Over half of Arsenal’s World Cup internationals have made it to the semi-final stage of the competition, meaning they’ll remain at the tournament until the final weekend.
Arsenal sent 15 players off to the 2026 World Cup, and with just one week left until the conclusion of the tournament, eight of them are still in contention to win it.
In terms of resting up for the new season, the quarter-final results were somewhat of a worst-case scenario.
William Saliba and France progressed past Morocco, David Raya, Mikel Merino, and Martin Zubimendi eliminated Leandro Trossard, and Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice, Noni Madueke, and Bukayo Saka made the semis at the expense of Martin Odegaard.
Wins for Morocco, Belgium, and Norway would have seen just two Arsenal players playing another week of World Cup football, with one of them being Trossard (who is seemingly on the way out to Besiktas). Instead, eight Gunners will continue their tournaments.
Even if Spain and England are eliminated in the semi-finals, the seven Arsenal players in those two teams will still have to stick around for the third-place play-off next Saturday, only getting one day of extra rest compared to making the final.
The obvious upside is that three of the four remaining teams could potentially produce an Arsenal World Cup winner, or three winners, or four. Only Argentina can stop at least one Arsenal player from lifting the trophy.
Another upside is that Odegaard made it through the tournament without any obvious injury setbacks.
The Arsenal and Norway captain struggled with injury all season, but it seems he’s now capable of completing matches again, and he has the next three weeks to rest up before making a slightly late arrival to pre-season.
Saliba, Raya, Merino, Zubimendi, Eze, Rice, Madueke, and Saka will now certainly miss Arsenal’s first three friendlies, and they’ll be serious doubts to feature significantly in the Community Shield match on August 16th.
That’s less than a month after the World Cup third-place match, let alone the final.
It’s a headache for Mikel Arteta, but one you just have to deal with when the major international tournaments come around.
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