The 2022 World Cup in Qatar had a lot of surprises. Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals, while a host of favorites failed to even make it out of the group stages. Such a turbulent tournament always has a psychological impact on the players, for better or worse. With this competition being held in winter, it is straight back to league action for many notable players.
With seven top-flight players having attended the World Cup, one team that may feel the impact in its upcoming fixtures is Liverpool. Below, we look at what is next for Liverpool’s international stars.
Alisson and van Dijk
Among the biggest tournament shocks in the competition were Alisson, a Brazil international, and van Dijk for the Netherlands, both exiting the tournament on the same day. Brazil has a fairly uninspiring competition overall. Despite them coming top of their group, they lost the final game to Cameroon. A win over South Korea saw them reach the semis, before being knocked out to a buoyant Croatia.
Of course, Alisson is not the only Brazil international as Fabinho was also in the squad. This shows the depth of a team that should have gone much further, and this is sure to have a knock-on impact on both players.
Virgil van Dijk may be a player who takes it somewhat harder. The Netherlands looked strong throughout, with two wins and a draw in the group stages. Comfortably beating the USA in the round of 16, they progressed to the semi-finals only to go a man down, hold their own, and be defeated on penalties.
How Will This Impact Liverpool?
In club football, there’s a virtuous cycle between performance and money. The better a team performs, the more they can bring in; the more they bring in, the better they can perform. Success at home brings access to success internationally, so Liverpool is dependent on its players returning to form from the World Cup. That impact will be felt in many ways.
Liverpool is a team with fans around the globe, which is even more important now that the online bookmaking industry has just started to gain traction in new markets, with many new providers entering the scene. These sites pride themselves on having odds for major clubs like Liverpool, particularly those that have exclusive broadcasting rights on tournaments: they’re not just a place to bet but also for people to spectate. One of these providers is 188BET, which also happens to be a partner of the team. So there is a mutual interest factor in Liverpool performing well.
It’s true that interest in Liverpool players at club and international levels has never been higher but the odds of continued success in the Premier League could be higher, with some bookmakers giving them a 50/1 chance of winning. But to maintain this, it’s important they continue to make an impact not only in the Premier League but on the world stage. A friendly against Milan on 16th December helped with this and saw the team get warmed up, though, in terms of international appeal, it may have been more effective to play against a squad from outside the continent.
There are a few obvious things Liverpool needs to do to improve overall this season. One of the major things is to score goals in the cup finals. Last season they played in three, without scoring a single goal. This shows pressure is getting to the team, though a run out for many players at a world stage may have actually helped this.
Another is to start winning games instead of pulling out draws, against opponents they should be beating. Of the top six teams in the English Premier League at the time of writing, only Newcastle has more draws than them with six to Liverpool’s four. Two of these have been in the last five games. With tough games ahead against teams like Manchester City, Liverpool needs to come back with a thirst for winning after heavy World Cup losses.
