The Ultimate Best Eliminated XI Squad Breakdown! ❌🏆 | World Cup Daily #42

[00:00:00] No games today, so we built our own little game. 11 players who are going home. Players that made this World Cup worth watching. No France, no Spain, no England, no Argentina. Just the players who made you feel something special. Stats-backed, story-driven, and not a single semi-finalist in sight.

[00:00:25] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Foot in Review, World Cup Daily. As we all know, there is sadly no games today. I'm having a big issue with waking up in the morning and realizing that there's no games. We're doing something different today, though. Every tournament has its own team at the tournament. Usually it is full of big names and from the nations that we want to go furthest. We're not doing that today. No, we're not doing that. No France, no Spain, no England, no Argentina.

[00:00:50] This is our team at the tournament of players that have done something and have gone home. Stats-backed and story-driven. With me today, I have John. Hey, John. Good morning. No trouble waking up here in the midday anymore. I just don't sleep anymore. Also, first time ever we did a podcast together where you're not wearing a cap, I think, Shaq. That's right. That's right. I just finished work. I just finished work and literally just jumped into a podcasting mode.

[00:01:15] It's been a weird day. It's been the first Monday in a long time where I haven't had games playing in the background. And I'm telling you what, I'm going to miss this World Cup. I really am. I'm already having withdrawals and I don't know. I don't know. John, before we start, which player from the Eliminator team do you think has been most impressive? Before we go into the players, just one player that sticks to your mind. Any one player? Eliminator must be Haaland, I suppose.

[00:01:41] Nice, nice, nice. And any moment? Any moment that sticks in your mind? Either for Xinha's performance or Rome's. I think Rome's performance is 15 saves in a match. Spoken like a true goalkeeping fanatic. Spoken like a true goalkeeping fanatic. Look, I think for me, needless to say, it's Cabral. The finesse shot from outside the box to equalize against Argentina. It's just that the way that moment felt was incredible.

[00:02:09] And I think that's my lasting memory of this particular World Cup. So, all right. John, let's get into it. So, listeners, what we propose to do today is we will go through the top 11 that we have picked. Stats-based, story-driven. So, it's not purely just stats. It's not just story. It's a combination of both. So, here is our... So, we'll start from our goalkeeper. So, John, you mentioned some goalkeepers. You said Ram, you said Voisinia.

[00:02:34] So, let's start with the goalkeeper. I think the standard performance goalkeeper-wise has to be... Drumroll. Go for it. Voisinia. Of course, of course, of course. 40-year-old. Two World Cup games. 15 saves. That is Voisinia's story. And nothing about it makes any sense in the best possible way. On his World Cup debut against Spain, he made seven saves to keep a clean sheet. Only Northern Ireland's Pat Jennings had made more saves as a 40-plus goalkeeper at a World Cup.

[00:03:04] Then, against Argentina, with Lionel Messi in front of him, he went one better. Eight saves. He denied Messi a free kick in the 73rd minutes, crambling from one post to the other in a single movement. That was a brilliantly saved free kick. Cape Verde's entire tournament was built on this man's reflexes. And he finished the tournament with more dribbles than Cristiano Ronaldo. Voisinia is in our team. I hate that stat. I hate that stat about Cristiano. I really, really, I despise that stat, but it is the truth.

[00:03:34] Yeah, it's a tough one to swallow. Also, the story where he had almost no Instagram followers. And then he was at 7 billion after match one. That was an amazing story. Plus, his mom couldn't come over financially, and it was a visa issue, apparently. And that everyone just grouped up and made sure that could happen for the last two matches. The group phase. I mean, those two. And combined with the guy's 40-year-old.

[00:04:01] And he might actually get a transfer to, I think, Miami, New York somewhere. I saw the Inter-Miami links, but hey, I think that's a bit much. I think he's in his 40s. And look, the good news stories are brilliant. I'm glad I spoke about that. One more year, mate. Possibly, I think. They get messy. They back him in for selling t-shirts and just promoting themselves. This could be one of those promotions. Give him a decent salary.

[00:04:30] Make sure he shows up with photos. I mean, why not? He'll be fine. He'll be fine. And as you said, I think he probably had 30,000 to 40,000 Instagram followers. I don't know how, but he developed a lot of followers. Now he's got millions, millions. So that itself is a lucrative pathway and all power to him. All power to him. I think if you think of a goalkeeper this tournament, I think Vosinia is the first name that we'll think of. And it's lovely. This is the beauty of the World Cup where names just come through that we never associate with a footballing team.

[00:04:58] And they will be there in the echelons of World Cups. Right. Good goalkeepers, though. Shout out to Bonu. Yeah. Patrick Gritch. I think made his debut for Australia. Lovely performance as well. Except for that one match. We're not going to talk about that. Where he couldn't save the penalties because he got subbed out. That's not his fault. No, but I quite liked his performance. And of course, L.A. Rome from Curacao. Since you've given my goalkeeper a shout out, I should give your goalkeeper a shout out as well.

[00:05:26] The Dutch goalkeeper did really, really well as well. So we have to give him a shout out. He also wins the prize for worst hack out of the World Cup. There's a couple of them. There's a couple of them. All right. Moving along. Defenders. We'll start with the right back. Right back. The choice that we have is Ashraf Hakimi. Four game contributions. Free kick delivery from Onae opener versus Canada. Most dangerous outlet from Morocco. Hakimi is the best right back in the world. And it's his World Cup. He proved it game after game. Against Canada in the quarterfinals.

[00:05:54] His free kick delivery was the move that led directly to the opener. His overlapping runs created problems every single time Morocco played. Morocco's defensive solidity combined with Hakimi's attacking outlet just made them ruthless at certain times. Only a Saibari injury and France's ruthlessness ended his run. Is Hakimi the best right back in the world right now, John? It kind of depends on your team. But yeah, definitely. I mean, he can't really defend, unfortunately. He isn't a good defender.

[00:06:23] But on attack, he's a right midfielder, right attacker, striker, cam. He's playing everywhere. He's strong, fast. Has an amazing shot. Probably Morocco's biggest powerhouse as well. So I think he's the best right back. But if you have a team that leans on its defense, I don't think he is the right back for your team. But yes, like a modern fullback, Hakimi is it. Yeah. Completely agree. And surprisingly enough, we'll move on to the other fullback, the other side, which is the left back.

[00:06:51] And it's his partner in crime who plays for PSG together. Nuno Mendes. Most dangerous attacking fullback in the tournament. He hit the crossbar versus Spain. That was a painful shot. Nuno Mendes was the best player in Portugal's squad for most of this tournament. While Ronaldo got all the attention and Bruno Fernandes played deep, it was Mendes driving forward from the left back that created Portugal's genuine moments of danger. He hit the crossbar against Spain in the quarterfinals with a deflected drive. That could have changed the game.

[00:07:20] Defensively reliable, offensively relentless at 22-year-old. This was not his last World Cup, but it was his best yet. What a player. What a player. Best left back in the world, you reckon? Yeah, I think so, actually. Yeah. I'm surprised. He's as strong as Hakimi going forward. But he is also just, when you put him on defensive mode, he can still defend really well as well. His passing is absolutely phenomenal.

[00:07:50] And it's just sad to see him go out with an injury. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think I've got the age slightly incorrectly. I said 22 years old. He's actually 24, which is not a huge difference. But, but still a young lad. He's got, he's got at least, he's got his prime to come ahead as well, which is scary. I had a shout out to another Australian player for you though. Jordan Walsh. Jordan Walsh, yes. Who's injured for three months, by the way.

[00:08:14] So that's one heck of a, but fastest left back in the world. Oh yeah, completely agree. Jordan Walsh is great. The one thing that really, look, I'm not going to try and confess. I'm going to confess. I did see too much of Jordan Walsh before the World Cup started, but I knew he was good. I've heard his name, but I'd never seen him play. Like at least not a live game. The one thing that really struck out. I did a lot. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:08:41] As just listeners, just sharing with you, Jody Boss, Australian soccer group, plays for John's local Dutch squad in Feyenoord. So we have a connection there as well. So in the sense, the one thing that stood out to me, John, I don't know if you've seen this. Jody Boss against Baraguay played at right wing back. And he was incredible. He was so good. Well, it gives a final another option whenever he comes back from this horrible injury he got put into. Yeah. No, but seriously, he played a really good tournament, left back and right back.

[00:09:10] And of course, I've seen his final, so I'm a little bit biased. But like from match one, he was on many teams of radar, I think as well. Plus his top speed is just unmatched. I don't think there was no player faster than him on this tournament, which is insane when you got the likes of Haaland running around. So shout out to him. But no man, that's not human, mate. You should vote in your team. That's insanity. Exactly. Exactly. Well, moving on, we'll go to the spine of defence, which is the centre-backs. Number of the first pick is going to be a bit of a...

[00:09:40] Actually, both of our picks are going to be slightly interesting. But the first pick... Your pick. Well, yeah, these are my picks. These are my picks. OK. The first one is, this is part of the defence that never trailed all tournament. And my pick is Manuel Akanji. Just humor me there. Switzerland are the only team at this World Cup that never trailed any point in the entire tournament, including qualifiers. Akanji was the organising force at the heart of that. He shut out Colombia for 120 goalless minutes in the round of 16. He faced Messi in the quarterfinals and competed at 29.

[00:10:09] He's still in his prime. And this was his best World Cup performance. And the most statistically dependable centre-back from any eliminated team. John, what are your thoughts on this? Akanji is well-deserved in this place. As I said this week, Switch is a very underrated team. Akanji has been imperfect. He was a colossus against, especially against Argentina as well. He was a complete colossus for a huge few moments of the game.

[00:10:37] There were times of the game where I thought he was playing as a defensive midfielder because he was just constantly at the halfway line trying to shut things out. He was on fire. The other centre-back that we've picked, well, I've picked, is from Dr. Kongo, our friends. Daya Kongo. Let's do the Fimba. It's Chancel Mbemba. The son, Chancel Mbemba. From our Newcastle fans, you've seen this. Daya Kongo were making the first World Cup knockout appearance in 1974. They actually had a change of name as well. They used to be called Zaire back then.

[00:11:06] Mbemba organised a defence that had no business competing with the teams that they faced. His cross in the seventh minute against England set up Sepenga for one of the goals of the tournament. And at 30, he's an experienced leader and had a young Daya Kongo team meet it. He's the unsung anchors of the tournament's great stories. Your thoughts, John? Yeah, so I definitely think he was worth mentioning. He wasn't on my list of being called here, though.

[00:11:34] It doesn't mean he doesn't deserve it. But my shout-out, and this sounds a little bit weird maybe, was Jean-Paul van Ecke from Dutch Squad. Oh, yeah. First time playing as a fully international defender next to Van Dijk. Yeah. Had three highest scores of the three matches as well in the Netherlands. So although you can't say Netherlands didn't play well, he definitely did play well. And he had two stand-out moments for me. Like the first match, he got elbows in the eye.

[00:12:03] He had a black eye closed up and he just played that match. Didn't bother by it. And in the match against Morocco, he got hit in the head and just opened up his whole head. So he just kept bleeding. And he just has white blonde hair and it was all dyed red with all the blood on it. And he just kept playing as well. So absolutely fantastic performances. Did he go to Tottenham yet? I think so. Yes. Yes, he's moved. Yeah. So he's transferred to Tottenham in that same period.

[00:12:32] Young, super strong. Definitely. He would be the new Van Dijk. I'm just saying it out loud right now. Wow. So I think he's one of those superstars. Unfortunately, we haven't seen too much of him yet. Right? But the four performances he put in, he was four times the best player on the pitch. So I think John Paul van Hecke would be my spot. Nevertheless, Mbemba, what a run beer as well. I'll tell you what.

[00:12:59] When you started talking about Van Hecke, this is me showing my native Premier League where I just thought Van Hecke. Fair enough. What was his name? Van Hecke. Van Hecke. Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. I was like, who's this guy? I thought it was Van Hecke that was playing in center back next to Van Dyck. No, no, no. No, you're quite right. You're pronouncing the name correctly. And I just was... And you guys say Gullet. So there's that. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. And we also say, I'm trying to think of another interesting...

[00:13:29] We'll get there. We'll say Gakbo, not Hakbo. Yeah. Right. Well, before we humor ourselves into silliness, let's move on to our midfielders. Right. Central midfield. The pick that I have in central midfield is another of our Swiss compatriots, who is Granit Schaka. Schaka is a 33-year-old and was most certainly his last World Cup. He captained Switzerland to their first quarterfinal since 1954 when they hosted the tournament. Six games. Defensive midfield structure of Switzerland's system ran them through.

[00:13:59] Against Colombia, he scored his penalty in the shootout when the pressure was the highest. He was booked on the yellow card tightrope against Argentina, which tells you everything about how physically committed he was. The most complete defensive midfielder of the eliminated teams. And I completely agree. He was phenomenal this tournament. What do you think? Were your thoughts, John? Yeah, I think Schaka is definitely a good choice. I had someone else from Swiss in that list. Yeah. That was Vargas. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but again, it's potato, potato, tomato, tomato.

[00:14:29] It does, it's just, you know, both have had a terrific midfield for Swiss. Both have had a terrific World Cup. Both deserve a spot in this team and you can pick one. And I think Schaka's fine. Yeah. It's either one of those. Yeah, completely agree. He's had a great tournament. I think there was a resurgence as well. I mean, just to, just not to talk about the regular football that happens, but essentially there was a lot of conversation about where he moves from Sunderland next. And there's a conversation that's sparking up about Chelsea being interested in Schaka.

[00:14:57] That shows that, yeah, he's, he's had a great tournament and yeah, this could, yeah, he's still got some, some gas left in the tank. The other central midfielder we had is Martin Odegaard. Most chances created for Norway, five games, four assists, second in the tournament. He set up both the Haaland goals versus Brazil. Without Odegaard, Norway's World Cup run does not happen. While Haaland got the goals in the headlines, it was Odegaard's vision and delivery that created the moments.

[00:15:23] He finished the tournament, tied second in assists with four against Brazil in the round of 16. It was Odegaard's intelligence that gave both the passes to Haaland. Your thoughts on Odegaard? Apparently he's got Odegaard, but just Odegaard. Yeah, yeah. That's fair enough. No, but 100% deserved. Plus he can play a nasty drum, mate. I love the fact that he was doing the drums behind after this. I love, yeah, I love that whole concert with the drumming. Yes, it was brilliant.

[00:15:53] To be fair, like I've seen him play often actually live because he was one of the players that got from Heereveen to Vitesse that went into the Premier League, I think. So there's been a lot of matches where I faced him and Le Tannin just oozes off him. He's a very likable character as well, but definitely the linking pin of this Norwegian squad, right? So, yeah. Completely. I think when we thought about Norway and the World Cup, we always knew Haaland was going to do something, but we all straight away knew there was another player called Odegaard

[00:16:21] who could do something as well, and he has stepped up to the plate. So well done him. The other central midfielder that we have in this whole thing is, it's really hard to pinpoint this guy, is Unai. As a dean, Unai, let's give him the full credit. So he was decisive and Morocco needed him the most. Once. And, well, exactly. Well, Saibari was gone and the goals were gone and he just came in and literally scored two goals and got Morocco through. I think he had a brilliant tournament.

[00:16:49] What are your thoughts on Unai as our next central midfielder choice? Yeah, I did not have him on my list. Again, I think his performance when he had to come in, he stepped up. It was excellent. Absolutely fantastic. But I felt like we had to put a US player there, to be quite honest. Who did you put? I had Tillman in there. Well, Malik Tillman. Yep, yep. He scored a couple of free kicks, didn't he? And I think he had played a crucial part in the lunch they got in this tournament. Excellent player.

[00:17:20] And if I looked at the teams that stood out for a long while, it was actually USA. And since I don't like any of their defense except Dest, but he has no chance of getting it up against Takimi, right? Plus Dest didn't have a great last match. I think Tillman should be in the starting XI. But hey, respect for Unai, definitely. I don't know who's making the graphics, you or I. But if I am doing it, it's probably Tillman standing here. That's all right. That's a fair shot. That's a fair shot.

[00:17:49] We'll move on to the forward line. So we're playing, listen, we're playing 4-3-3. So left wing, we will go with Johan Manzambi. This guy is 20 years old. Before the World Cup, nobody outside Bundesliga circles knew who this guy was. He plays for SC Freiburg. He's 20 years old. He's played a handful of senior internationals, then arrived at this World Cup and started dismantling teams with runs from his own half.

[00:18:14] Four matches, his two assists, his solo run and the square ball for Mbolo against Algeria set the tone for Switzerland's entire group stages. So just to keep some information as well for listeners, I think it's been confirmed that his move to Aston Villa has happened. And there was a video that was circulating today where Emi Martinez was talking to him and he said, oh, you're going to Villa. And they both said, that's pretty funny. This kid has been such a revelation. This shows the number of quality kids are there in the Bundesliga.

[00:18:44] And he was just, he was fun to watch every time. Hey, John. Yes, but he's also the last one I don't agree with being in this list. Ooh, who did you have there? Did you have there? Another Bundesliga player though. Diamande? Diamande, yeah. Yes, he had a... Look, if he survived another round, I probably would have said, but... No, but every time I see him play, I'm on the edge of my seat. Yeah. And he's one of those players that you go... Like Monsabi definitely had an impact, but he was also injured. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. From Switzerland.

[00:19:13] And I think Diamande, every time I saw him... The first time I saw him in the group, I was like, I don't know this player, but wow, who is this? Ooh. And then I looked, oh, Leipzig. Actually, I looked at some stats. Interesting, interesting. But he's magical. He's one of those players that if you give him the ball, you're going to move forward on your seat. The crowd will stand up in the stadium like something's going to happen. It might not always work out, but something's going to happen here. So, but hey, again, Monsabi, good shout.

[00:19:43] I think Diamande is probably the bigger talents, which we'll see a little bit more of. Completely agree. I think I have to take your point on that particular one, because we did shout out Diamande in the players to watch out before the tournament started. Nathan and I did a breakdown of all the players that we should be watching out for. And this is a player that I think, well, I'm talking about Diamande, where we knew he was going to be good, but I didn't expect him to be that electric and that good and so confident at that age. So I take your shout.

[00:20:11] I think Diamande, brilliant, brilliant World Cup. He's had a great World Cup. I think there was some rumors circulating of him moving to BSG. So if that happens, whoo, whoo. I think it will happen, honestly. Another shout out there is Noosa. Yeah. He hasn't been consistently good, but definitely able to do something there. But yeah, Diamande, I think that's like, can you imagine Hakeem and Diamande in one team though? Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Right. We'll move on to our right winger.

[00:20:39] Our right winger is going to be a tricky one because I don't necessarily see this as his positioning as such, but it's Julian Quintanonez. And five games, four goals, one assist. Most prolific forward from any eliminated team by Haaland. He scored four goals, recorded one assist in the Mexican run. He equaled Luis Hernandez's record for the most direct goal contributions. And he was electric. Some of the goals he scored this tournament, John, were brilliant, weren't they? Absolutely fantastic player from day one on. Highlight from the Mexico team.

[00:21:09] Every match he was there. Every match he had an impact. Every time Mexico played, I think I also mentioned him the day after. Yeah. I mean, deserved 100%. It's so tricky because he's not really played. I don't think he's played too many games in Europe, but he went straight to the Saudi league and he performed really well in the Saudi league. I think people just, I don't know. It's really tricky when someone performs in the Saudi league. You never know how good they actually are. But this guy was a threat. Yeah. So that's usually it's a league where people build off.

[00:21:39] Yeah. We also saw players like Leonardo 21 or something going there as well. So we've seen it before. I mean, there's good money to be made. And I think it's a league where you do get treated like a celebrity and famous and treated well by everyone there as well. I think it's probably a good place to live in if you're moving there for sports, right? Yeah. Can't really blame him for taking those contracts. But the problem is that the teams aren't consistently good. So that means your position, you have no idea what 10 of 15 goals means there.

[00:22:08] Yeah. And I think he should be playing somewhere else for his career, for his development process. But then again, I can't blame anyone playing there. Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. And lastly, the only one player has to be the player of the tournament, just from the hype point of view. Mr. Meeam himself. Mr. Meeam.

[00:22:38] Five games, seven goals, golden boot contender, 12 of the 18 shots on target. You do not leave Erling Haaland out of any team at the tournament. Seven goals, 14 consecutive competitive international goals with the games with a goal. 27 goals in that whole run with Norway. First ever World Cup quarterfinal built around his presence. He had three touches in the first half against Ivory Coast and still scored the winner in the 86th minute. He scored two in the final 11 minutes against Brazil to knock them out.

[00:23:08] He is 24 years old. At his first World Cup, this will not be his last. Haaland is in our team. And I don't think anyone can have any arguments about Haaland. Hey, John. No, probably the best deadhead striker in the world. There are plenty of players that can back it up. Like Kane, for example. But those are different strikers. This one is you can't... He was on 50% strength this tournament. He wasn't injured, but he was very tired.

[00:23:37] Almost had no proper training in because it was too much for him currently. That's how hefty a Premier League season can go, I think, in this situation. Every time there was a hydration break or anything, the whole performance team just jumped on him to make sure he survived another 25 minutes. And then with the pressure of the country on top of you, being the meme king of this tournament, everyone suddenly that didn't know Haaland was new Haaland. Performing as a Viking in commercials and everything.

[00:24:07] Yeah. Absolutely. Like every single meme I saw online was with Haaland. He joined in with the memeing. He joined in on socials. He looked like he was having fun. And then also, like those two goals against Brazil. Yeah. Absolutely amazing. Those weren't easy goals either. No. Like the header was good, but that second goal was just not even getting much chance to just take a shot and just absolutely hammer it in against one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Fantastic performance. Captain of this.

[00:24:36] Don't forget us 11, I think. I think one of the things you mentioned there, Oregaad's drumming. And after the Brazilian game, Oregaad was kind enough to give Haaland the drums because it's a mark of respect, which is lovely to see. And I think Haaland, as you said, played this World Cup in every which way, in every angle. He just came across as a really nice, likable guy that is good for the sport. Last player out of the stadium yesterday as well, the day before when they lost. He was injured. Afterwards, gave everyone a good handshake. Stayed in the stadium.

[00:25:06] Stayed with the fans. He was actually the last Norwegian, last player of all those players on the pitch to go into the catacombs as well. Good on him. Photographing with all the fans and stuff. I don't know how long he's been there, but way past half an hour than everyone else, I think. Yeah. Yeah, it's just an example for football. And then they ask him, what if you have a retired football? What are you going to do? He says, I'm just going to buy myself a farm and just enjoy life. It's just an example. Exactly.

[00:25:33] All right, listeners, every World Cup produces moments that last forever. The Zico goal that was taken away. The Vuzinha at 40 denying Messi. Lopez Cabral in the 103rd minute scoring that screamer. Haaland winning it in the 90th minute with his first half touches. With barely any first half touches. Manzambi at 20 years old running from his own half in the World Cup quarterfinal. None of these players lifted the World Cup trophy. None of them will be in the final. But football is not about who wins.

[00:25:59] It's about the players who make you feel something in every single name on this list. May millions of people feel something at this 2026 World Cup. And we are thankful for it. We will be back tomorrow to give you another discussion about the World Cup. Until then, see ya. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.