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The FIFA World Cup is up and running in Russia and the action has been absolutely exhilarating to say the least. We have seen sensational goals, own goals, late drama and major upsets all through what has been a stunning tournament that has lived up to expectations.
At the start of the tournament, the top sides were expected to ease through to the second round, from where the real action was expected to begin. However, the smaller nations have made it tough for these superpowers, and this has made the tournament all the more difficult to predict.
With most of these sides boasting some of the top talent playing in some of the best European clubs from around the world, national team coaches find it extremely difficult to select the final 23 touring party, as they have to leave out quite a few quality players out.
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It becomes even more harder to select the final playing XI, as quite a few of these players come into the tournament having made strong cases for themselves after good performances for their respective clubs.
If the decisions made by the manager fail to come off and if this sees the international team in trouble, they are heavily scrutinized. It has been the same case in this World Cup too as a few selections made by managers have failed to come off and fans have clamoured for changes to be made.
In this article, we list players who deserve a place in the starting XI for their respective countries in the final round of group stage matches, ahead of the players currently in the playing XI.
#1 Paulo Dybala (Argentina)
To say that Argentina is in a crisis is a massive understatement. They are struggling on the pitch as there is absolutely no kind of cohesion and understanding in their play and they look a disjoint unit.
There are problems off the pitch as well, since there seems to be a lack of trust, and the united feeling in the team seems to be missing. And yet, all is not lost for the Argentines as Nigeria's victory over Iceland has put their fate in their own hands.
The main man behind Argentina's problems seems to be none other than their coach- Jorge Sampaoli. The man who won multiple titles with Chile and Sevilla FC was entrusted with the thankless task of ending Argentina's long wait for an international glory.
They just about sneaked into the World Cup thanks to their talismanic skipper's hat-trick in the final qualification match. Despite this, Messi's presence in the team ensured that Argentina would still start as one of the favourites. However, Sampaoli's decisions have almost neutralized Messi's presence in the team.
The world knows that Argentina rely on their attack that possess the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala. Their defense and midfield is nowhere near as good as this front-line.
So it's the manager's job to design such a system where he can put most of these top stars together to bring out the best of Messi and Argentina.
He has however failed miserably, as he has left Dybala and Higuain on the bench in both games and also put di Maria on the bench in a crucial fixture against Croatia.
It's well known that Dybala's playing style is very much similar to Messi's, and that they occupy very similar areas on the pitch. Were Dybala's replacements; Acuna and Meza any better?
The answer is no and the manager should have noticed this and brought Dybala on earlier, so that he could make a substantial impact. Surely, Dybala would have played better than those two even when played out of his favoured position.
Argentina still has a decent chance to go through and Sampaoli must somehow devise a system to play Dybala and Messi along with one of Aguero or Higuain.
These players are capable of pieces of individual brilliance, and they need to be on the pitch for a longer period than the likes of Acuna and Meza.
#2 Roberto Firmino (Brazil)
Brazil manager Tite has an extremely difficult task of selecting the forward line that comprises of Neymar, Willian, Philippe Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino and Douglas Costa.
After years of under-performance and the loss of the Brazilian style and swagger of football, Tite changed the system around and introduced a young Gabriel Jesus who was still playing for Brazilian side Palmeiras.
Jesus immediately set the ground running and he's been consistent ever since for his national team, scoring 10 goals in just 19 appearances.
More than the goals, the Manchester City forward is important to their system as he allows the likes of Neymar and Coutinho to come into their own. Roberto Firmino remained as the option from the bench thanks to his consistent showings for Liverpool.
Things changed in 2017-18 though as Firmino played a massive role in Liverpool's run to the Champions League final, having plundered 27 goals for them in the season. The Brazilian played as the false nine and allowed the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Coutinho to flourish around him.
His intelligent movement and link up play was crucial to Liverpool forming the devastating attacking line-up which is considered as one of the best in the world.
There were calls for Tite to select Firmino as the man up front after Firmino scored in the pre-World Cup friendly against Croatia, but the manager decided to stick with the tried and testing attacking line-up.
Brazil have found it difficult to open up the opposition in the first two games, and Jesus in particular has looked far from his usual self despite working extremely hard in both games.
Neymar has been battered, bruised and brought to the ground with crunching tackles and fouls. Willian has had the hardest time of the attacking unit as he hasn't had the space to run at defenders like he enjoys doing.
Coutinho has been their savior in both games as he scored the opener in their draw in the first game and netted an injury time winner in a hard second match against Costa Rica.
In both games, Brazil's attacking play had a lot more purpose after the introduction of Firmino as they looked bright towards the closing stages of their draw against Switzerland where the Liverpool man was at the heart of their best attacks.
It was the same in the second game to as his arrival freed up space for the other attackers and it was his knockdown that Coutinho latched on for the vital injury-time winner.
Firmino has made a major case for his selection in the eleven in place of the struggling Gabriel Jesus, on who pressure is building with every passing game. The attack is crying out for Firmino's intensity and tenacity up front and his ability to create spaces for his teammates.
It will be interesting to see if Tite decides to back his young gun or if he goes to Firmino as his first-choice. The other option might be to move Coutinho to the right side of the attack, where he started under boss Tite and bring Firmino on for the struggling Willian.
All stats via transfermarkt
#3 Julian Brandt (Germany)
German coach Joachim Low made a strange but shocking decision to leave out the best young player of the Premier League - Leroy Sane out of the 23-man squad to travel to Russia.
Sane had been touted as one of the young stars to watch out for in the World Cup after his spectacular performances in Manchester City's record-breaking season and yet Low left him out citing his poor showings for Germany in the opportunities afforded to him so far.
That shocking decision came back to bite the World Champions as they slipped up against a young and energetic Mexican side where most of the players were uncharacteristically poor.
The likes of Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller were way off pace and the slowness in the attack meant that they were easy to handle. Germany looked better when direct winger Marco Reus was brought on.
Sane's replacement in the squad, Julian Brandt was brought on with just 4 minutes to play and yet looked the brightest player in the squad. He whacked the post with a well-struck shot from outside the box as Germany failed to find the equaliser.
Low rang in the changes as expected as Reus replaced a woeful Ozil in the playing eleven for the game against Sweden.
With a 10-man Germany still struggling to get past a resolute Swiss defense, Brandt was brought on, this time with just three minutes to play and again hit the ground running instantly.
He struck the post again with a beautiful shot from outside the box, making it two in two games. A special goal from Toni Kroos with just 15 seconds saw the Germans squeak past Switzerland.
One thing that was clear to see in the two games was that this German side needs more pace and that spark has been missing in Sane's absence. The next best alternative is Julian Brandt, who has looked bright in his short cameos so far.
If Germany are to put in more assured displays, they might need the pace and directness of Brandt and he will have to see more game time. Low has been brave enough to drop the likes of Ozil and Khedira from his starting eleven, and he might have to drop either of Draxler or Muller to accommodate Brandt.
Muller who has been one of Germany's stars in the previous two World Cups has been struggling for some time now and it will be interesting to see if Low drops one of his most established players to bring in the youth and exuberance of Brandt.
