Choosing 23 players for a nation's world cup squad is not an easy job.Many deserving candidates have ended up not being chosen in all of the world cups so far.This is a squad of best from such unfortunate players not selected for their national team for one or the other reason for the Fifa World Cup 2018.(You may kindly excuse the in-accuracy of the jerseys).
Formation : 4-4-2 Coach : Julen Lopetegui
The players in this team are presented in a 4-4-2 formation with the inverted wingers.
An analysis of 'why not ? 'and 'how good ?' of these players are given below :-Formation : 4-4-2 Coach : Julen Lopetegui
The players in this team are presented in a 4-4-2 formation with the inverted wingers.
Goalkeeper Sven Ulreich
Sven Ulreich plays for Bayern Munich and was one of the goalkeepers with the most clean sheets in Bundesliga 2017-18.With senior & club teammate Manuel Neuer, Barcelona's ter Stegen & PSG'sTrapp,all better distributors of the ball,in contention for the shot-stopper spot of the German team,Ulreich could not make it to the final three .
Left-back Marcos Alonso
While Debruyne and Eden Hazard are clearly ahead of Nainggolan in offensive metrics,same can’t be said about Fellaini or Witsel.Fellaini though has a better strike rate and both Fellaini and Witsel are strong on the aerial duels.
Wingers (Inverted)
Luis Alberto & Leroy Sane
Left-back Marcos Alonso
The left-back options selected for the Spain XI Jordi Alba and Nacho Monreal both fare better in defence metrics for the season.Their pass accuracy is also much above that of Alonso.It seems Alonso's better goal scoring ability and free kick prowess didn't impress Spanish coach Lopetegui.
Right-back Sergi Roberto
With 1 goal,7 assists and an ability to play in different positions,Roberto's exclusion from the world cup squad looks an interesting case.The first choice right back for Spain is Carvajal who was better in every defensive aspect of the game except passing accuracy.Odriozola and optional right back Nacho are on par with Roberto in passing accuracy while Odriozola's defensive statistics are not as impressive as that of Roberto.It seems Lopetegui prefers Odriozola's playing style than Roberto's .
Centre-backs
Laurent Koscielny & Shkodran Mustafi
Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi are the centre backs.Koscielny could not make it to the french squad because of the injury to his achilles tendon.He is a better defender overall than Varane and Umtiti with good aerial and clearance capability and is on par with them in passing accuracy.France's other back up centre-backs are strong on one or the other aspects while need to improve on the other.
For Shkodran Mustafi,it was not easy to break into a German side with Matt Hummels,Sule, Jerome Boateng,Rudiger and Ginter.Add to that,Kimmich started out a centre back and is always an option.To be fair to Mustafi,he has the best defensive statistics to all of the Germany's centre-back options.He is also a master clearer and is very strong on the aerial duels.Where he comes short is the passing accuracy and to a certain extent the discipline.
Centre Mid-fielders
Dimitri Payet & Radja Nainggolan
Payet was injured during Europa final match and hence was not considered.Deschamps,anyways have selected only five midfielders,two of them defensive and all the other three experienced in the defensive midfield roles.Payet ranks high on key passes per game and is instrumental in 2 goals per 3 games when you add the assists.Where payet comes short is the passing accuracy and the defence exposure.
With 1 goal,7 assists and an ability to play in different positions,Roberto's exclusion from the world cup squad looks an interesting case.The first choice right back for Spain is Carvajal who was better in every defensive aspect of the game except passing accuracy.Odriozola and optional right back Nacho are on par with Roberto in passing accuracy while Odriozola's defensive statistics are not as impressive as that of Roberto.It seems Lopetegui prefers Odriozola's playing style than Roberto's .
Centre-backs
Laurent Koscielny & Shkodran Mustafi
Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi are the centre backs.Koscielny could not make it to the french squad because of the injury to his achilles tendon.He is a better defender overall than Varane and Umtiti with good aerial and clearance capability and is on par with them in passing accuracy.France's other back up centre-backs are strong on one or the other aspects while need to improve on the other.
For Shkodran Mustafi,it was not easy to break into a German side with Matt Hummels,Sule, Jerome Boateng,Rudiger and Ginter.Add to that,Kimmich started out a centre back and is always an option.To be fair to Mustafi,he has the best defensive statistics to all of the Germany's centre-back options.He is also a master clearer and is very strong on the aerial duels.Where he comes short is the passing accuracy and to a certain extent the discipline.
Centre Mid-fielders
Dimitri Payet & Radja Nainggolan
Payet was injured during Europa final match and hence was not considered.Deschamps,anyways have selected only five midfielders,two of them defensive and all the other three experienced in the defensive midfield roles.Payet ranks high on key passes per game and is instrumental in 2 goals per 3 games when you add the assists.Where payet comes short is the passing accuracy and the defence exposure.
While Debruyne and Eden Hazard are clearly ahead of Nainggolan in offensive metrics,same can’t be said about Fellaini or Witsel.Fellaini though has a better strike rate and both Fellaini and Witsel are strong on the aerial duels.
Wingers (Inverted)
Luis Alberto & Leroy Sane
The spain squad comes jam-packed with eight midfielders including Isco,Asensio and Koke in addition to winger probables Rodrigo and Vasquez in the forward line.
Alberto ended the season with 12 goals and 19 assists,thereby ensuring 2 goals per every 3 games.Only aspect where his competitors except Rodrigo fare better is the passing ability.Also all of them play in La liga and know each others game well which may have been considered an advantage.
German coach Löw had said that Sane lost out to Brandt narrowly in selection.In a direct comparison Sane beats Brandt on almost every aspect except goal conversion ratio.His other probable competition Werner,who but plays as the center forward in club matches has a better strike rate.When you add Sane’s 17 assists to his 14 goals for the season he is on par with Werner and is doubly effective than Brandt with 2 goals per 3 games.Honestly his exclusion fails my understanding.
Forwards
Alvaro Morata & Mauro Icardi
Morata went out of form by the end of the season.Aspas,consecutive winner of Zarra Trophy for 2016-17 & 2017-18, is the best striker from the centre forwards selected for the Spanish squad.While Diego costa is on par with Morata on most game aspects except pass success ratio,it is Rodrigo’s selection which surprised me since neither his numbers are better than Morata nor his form.
Icardi,Serie A 2017-18 top scorer’s exclusion has been alleged as for reasons beyond the game.Let's look at the numbers.While Messi clearly beats Icardi on offensive statistics,Icardi has a much better strike rate than Dybala and Higuain.Overall Aguero is on par with him.Icardi has a pass success ratio okay for a striker but lower than all of the Argentina strikers which he makes up for with his aerial ability.Argentina are sure gonna miss some header goals for this unjust exclusion.
Coach Julen Lopetegui
Coach for this XI is a last minute addition,😂.Julen Lopetegui became Spain's 'former' coach a little more than 24 hours prior to the World Cup.He was sacked by the Spanish Football Association,for signing to be Real Madrid's coach within a month of extending his contract for the national team till 2020 against the contractual terms and without informing them.Lopetegui has U-19 & U-21 Euro cups with the respective Spanish sides to his credit.