Young talents, in their teens or early 20s – and they’ve got the world in their hands!
Youth and exceptional skill define the best talents of the 2022 FIFA World Cup slated this November. Four years ago, they were personified by French footballer Kylian Mbappe, then only 19, who became the face of youth and Football of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He has since emerged as a football superstar, and one of the best paid professional booters of his generation, with annual earnings in millions of Euros.
Who will earn this same accolade when the world’s biggest sporting event re-opens in Qatar?
While established stars such as Argentina Leonel Messi, 34, and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, 36, are getting closer to retirement, there are hundreds of football superstar wannabes quietly waiting for their time to shine.
It’s not really difficult to spot them, with FIFA holding regular competitions for players under different age groups. The spotlight, of course, is focused in the talent-laden under-20 and under-22 brackets as pointed out on the Asian betting site Vwin99. Players under-25 are still very much in this category, young and hungry for recognition.
It’s difficult to rank them according to their performance at this point in time, but it’s usually the quadrennial World Cup that spells the difference. So all eyes of fans, team managers, and club owners are on the oil-rich Qatar to select the crème de la crème of the football world.
The list below only includes players whose countries have qualified for the World Cup. As of this writing, only 14 countries, including host country Qatar, have qualified for the World Cup. A total of 18 more slots are at stake in a cut-throat qualifying cycle that is still in progress.
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At 23, Kylian Mbappé is still young but already a cut above the rest. After a phenomenal performance at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he is still at the forefront of the French football legion.
He’s remembered for scoring France’s first goal in the World Cup four years ago, leading to a 1-0 victory over Peru. Nine days later, he scored twice to lead his team to a 4-3 win over archrival Argentina.
In the finals of the 2018 World Cup, Mbappé unleashed a 25-yard screamer against Croatia to win the Cup. He thus became only the second under-20 player, after Pelé, to score a point in World Cup finals.
During the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, Mbappé continued to play the hero’s role for Les Bleus with a penalty shot to help France score a come from behind victory over Belgium 3–2. Two days later, he scored the clincher against Spain, 3-2, to win the Nations League finals, and was awarded the Alipay Top Scorer Trophy.
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Argentina is never a team without a player willing to step up when the going gets rough.
It was Lionel Messi when he won the World Cup in 2014. Could it be Santiago Ascacibar’s turn in 2022?
The young Bundesliga campaigner has long been touted as veteran national player Javier Mascherano’s heir apparent at midfield. But not until the veteran FC Barcelona and national player mainstay announced his retirement – which he already has.
Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni thinks so and has reportedly announced his plan to build his rotation around Messi and Ascacibar, with the latter at midfield. Tall order? The 21-year-old is reputed to have the quality, confidence, and discipline to carry out his role and jumpstart the team’s campaign in Qatar as La Albiceleste takes another shot at football glory.
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If you have convinced no less than football legend Pep Guardiola that you should be in his team Manchester City, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be in the national team.
That’s what Oleksandr Zinchenko, 25, did to earn his place in the Ukraine national team. The Manchester City attacking fullback has displayed excellent defensive anticipation and dribbling prowess when making an offensive blitz, or relaying a pass.
Already a regular national team player in at least 17 international competitions, Zinchenko should be carrying Ukraine’s Blues and Yellows on his chest for years to come.
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Rodrygo Silva de Goes, 21, is better known simply as Rodrygo. His claim to fame is being the first player born in the 21st century to score in the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League season during a match against Club Atletico Osasuna en route to a 6-0 victory.
He was then only 18 and playing for FC Real Madrid where he is committed to play until 2025 for a rumored fee of 45 million Euros.
But if it were up to him, Rodrygo would rather be known for something else – something loftier, something above himself. That something may be the forthcoming World Cup in Qatar, where the Canarinho hopes to regain the Cup it won five times, the last time in 2002.
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