Mundial 2022. Symbolic teams of Sports.ru editors

The World Championship has come to an end. Now we can only remember and analyze how it was.

I want to dedicate this post to the hidden heroes of this tournament (and not only) – my colleagues from the editors of the Sports.ru club section. It is likely that you do not know their names, but each of you has repeatedly read their works. They gave us tons of content, carefully choosing all the most important and necessary, thus filling your World Cup feed. These people watch a lot of football, not only because they are fans of this game, but also for the most banal reason – this is their job.

I asked some of them to assemble a symbolic team of the tournament, like the one we did with you on telegram .

Let’s start!

Sasha Bulycheva (Club section editor, German football fan and author of the Bundesliga.ru blog).

Van Gaal is the best World Cup coach.

Many players at the Qatari World Cup showed top football, some even jumped above their heads. At this World Cup, and especially in the playoffs, individual performances looked brighter than team performance. But Louis van Gaal and his Netherlands can be taken out of the brackets.

In Qatar, it was the Dutch who showed the most interesting football in terms of tactics. Take at least Depay’s goal against the USA. After all, the Memphis ball was preceded by a chain of 20 continuous passes. Such a combination can be included without hesitation in textbooks on tactics – this is pure football art.

Prior to the Qatari World Cup, only Bundesliga fans had heard of Wout Weghorst and his adventures at Wolfsburg. And Van Gaal took and released the Besiktas striker in the quarter-finals in the 78th minute. By this point Argentina were leading 2-0 and it looked like Holland had already lost the match. Then there was a double by Vegorst, who dragged his team into overtime.

That Holland penalty in the 1/4 of the tournament will be remembered for a long time. But at Wolfsburg, Wegorst once scored the twin goal of his second goal in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. And Van Gaal knew this for sure.

King Louie’s substitutions have been a real benefit to the team, and his tactics can be seen as football prowess.

Griezmann is the best player in the World Cup.

The next World Cup has become a talent fair.

There is definitely a replenishment in the circle of goalkeepers of the highest level: Livakovic, Martinez and Schensny seem to have arranged a personal competition in the number of reflected penalties. And Bunu, with the help of Saiss, covered the gates of Morocco with an iron dome. Who knows, perhaps if Romain had not been injured in the semi-finals in the 20th minute, the Moroccans would have returned home with bronze.

Cody Gakpo and Enzo Fernandez are already lined up with top clubs. Messi and Mbappe were certainly at the top once again. But Antoine Griezmann deserves special praise.

After an unsuccessful business trip to Barcelona, ​​the Frenchman returned to Atlético and began to gradually return to the best version of himself. At the World Cup, Antoine reminded him of what a talented and reliable footballer he is. Griezmann became the best assistant in the history of the French national team, leaving behind Zidane and Henry.

Yes, Antoine never scored in Qatar, but he helped his teammates score. The Atlético striker was especially good at creating and became the link between the lines. The Frenchman did not hesitate to work on the defensive, compensating for this frankly weak side of Mbappe’s game. Griezmann also became the king of free throws, their connection with Varane created a serious danger for the opponent at the standards.

Obviously, Antoine feels much better in the national team than in the club. It is easier for him to work with Deschamps, he plays more freely with the Blues. Therefore, in Qatar, he showed his high class in every meeting and became, in my opinion, the best player in the tournament.

Alexey Fedorov (Club section editor, Brugge fan with 8 years of experience).

The main result of the World Cup in Qatar: Argentina is the world champion, and Messi was finally able to formalize his legacy. Another basketball legacy hunter, LeBron James, can only dream of such an end to his career, and Ronaldo should not even think about it.

Messi came to the main tournament of life and won it with a double in the final and a Maradona-style post-match penalty. Leo is the best football player of the 21st century right now, but someone still has 10-12 years of active career to take this title from him.

And his chances are great.

Deschamps is the best World Cup coach.

Didier Deschamps is the best coach of this tournament and the best coach of the last 10 years. The way he decided to do at least something at the end of the first half is worth a lot. The hopelessly lost match was saved by Coman, who came out already in the second half.

Without Deschamps, even Mbappé would not have saved France.

Mbappe is the best player in the World Cup.

Despite the victory of Argentina, the best player of the tournament is Kylian Mbappe. There was no more individually strong football player in Qatar. Moreover, Kilian gave the result, even when the team practically did not help him. From the behavior of Mbappe at the awards ceremony, it became clear that this ninja is ready to start a new path immediately after such a beautiful, but very difficult defeat.

Katerina Pogoreltseva (Club section editor, Real Madrid fan with 13 years of experience, member of the Madrid fan club Fondo Ruso).

In my scheme, I would like to especially note the Croats and Moroccans who performed a miracle. I would be glad to see just such an ending, but, apparently, another time.

I could not imagine the attack without the main scorer of the tournament Kylian Mbappe and Richarlison – the author of the most beautiful (in my opinion) goal in Qatar (against the Serbs). And in defense, I wanted to support Harry Maguire, who woke up in the match with Iran and was a fine fellow during the tournament. Let him see this scheme and show class in the Premier League to the detriment of all critics.

Even though there are no world champions here, I am sure that they are not offended – they have the main trophy. And the aforementioned guys were a little unlucky, but maybe if they teamed up, they could beat the Argentines).

Regragi is the best coach of the World Cup.

The choice of a coach for the symbolic team is quite obvious for me: Vahid Khalilhodzic brought Morocco to the tournament, and Walid Regragui took the helm of the team just two months before the start of the World Cup. In such a short time, not the most stellar and experienced coach has achieved a result that deserves respect. Remember how Spain fired Lopetegui and appointed Hierro in 2018 before the start of the World Cup and what came of it. And here is a real success! I wish Regragi good luck in the future.

Mbappe is the best player in the World Cup.

The best player is Kylian Mbappe. The top scorer of the tournament, who almost managed to lead the French to the championship.

The Audience Choice Award goes to Luka Modric! He’s like wine

Anna Stebakova (Editor of the club section, has been fond of football for 5 years, prefers Barcelona).

What a pity that we need to limit ourselves to only eleven players, this World Cup shone with a lot of players and coaches, everyone would like to pay tribute, but I chose such a “dream team”. Livakovic will stand at the gate (until the last I wanted to put Amy Martinez, but I really want to note the crazy saves of the Croatian goalkeeper), the courageous Romain Saiss, whose injury in the semi-finals broke the heart of both me and many fans around the world, will stand up for defense along with the same desperate Martinez, experienced and all-seeing Hakimi and Theo Hernandez, who easily replaced his brother Luca.

I give the center of midfield without question to Casemiro, who at the age of 30 shows the best version of himself, and he will be accompanied by Bellingham, who is not for nothing called the main young English talent, and de Jong with amazing vision of the field and the ability to plow in any situation.

Regragi is the best coach of the World Cup.

Such a star team, of course, needs the best coach. Of course, Louis van Gaal, Lionel Scaloni or Zlatko Dalic would do great with this set of players, but I would like to see Walid Regragui, who made a sensation with the Moroccan national team, lead it. His ability to adapt to the opponent, use the best sides of his players, think tactically, as well as amazing equanimity, sharp tongue and a sober look at what is happening, could make something incredible out of this team. It’s very interesting to imagine what he could do with players of this magnitude. That is why I trust him with this honor!

Alvarez is the best player in the World Cup.

There are two PSG stars in attack, and we know how great their synergy works. After the final, no one else could have been there, because it was they who gave us this 120-minute madness. The third to them will be 22-year-old Julian Alvarez, who had just moved to Europe from River Plate. It was a great pleasure to watch him play at the World Cup that had died down. The guy, who has not even really shown himself at Manchester City yet, has become simply an indispensable player in Argentina, having seated Lautaro Martinez on the bench. He is a real hard worker, doing a huge amount of work, supporting Messi, and he could provide exactly the same service to Mbappe. So he does not forget to score! In my opinion, there was no more multifunctional, fast and rapidly developing player at this World Cup, which is why I will call him the best football player of the 2022 World Cup.

Me (Editor of the club section, fan of the London Arsenal, the French national team and CSKA from time immemorial, as well as the founder and author of the blog “Football players are like matches”).

I was thinking that I should give an alternative to the first team , given the last two games of the tournament.

For me, the main issue is the central defenders, so I chose a scheme where there will be three of them, sacrificing Hakimi and Hernandez.

Zlatko Dalic is the best coach of the World Cup.

For me, the choice is clear. Dalic led far from the strongest team to the second World Cup semi-final in a row. Let’s be honest, apart from Modric and Kovacic, the Croatian national team has no individual advantages over the top teams. Perisic, Guardiol, Brozovic are great players, but they don’t make a difference.

I am convinced that this Croatian team could become a champion. Unlike in 2018, they played much more open football, but the result was not affected. 30 minutes of weakness against the Belgian national team is the only disastrous segment in the entire tournament, taking into account the matches with Brazil and Argentina.

Croatia can be called the most stable team in the world after France, but it is important to remember that the resources of these teams are completely incomparable. Dalic did a great job.

Messi is the best player in the World Cup.

I don’t see any alternatives. Griezmann was Leo’s only competitor, but after the final, all questions evaporated.

Messi was the main protagonist of the Argentines in all matches, without exception. His influence on the game of the team is disproportionately higher than anyone else’s. The result is a championship. Everything is simple.

As you remember, I mercilessly criticized the entire Mbappe tournament, putting Bufal on his position in the last national team. I didn’t change my mind about Kylian, but still paid tribute to him for the last 40 minutes in the final, especially since Boufal failed the match for 3rd place.

I don’t like what Kilian is turning into. His version of 2018 impressed me much more, then I even thought that I was looking at a perfect football player who would open a new era of football…