The 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Qatar, is slightly over two months away and a substantial number of Leeds United players are gunning to feature for their respective nations at the global showpiece which will, in turn, add to Leeds’s representation at World Cup finals which currently stands at 25 players in all.
The greatest sporting event will be upon us from November 20 and for 29 days, Qatar , a nation of fewer than three million people , will have the world’s attention.
Thirty-two nations will be represented in this year’s tournament allowing football fans from all over the globe to cheer and even place bets for their favourite teams and players, some of whom are currently strutting their stuff at Elland Road.
Jesse Marsch’s side has 24 players from eight nations that will take part in this year’s World Cup.
However, not all will make it to Qatar and honestly, there are about two players who, with two months to the competition and barring no injuries along the way, can be said to have already booked their plane tickets for Doha.
One of the most capped internationals in the Leeds set-up is Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich, who with 40 caps is expected to take part in the World Cup for the first time.
The 32-year-old has been an international for more than a decade but it is not until he joined Leeds in 2017 that he started to become a regular for the White and Red.
He has so far represented his country at the two Nations League tournaments thus far as well as the 2020 Euros.
Klich sought a move away from Leeds before the start of the 2022/23 season as he felt that under Marsch he would not get the needed game time to be able to be a part of Czesław Michniewicz world cup squad.
He is yet to start a single Premier League game this season but has featured in all six games from the bench.
Poland have been placed in Group C alongside Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico and will begin their tournament against the North Americans on November 22.
By their profile, Poland will be among the headline teams in this group and the FIFA World Cup predictions on SportyTrader will definitely favor them to advance to the second round.
The other Whites player who is expected to be in Qatar is American midfielder Brenden Aaronson.
At just 21 years, the former Red Bull Salzburg player has won himself 22 international caps for the USMNT and is among the young players to look out for this winter.
Commonly referred to as the Medford Messi in his native America, Aaronson joined Leeds this season from Salzburg and immediately hit the ground running where he has started all six Premier League games, scoring once.
If Aaronson and fellow teammates Tyler Adams get to travel and feature in Qatar, then they will have followed in the steps of former dead ball specialist Eddie Lewis who was the first American to represent Leeds at a World Cup, in 2006.
Gregg Berhalter’s charges have been placed in Group B alongside Wales, Iran and England and will kick off their tournament against the Welsh on November 21.
Other players targeting the World Cup are the English quintet of Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling, Joe Gelhardt, Charlie Cresswell and Jack Harrison as well as the Spanish trio of Diego Llorente, Marc Roca and Rodrigo.
Others are Rasmus Kristensen of Denmark, German Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk of the Netherlands.
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