Scoring a goal in a World Cup and not shouting it. What seemed impossible happened in Qatar 2022. Plunger Breel, swiss striker, he scored the only goal in the win against his native Cameroon and apologized raising both arms and then covering her face with both hands.
It’s the first time this has happened in the long history of the World Cup, but it’s also not surprising to see a footballer represent a different team than his origins. It has already become a habit.
Total, 28 of the 32 teams have “foreigners” in their ranks. The exceptions: Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. And there are 137 players who meet this condition.
The specific case of Embolo is not the only one born in Africa who represents a European team, those of Ansu Fati and Camavinga being the most resonant.
The Barcelona forward playing for Spain was born in Guinea Bisau, while the Real Madrid midfielder is part of Didier Deschamps’ 26-man squad in France, but his origins are Angolan.
In Portugal, meanwhile, there are two other cases involving the same two countries: Danilo Pereira (Guinea) and William Carvalho (Angolan).
At the same time, Amadou Onana, Forward of Belgium, was born in Senegal, while Youssoufa Moukoko he chose to represent Germany even though he is from Cameroon and the goalkeeper is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo Steve Mandanda chose France.
A myth that is demolished
Contrary to what is usually believed, and what is suggested by the racist and homophobic chant of a group of Argentinian fans in Qatar which represents what many think, Not as many African-born footballers represent other countries.
That reprehensible song tried to detract from the recent successes of the French team, but the truth is that there are more French nationalized Africans than French nationalized Africans.
Ten play in Tunisia, including their character Whabi Khazri, nine in Senegal, eight in Cameroon, four in Ghana and three in Morocco. That means, all African teams present at Qatar 2022 have players born in France among their squad. And some in large numbers.
Instead, France only three foreigners: Camavinga (Angola), Steve Mandanda (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Marcus Thuram (Italy).
The 137 “foreigners” in Qatar 2022
With Morocco at the helm and three Argentine-born footballers playing for Uruguay, Ecuador and Mexico respectively, these are the 137 “foreigners” in Qatar 2022.
Morocco (14): Yassine Bounou (Canada); Munir Mohamed (Spain); Romain Saiss (France); Achraf Hakimi (Spain); Noussair Mazraoui (Netherlands); Sofyan Amrabat (Netherlands); Selim Amallah (Belgium); Amine Harit (France); Bilal El Khannous (Belgium); Hakim Ziyech (Netherlands); Sofiane Boufal (France); Zakaria Abukhlal (Netherlands); Walid Cheddira (Italy) and Ilias Chair (Belgium).
Senegal (12): Edouard Mendy (France); Seny Dieng (Switzerland); Kalidou Koulibaly (France); Youssouf Sabaly (France); Abdou Diallo (France); Fodé Ballo-Touré (France); Ismail Jakobs (Germany); Nampalys Mendy (France); Pape Gueye (France); Boulaye Dia (France); Ilman Ndiaye (France) and Nicolas Jackson (Gambia).
Tunisia (12): Mouez Hassen (France); Montassar Talbi (France); Nader Ghandri (France); Dylan Bronn (France); Mohamed Dräger (Germany); Wajdi Kechrida (France); Hannibal Mejbri (France); Aïssa Laïdouni (France); Ellyes Skhiri (France); Anis Ben Slimane (Denmark); Wahbi Khazri (France) and Naim Sliti (France).
Welsh (10): Adam Davies (Germany); Ethan Ampadu (England); Chris Mepham (England); Jonny Williams (England); Joe Morrell (England); Matt Smith (England); Sorba Thomas (England); Daniel James (England); Kieffer Moore (England) and Brennan Johnson (England).
Qatar (10): Boualem Khoukhi (Algeria); Ró-Ró (Portugal); Bassam Al-Rawi (Egypt); Musab Kheder (Sudan); Karim Boudiaf (France); Ali Assadalla (Bahrain); Mohammed Waad (Iraq); Almoez Ali (Sudan); Mohammed Muntari (Ghana) and Ahmed Alaaeldin (Egypt).
Australia (9): Milos Degenek (Croatia); Fran Karacic (Croatia); Harry Souttar (England); Thomas Deng (Kenya); Keanu Baccus (South Africa); Awer Mabil (Kenya); Martin Boyle (Scotland); Jason Cummings (Scotland) and Garang Kuol (Egypt).
Cameroon (9): Devis Épassy (France); JC Castelletto (France); Enzo Ebosse (France); Christopher Lana (France); Olivier Ntcham (France); Eric Choupo-Moting (Germany); Karl Toko Ekambi (France); Bryan Mbeumo (France) and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (France).
Ghana (8): Alexander Djiku (France); Denis Odoi (Belgium); Tariq Lamptey (England); Andre Ayew (France); Elisha Owusu (France); Jordan Ayew (France); Iñaki Williams (Spain) and Antoine Semenyo (England).
Canada (7): Milan Borjan (Croatia); Sam Adekugbe (England); Ismaël Koné (Ivory Coast), David Wotherspoon (Scotland); Ike Ugbo (England); Alphonso Davies (Ghana and; Jonathan David (United States).
Croatia (7): Dejan Lovren (Bosnia); Josip Stanisic (Germany); Josip Shutalo (Bosnia); Matteo Kovacic (Austria); Mario Pasalić (Germany); Luka Sučić (Austria) and Ante Budimir (Bosnia).
Portugal (7): Diogo Costa (Switzerland); Pepper (Brazil); Danilo Pereira (Guinea Bissau); Raphaël Guerreiro (France); William Carvalho (Angola); Matheus Nunes (Brazil) and Otavio (Brazil).
United States of America (5): Antonee Robinson (England); Sergiño Dest (Netherlands); Cameron Carter-Vickers (England); Jesús Ferreira (Colombia) and Giovanni Reyna (England).
Serbian (4): Vanja Milinković-Savić (Spain); Miloš Veljkovic (Switzerland); Srđan Babić (Bosnia) and Sergej Milinković-Savić (Spain).
France (3): Steve Mandanda (Democratic Republic of Congo); Eduardo Camavinga (Angola) and Marcus Thuram (Italy).
Swiss (3): Philipp Köhn (Germany); Xherdan Shaqiri (Kosovo) and Breel Embolo (Cameroon).
Germany (2): Armel Bella-Kotchap (France) and Youssoufa Moukoko (Cameroon).
Ecuador (2): Hernán Galíndez (Argentina) and Jeremy Sarmiento (Spain).
Spain (2): Aymeric Laporte (France) and Ansu Fati (Guinea-Bissau).
Poland (2): Matty Cash and Nicola Zalewski (Italy).
Belgium: Amadou Onana (Senegal).
Costa Rica: Oscar Duarte (Nicaragua).
Denmark: Robert Skov (Spain).
England: Raheem Sterling (Jamaica) Iran: Saman Ghoddos (Sweden).
Japan: Daniel Schmidt (USA).
Mexico: Rogelio Funes Mori (Argentina).
Holland: Luuk De Jong (Switzerland).
Uruguay: Fernando Muslera (Argentina).
dd
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.