{"id":3993,"date":"2022-12-18T00:51:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T00:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/18\/world-cup-the-10-youngest-stars-at-russia-2018-how-theyve-fared\/"},"modified":"2022-12-18T00:51:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T00:51:06","slug":"world-cup-the-10-youngest-stars-at-russia-2018-how-theyve-fared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/18\/world-cup-the-10-youngest-stars-at-russia-2018-how-theyve-fared\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: The 10 youngest stars at Russia 2018 &#038; how they&#8217;ve fared"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><b>Every World Cup is marked by some exciting young talent but not all hot prospects from the 2018 edition went on to bigger and better things after participating in Russia.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a major demonstration of faith from any World Cup manager to take a promising youngster to the finals, often at the expense of experience, and the decision of some 2018 bosses looks even more inspired with the passage of time.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve investigated just what became of the 10 youngest players at the World Cup in Russia four-and-a-half years ago.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Lee Seung-woo (South Korea)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Former Barcelona youth-team prospect Seung-woo was named in South Korea\u2019s 2018 squad but isn\u2019t in Qatar this time around.<\/p>\n<p>The attacking midfielder, who was at Verona during the last tournament, has spent time subsequently in both Belgium and Portugal before returning to his homeland and Suwon FC.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Frequently linked with a multi-million move to one of the Premier League elite, Sarr has definitely blossomed since his participation in Senegal\u2019s doomed campaign in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>The winger started all three matches as Senegal were eliminated by Japan for receiving more yellow cards and has since established as one of English football\u2019s most exciting talents at Watford.<\/p>\n<p>Sarr has become even more important for club and country after Watford\u2019s relegation and Sadio Mane\u2019s World Cup-curtailing injury. He\u2019s one of the undoubted success stories on our list.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ismaila Sarr vs West Brom<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WatfordFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#WatfordFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#WBA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RSYLn9LuMc\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/RSYLn9LuMc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 How\u2019d he score that\ud83d\ude31 (@Howhescoreftbl) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Howhescoreftbl\/status\/1556722874987290631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Ian Smith (Costa Rica)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The very Costa Rican-sounding Smith earnt himself a place in Costa Rica\u2019s 2018 side with some fine performances for\u00a0Swedish top-division side IFK Norrkoping.<\/p>\n<p>But, as far as we can tell, the defender didn\u2019t play for the national side once the year was out and is currently turning out for\u00a0Alajuelense in his home country.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Jose Luis Rodriguez (Panama)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Panama qualified for their first finals in 2018 and, after building his reputation at Belgian side Gent, Rodriguez earnt himself a plane ticket to Russia at the tender age of 19.<\/p>\n<p>And, while Panama lost all three group matches, Rodriguez caught the eye with his left-wing performances and won himself a move to La Liga regulars Alaves.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old currently plays for Portuguese side\u00a0Famalicao and has won 38 caps for his country.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Moussa Wague (Senegal)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Wague\u2019s committed performances at the World Cup, including becoming the youngest African scorer in the tournament\u2019s history with his strike against Japan, were enough to earn the Senegal right-back a dream move to Barcelona in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>But he only made four appearances, all in the league, for Barca and joined Croatian side\u00a0Gorica this year. He was not named in Senegal\u2019s 2022 World Cup squad.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Trent Alexander-Arnold (England)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Whatever your opinion about him \u2013 defensive liability or generational talent, it cannot be both \u2013 Alexander-Arnold is unquestionably one of the finest attacking full-backs in English football history.<\/p>\n<p>The Liverpool man was just 19 when Gareth Southgate named him in the squad for Russia as back-up for Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier, meaning Alexander-Arnold only played in the group-stage dead-rubber against Belgium.<\/p>\n<p>And his perceived defensive frailties have made Southgate hesitant to make the Champions League winner a first-choice pick, often preferring Chelsea\u2019s Reece James instead.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, Alexander-Arnold remains a special player.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Francis Uzoho (Nigeria)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After some promising performances between the sticks for Deportivo La Coruna, Uzoho was named in Nigeria\u2019s 2018 squad and gave an impressive performance against Lionel Messi and Argentina in the group stages.<\/p>\n<p>Uzoho currently plays for Cypriot side Omonia and made headlines in October with a brilliant display against boyhood club Manchester United in the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, Nigeria\u2019s failure to qualify for this year\u2019s finals have robbed the watching world of more heart-warming Uzoho moments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got a lot of time for this interview. Fair play Francis Uzoho \ud83d\udc4f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RRYCyUUOvO\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/RRYCyUUOvO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 United Peoples TV (@UnitedPeoplesTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnitedPeoplesTV\/status\/1580670054479187971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 13, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Hakimi was at Real Madrid when Morocco named him in their 2018 side and the right-back has become one of the best defenders in world football over the intervening four years.<\/p>\n<p>Currently at PSG, Hakimi helped Morocco stun the football world with their victory over Belgium in the 2022 group stage and no left-side player relishes an encounter with the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Kylian Mbappe (France)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Who?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/trending\/kylian-mbappe-france-world-cup-destroys-defender-skill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Look out, Mbappe can destroy defenders without needing the ball<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong> Daniel Arzani (Australia)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The youngest player at Russia 2018, Arzani made his World Cup bow during a group stage draw with Denmark but was unable to prevent the Socceroos bowing out at the first hurdle.<\/p>\n<p>He moved to Manchester City shortly afterwards but, with four separate loan spells, Arzani failed to make an appearance for the Premier League heavyweights and joined A-League side\u00a0Macarthur FC last summer.<\/p>\n<p>Arzani was not named in Australia\u2019s squad for the current World Cup and is danger of failing to live up to his reputation.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/quick-reads\/world-cup-best-dribblers-qatar-2022-di-maria-mbappe-dembele\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 players with the most dribbles at the World Cup: Di Maria, Mbappe\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>TRY A QUIZ:\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/quizzes\/can-you-name-the-all-time-top-scorer-for-every-south-american-nation\/\" target=\"_blank\">Can you name the all-time top scorer for every South American nation?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script>(function(d, s, id) {\n    var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n    if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n    js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n    js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_GB\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.8&appId=203299386383530\";\n    fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n  }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetfootball.com\/quick-reads\/where-are-they-now-the-10-youngest-players-from-2018-world-cup\/#new_tab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every World Cup is marked by some exciting young talent but not all hot prospects from the 2018 edition went on to bigger and better things after participating in Russia. It\u2019s a major demonstration of faith from any World Cup manager to take a promising youngster to the finals, often at the expense of experience, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[85,726,545,195],"class_list":{"0":"post-3993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-home","8":"tag-england","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-quick-reads","11":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}