Excitement is building ahead of the start of the 2018 World Cup tomorrow (June 14), with hosts Russia getting the competition underway as they come up against Saudi Arabia.
The World Cup is the greatest footballing show on earth, and is the only time when all English supporters, no matter what club you support, come together and support the same team.
Earlier today, the72 published a list of all of the Football League players who are playing at the World Cup this summer, and we’ve decided to build on that by providing you with a best possible starting XI made up of players that represent Football League clubs that we can expect to see in Russia.
Here is it:
GK: Jack Butland – Stoke City and England
RB: Ahmed Elmohamady – Aston Villa and Egypt
CB: Pontus Jansson – Leeds United and Sweden
CB: Hordur Magnusson – Bristol City and Iceland
LB: James Meredith – Millwall and Australia
CM: Ki Sung-Yueng – Swansea City and South Korea
CM: Mile Jedinak – Aston Villa and Australia
CM: Nacer Chadli – West Brom and Belgium
RW: Xherdan Shaqiri – Stoke City and Switzerland
ST: Mame Biram Diouf – Stoke City and Senegal
LW: Kamil Grosicki – Hull City and Poland
So, there is our starting XI, made up solely of players who will represent their country at this summer’s tournament. It is worth noting that there are several other players from the Football League who will be there, but this is our best combined XI.
We posted a list of the players in groups A-D earlier, so keep your eye out for E-H which will be coming later
