32-year-old has. Hajisafi is set for his third World Cup final where his Iran will try to progress from the group stage for the first time ever. The group includes England, the USA and Wales. Hajisafi has been with AEK for a little over a year. "Enosis" became his third Greek club in his career after previously being in Panionios and a short turn in Olympiakos. Is an important squad player in AEK, especially considering that he can fill in several positions. Reliable Hajisafi can offer solutions for his coaches both in the left-back position and in various midfield roles.
Name: Milad Mohammadi
Nation: Iran
Internationals/Goals: 46/1
Position: Left Back
Comment: Mohammadi is in his second season in AEK and has received a lot of playing time from Almeyda in the autumn. He has been stable in his efforts and rarely excelled in either a positive or negative sense. In the national team, there is competition for the left back spot from both previously mentioned clubmate Hajisafi but also Abolfazl Jalali from Esteghlal. It remains to be seen who national team captain Carlos Queiroz will pick in their World Cup opener against England on Monday night (21/11). Mohammadi also has a twin brother named Mehrdad who has made a few international appearances for Iran. He resides on a daily basis in Qatar, and more specifically the Al-Arabi club in Doha. At home in Iran, there are a lot of demonstrations against the regime. We will see if and if so how Mohammadi, Hajsafi and other Iranian players are affected by the situation in their home country.
Name: Orbelín Pineda
Nation: Mexico Caps/Goals: 50/6
Position: Central Midfielder
Comment: Arrived at AEK on loan from Celta de Vigo ahead of the season. Handpicked by Almeyda who knows Pineda well from their time together in Guadalajara. Started the season very strong but has slowed down a bit towards the end before the WC break. He possesses fine technique, ability to carry the ball and change pace with it at his feet. Pineda reads the game well, operates over large areas, is skilled in the pressing game and, broadly speaking, a modern all-round midfielder. Does his very best in any role centrally in midfield and not out on a wing. If national team captain "Tata" Martino wants to try to get the most out of Pineda, it is central to the track which is the melody, but it could also be playing time as a winger given the competitive situation in the center of the Mexican midfield. There are players like Hector Herrera, Carlos Rodríguez, Erick Gutiérrez, Edson Álvarez and team captain Andres Guardado.
Name: Nicolas N'Koulou
Nation: Cameroon
Internationals/Goals: 78/2
Position: Midfielder
Comment: The experienced centre-back will make his third World Cup for his Cameroonian national team. N'Koulou has been an important part of the team for many years and was among other things in the champion team from the African Championship in 2017. The 32-year-old signed for Aris towards the end of August. In recent weeks, he has started to find more and more right out on the field and is coming to the WC with good match pace. Attentive, good tackler and good in positional play. Scored his first goal for Aris in the last match before the WC break when he netted in the winning match away to PAS Giannena with 0-4.
Name: Wajdi Kechrida
Nation: Tunisia
Internationals/Goals: 8/0
Position: Right-back
Comment: Right-back Kechrida has not played for his Tunisian national team since November last year, but has made it back to the national team through the move to Atromitos. Has been a healthy relative on Peristeriklubben's right wing and scored a goal and an assist in the league in 10 games played. Has competition for the right-back spot from, among others, former Olympiakos player Mohamed Dräger. Tunisia have ended up in Group D along with France, Denmark and Australia.
Name: Pape Abou Cissé
Nation: Senegal
Caps/Goals: 13/1
Position: Midfielder
Comment: Cissé had an incredibly strong season last year with terrific performances for Olympiakos but also for Senegal where he incidentally won a historic gold in the African Championship last winter. The nation's first of all time. In the national team, he has been allowed to act as third choice in the centre-back positions behind the regular duo Koulibaly/Diallo.
Has not been as prominent in Olympiakos this season but has been in and out of the team and injured for a period of time.
Cissé has a huge presence in both offensive and defensive penalty areas with his physique and ability to emerge victorious from aerial duels. He has also, over the years, shown greater maturity overall in his actions on the field.
Name: Pierre Kunde
Nation: Cameroon
Internationals/Goals: 32/1
Position: Central Midfielder
Comment: Dynamic two-way midfielder who has played sporadically in his nearly 1.5 years at Olympiakos. Kunde has never managed to take a starting place but had to settle for being a rotation player. Mixes and gives in the midfield but has a good drive on the ball and a fairly sharp shot from distance. Participated in winning bronze with his Cameroon in the African Championship last winter and should be able to get some playing time for his nation in Qatar.
Name: Hwang In-beom
Nation: South Korea
Caps/Goals: 37/4
Position: Central
MidfielderComment: A sensation. The 26-year-old joined Olympiakos this summer and immediately showed that he is a class midfielder. Has continued to deliver fine efforts on a consistent basis for most of the entire autumn, which few club mates have done. Has more and more started to grow into a crowd favorite at Karaiskakis. In-beom can perform in any central midfield role but is at his best in a box-to-box role. He mixes brilliant passing with functional technique, mobility and hard work. Extremely good in the build-up game and is, at the time of writing, the player in the league with the most correctly completed passes. At the same time, he is also at the top in terms of the statistics around ball wins.
Has gradually developed an increasingly better collaboration with Yann M´Vila and the Colombian national team star James Rodríguez in Olympiakos' inner midfield in the last 1.5 months. In-beom is also one of the mainstays of the South Korean national team. Incidentally, the confederation captain is the former Olympiakos coach Paolo Bento.
Name: Hwang Ui-jo
Nation: South Korea
Caps/Goals: 49/16
Position: Striker
Comment: Signed in pre-season on loan from Nottingham to provide another quality option in attack for the big club from Piraeus. However, things have not gone according to plan. Ui-jo has scored double figures in Ligue 1 for the past two seasons but has barely had a chance at Olympiakos this autumn.
Weak in decision-making and has mostly run around without further thought when he played. In his defense, it has been a dysfunctional Olympiakos team since last summer but not everything can be blamed on that. The South Korean has been a disappointment, which is the exact opposite of compatriot In-beom, where the striker's presence, on the other hand, seems to have helped in the latter's acclimatization.
The 30-year-old is clearly behind Youssef El-Arabi and Cedric Bakambu in the ranking. Possibly, however, Ui-Jo, who is on his way away from Olympiakos, can deliver for his South Korea in the World Cup. South Korea is pitted against Ghana, Uruguay and Portugal, which in advance is an open group, although the Portuguese in the former Greek national team captain Fernando Santos and with former The Olympiakos goalkeeper in the squad José Sá can be considered group favourites.
Name: Derek Cornelius
Nation: Canada
Caps/Goals: 14/0
Position: Center Back
Comment: On loan with Panetolikos from MLS club Vancouver Whitecaps since last summer. Cornelius has only gotten better and better since the move to Agrinio but the loan agreement expires after the WC. He has not missed a minute of league play during the fall. Panetolikos has had continuous talks recently with both Vancouver and Axia Sports Management, which is the agency he belongs to.
An agency with a large Greek touch in the form of owner Nick Mavromaras and Apostolis Bakalis. The left-footed centre-back is more than positive about remaining in the well-run Panetolikos. In that case, a deal looks to be close to 400,000 euros for the majority of the rights to the player. 24-year-old Cornelius is strong in the duel game and can also fill in the left-back position if necessary. Will make history because he will be the first player with Panetolikos as his club address in a current WC playoff.
Name: Andrija Zivkovic
Nation: Serbia
Internationals/Goals: 29/1
Position: Attacking Midfielder, Winger.
Comment: The 26-year-old was magical in his first season in PAOK 2020-21 and followed it up with an average season last year. Started to drop in his performances during the spring and has not been able to really recognize himself this fall. Perhaps he has become a little too comfortable after the progress of his first 1.5 years at the Thessaloniki club and the contract extension almost exactly a year ago. However, accounted for a really nice goal in the last league round before the break, which you can see here. However, he has delivered good performances for the national team. Federation captain Dragan Stojkovic has used Zivkovic in an outside midfield/wingback role in a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 system.
Potential starter for a Serbia with many skilled individual players in the squad who are narrow favorites to finish second in the group behind Brazil. Other nations are Switzerland and Cameroon.
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Image from to Bildbyrån / SvenskaFans.com
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