This summer, Arsenal had 10 players participating in the World Cup, if you include new signing Lucas Torreira, so let’s take a look at how they all got on.
Many of Arsenal’s stars missed out on the tournament for one reason or another, particularly the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey and Henrikh Mkhitaryan whose countries simply didn’t qualify.
Then there were those who were injured, notably Laurent Koscielny, and those who didn’t get the call up despite regular international participation in the past, like Shkodran Mustafi and Alexandre Lacazette.
Of the lucky few that did make the tournament though, how did it all go?
3Lucas Torreira (Uruguay) 9
Torreira was fantastic for Uruguay, and worked his way into a few teams of the tournament as a result of his efforts. It was a particularly impressive feat given he wasn’t even a starter in his country’s first game, but did so well after that he became undroppable.
The highlight of the tournament came against Portugal, where he shut down Cristiano Ronaldo so effectively. Eventually Uruguay were eliminated against the eventual winners, France, but even then Torreira was his country’s top performer. He can certainly hold his head high and enjoy his holiday back home, before joining up with Arsenal.
Alex Iwobi (Nigeria) 5
This was a tournament to forget for Iwobi. He played the first 62 minutes against Croatia, but never managed to get going against the competition’s runners-up. After that, he didn’t play again until the final minute against Argentina, as his country got knocked out.
Mesut Özil (Germany) 6.5
Germany were terrible in Russia, and Özil took the blame. On the pitch, he wasn’t quite at the top of his game, but still created 11 chances in just two matches. The criticism of his performances all stemmed from what was happening off the pitch though, with media controversy over his photo with Erdogan.
He could’ve done better in a challenge in the build up to Mexico’s goal, though why he was the one covering instead of one of Germany’s defenders or central midfielders, I’m not sure. Other than that he generally did what he was supposed to do, creating chances, and was let down by Mats Hummels and Timo Werner in particular.