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The FIFA World Cup is only a few days away and football fans from around the world are all looked forward to the much-awaited fiesta. This is a period where football fans keep their club loyalties aside, put on their national jerseys and passionately cheer their favourite team participating in the tournament. There's nothing like an international tournament in football as it induced a carnival type atmosphere in the nations participating.
However, the international tournament has a habit of turning friends into foes and that includes the stars on the pitch. Football is a club-driven sport where players represent clubs from all around the world for the best part of the year and play with their national teammates only during international assignments. When they do, players playing for the same club often clash against each other. This ends up becoming a tasty confrontation between friends who spend most of the year together. When the tournament kicks off in Russia in few days time, these club friendships will have to be put aside as the players will battle it out to make their countries proud.
In this article, we take a look at club teammates who will go head to head in the league phase of the World Cup in Russia.
Cristiano Ronaldo vs Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal (Portugal vs Spain)
The match between Portugal and Spain will be one of the most hotly contested matches of the group stage. This game will pit familiar foes Cristiano Ronaldo and Gerard Pique against each other once again.
However, this will also see boys from European champions Real Madrid come face to face to lead their respective nations. Sergio Ramos will be looking to get the 2010 World Champions back on track after the disappointment in Brazil. Cristiano Ronaldo will look to inspire his nation once again after leading them to glory in Euro 2016.
Ramos is widely considered as one of the best defenders in the world but often uses dirty tactics to keep the opposition at bay. It will be interesting to see if the 32-year old will employ similar tactics against one of his best friends on the pitch. Ramos might be the one tasked to mark the Portuguese skipper during set-pieces.
This game could also feature a direct confrontation between Ronaldo and Dani Carvajal, provided the Real Madrid right-back can prove his fitness. Ronaldo's starting position starts a little off the left side of the pitch and Carvajal will have his hands full to keep tracking the Portuguese's movements.
This battle will go a long way towards deciding the result of this fixture on just the second day of the tournament.
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Lionel Messi vs Ivan Rakitic (Argentina vs Croatia)
Lionel Messi has dominated world football this decade and has racked up a host of trophies and individual accolades with his club Barcelona. Sadly though the same success has eluded him on the international stage as the Argentine legend has suffered heartache with three consecutive finals losses. This might be Leo's last attempt to win the elusive World Cup trophy.
However, Argentina who have been heavily dependent on the brilliance of Messi will have to do it the hard way around this time. They have been pitted with the likes of Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland in what is regarded to be the Group of Death this year. All three teams will pose a stern test and Croatia are the strongest opposition in this group. Messi will come head to head with his club-mate Ivan Rakitic. Since 2014, the two have been teammates at Barcelona.
Croatia are regarded as the dark-horses of this tournament and can head into the final stages of the tournament if all the players manage to perform to their potential. Rakitic is a part of a very balanced Croatia squad, that comprises of a midfield that top teams in the world will envy. The 30-year-old along with Real Madrid's Luka Modric will be pulling the strings for the side.
However, the two friends will turn foes when their respective national teams play each other on the 21st of June in the World Cup. Rakitic will have the difficult task of keeping the Argentine superstar at bay.
Gonzalo Higuain vs Mario Mandzukic (Argentina vs Croatia)
Gonzalo Higuain has been regarded as one of the top forwards when it comes to the club level. He has scored buckets of goals with some of the top clubs in the world like Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus. However, the Argentine has always flattered to deceive when it came to the international level. The 30-year old has been guilty of letting slip massive chances when it came to the finals of the world tournaments. When presented with a one-on-one chance against Manuel Neuer in the previous World Cup final, the Argentine striker dragged it tamely wide. He missed similar opportunities in the following Copa America tournaments twice. Despite that, Higuain has been persisted with and is likely to line up at the top of the Argentine attack.
Argentina will face a stern test against dark-horses Croatia and the Croatian side will line up with Mario Mandzukic at the top end of their attack. Mandzukic will have a classy midfield being him to provide all the ammunition and it will be upto the tall striker to find the back of the net and put pressure on Argentina. The two Juventus forwards will lead their respective forward lines and will look to out-score each other in this crucial fixture.
The match between England and Belgium is one of the most awaited fixtures in the group stages of this World Cup. This game will see a lot of familiar friends go up against each other. There's a large influx of Belgian players who play in the English Premier League and they'll look to outdo their illustrious rivals.
Kevin de Bruyne vs Kyle Walker and John Stones (Belgium vs England)
One of the most improved players this season in Manchester City was big-money signing of 2016- John Stones. The Englishman had a rough start to his career at the Etihad Stadium and looked to have fallen off the peak. However, Guardiola's confidence and man-management ultimately led to the young defender finding his mojo again in a successful trophy-laden campaign.Belgium are one of the favourites on paper due to the strength of their team and the man who'll be leading their charge will be none other than Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian midfield maestro had a sensational season at Manchester City where he stole the show from the centre of the pitch. The Belgian controlled games in the Premier League like never seen before and would have been the favorite to walk home with all the individual honours if not for Mo Salah's breathtaking season. Nevertheless, his showings this year have propelled him into the bracket of the top midfielders in the game at the moment. de Bruyne along with Hazard will look to lead Belgium into uncharted territories in the World Cup.
Kyle Walker was signed from Tottenham Hostpur this year by Pep Guardiola, and at the time of his signing he was the second most expensive defender in the world. The right-back had a fantastic campaign in which he proved his doubter wrong and was deservedly named in the PFA Team of the Year.
Walker, who is a right-back by trade will line up on the right side of the back three in a position that Walker has been trained to play in by English manager Gareth Southgate. Stones meanwhile will line up in the centre of the back 3 that Southgate will employ.
The two defenders will have an extremely difficult task of keeping de Bruyne quiet when the two familiar foes come face to face on 28th June. Stones and Walker will have to employ everything that he learned on the training ground at the Etihad to keep the Belgian star at bay.
Harry Kane vs Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen (England vs Belgium)
Harry Kane has been breaking numerous records in the Premier League at Spurs. The young Englishman has been scoring tons of goals season after season and he's inspired his club to great heights. Harry Kane will also be the flag bearer for the young and inexperienced English contingent. The Englishman has been handed the captaincy arm-band by Gareth Southgate ahead of more experienced options like Gary Cahill and Jordan Henderson.
The English forward will now have the additional responsibility of captaincy in addition to his goal scoring responsibilities. The English will come up against Belgium in the group stage where Kane will face his club-mates Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. The two Belgian centre-backs are amongst the top defensive duos and playing together for the same club has only gone on to improve their communication and understanding when they play for their national team.
Kane will have the hard task of going past the sturdy Belgian unit led by these tough defenders. Both the Belgian defenders will know Kane inside out and this might enable them to deal with the Englishman properly. This battle between the Spurs men will be an exciting sub-plot in one of the most awaited fixtures of the group stage.
Depending on who Gareth Southgate employs in defense, we could see a few more interesting club battles in this game.
Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku could come up against Manchester United club teammates Ashley Young and Phil Jones.
Belgian captain Eden Hazard could come up against his club captain Gary Cahill.
James Rodriguez and Robert Lewandowski (Colombia vs Poland)
James Rodriguez was the poster boy of the previous World Cup in 2014. His performances lit up the World Cup and earned him a big-money move to Real Madrid. However, things soon turned sour and he made a move to Bayern Munich after three years in Spain's capital. James had a renaissance of sorts at Munich this season and heads into this World Cup in red-hot form.
The man who'll lead Poland's charge in the World Cup will be none other than his club-mate Robert Lewandowski. The tall striker has been banging in goals for both club and country and will be making his maiden appearance on the World Cup stage.
Both James and Lewandowski will carry the hopes of their respective nations in this tournament. The 26-year old along with skipper Radamel Falcao will look to win the hearts of neutrals around the world like the Colombians did in the previous edition. Robert Lewandowski meanwhile will have to carry the hopes of his nation in this tournament as they are heavily dependent on their star striker's goal-scoring prowess.
The two Bayern Munich teammates will come face to face in Russia on June 24th and though they might not come up in a direct confrontation against each other, they will be key to their countries racking up goals on the crucial night.
Christian Eriksen vs Hugo Lloris (Denmark vs France)
Christian Eriksen heads into this World Cup in cracking form. The Dane was named in the PFA Team of the Season as his performances inspired an inconsistent Tottenham side into the third spot that fetched them Champions League qualification for next season. At the heart of the inconsistent showings was his club captain Hugo Lloris, who had an extremely difficult season that was filled with numerous mistakes.
Christian Eriksen is undoubtedly the star of his national team Denmark and he will be central to everything good about Denmark. The 26-year old will line up in the number. 10 spot behind the striker and will need to be at the top of his game if Denmark are to advance to the knockout stages. Lloris is the captain of an exciting French side that are favourites to lift the World Cup in Russia and will be the guardian of the French side.
Both the Spurs boys are the most experienced players of their respective sides. Eriksen scored a sensational hat-trick against Ireland in the World Cup qualifier playoff match to book Denmark's place in the World Cup. Similar inspirational performances will be required to see Denmark perform well in this tournament. The man who'll be in his way against France is none other than his skipper at Spurs- Hugo Lloris and the two will look to outdo each other when France and Denmark clash on 26th June.
