Like all Leicester City fans out there, we are stuck in a limbo. It’s that period again when the season has finished and we’re waiting for the new season to start. Apart from transfer rumours, what else do we have to look forward to? The FIFA World Cup, of course.
The World Cup kicks off with the hosts Russia taking on Saudi Arabia on Thursday. If you didn’t know already, Leicester fans have plenty of their own players to keep an eye on in this World Cup. In fact, ten players in total, which is pretty impressive, and only bettered in the Premier League by a handful of clubs.
Find out more about Leicester City’s stars in Russia 2018 below:
First in action
Portugal Vs Spain will be the first game a Leicester City play may appear in this World Cup.
Leicester have two players in the Portugal squad in Adrien Silva and new signing Ricardo Pereira. It will be the duo’s first World Cup. To date Silva has 23 caps for Portugal and was part of the Portugal squad that won the European Championships in 2016.
They’d will be hoping to do better than 2014, when they went out in the group stages. Attacking full-back Pereira will also be very keen to nail down a place at right-back, should he be picked, and Leicester City fans will be extremely keen to see their new man in action.
You can watch Leicester’s Portuguese stars in action in the following games:
- Portugal v Spain (Friday, June 15th, 7pm BST)
- Portugal v Morocco (Wednesday, June 20th, 1pm BST)
- Iran v Portugal (Monday, June 25th, 7pm BST)
In between the sticks?
Kasper Schmeichel will be the next Leicester City player to feature in the World Cup. As the current number 1 for Denmark in his first World Cup, Kasper will be very keen to have a great tournament to step out of his dad’s shadow once and for all.
Kasper’s dad Peter Schmeichel was part of the Denmark team that won the UEFA European Football Championship in1992 – their only major trophy to date.
Kasper has always had big shoes to fill, but the talented shot stopper has developed in to one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League andis a champion in his own right after the winning the Premier League title.
With 35 caps to his name, the 31-year old will be hoping to progress into the latter stages in what will be Denmark’s fifth World Cup (last appeared in 2010).
- Peru v Denmark (Saturday, June 16th, 5pm BST)
- Denmark v Australia (Thursday, June 21st, 1pm BST)
- Denmark v France (Tuesday, June 26th, 3pm BST)
The most colourful team in the competition?
Nigeria have taken social media by storm with their bright and colourful kit for the World Cup, and Leicester City fans have three reasons to join in the party with the Super Eagles.
Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi and Ahmed Musa are all expected to play key roles for their side and it will be interesting to see how the trio fares ina group that has Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.
Ahmed Musa is Nigeria’s joint top goalscorer in the World Cup with two goals, and another goal or more will make him their all time top goalscorer at the tournament.
It will be Ndidi and Iheanacho’s first World Cup, and if they can make it out of the group, they will have equalled their best ever record of reaching the round of 16 (three times).
Kelechi Iheanacho has an impressive goal scoring record with eight goals in 18 senior international appearances, and he will surely be one to watch this tournament.
It will be interesting to see how Wilfred Ndidi competes against the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala when Nigeria play Argentina. The all-action midfielder isn’t afraid to get stuck in, and a good summer in Russia will put him on the radar of some of the top clubs.
You can follow the Leicester City trio in the following games:
- Croatia v Nigeria (Saturday, June 16th, 8pm BST)
- Nigeria v Iceland (Friday, June 22nd, 4pm BST)
- Nigeria v Argentina (Tuesday, June 26th, 7pm BST)
From Fleetwood Town to the FIFA World Cup
From Fleetwood Town to winning the Premier League to making it to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and now the World Cup, Jamie Vardy’s story gets better and better. It can’t get better than that, can it? Would he now score the winner in the World Cup final?
Well, going by England’s previous record, you would have to say it would only be a dream at best. England haven’t reached the advanced stages of the World Cup since 2002 and 2006 when they reached the quarter-finals.
The 31-year old will be hoping he can score some goals to get them out of the group stages, which would at least be better than England’s previous campaign in Brazil in 2014. Jamie Vardy has a decent record for England with seven goals in 22 caps, and he will be hoping he can keep that up.
Another Leicester City player hoping to make his World Cup debut for England will be Harry Maguire. After an impressive season for Leicester City, he has not only surprisingly made the England squad but has been tipped to be in the starting XI of England’s opening game. After relegation with Hull City, not many would have predicted the centre-back to be in such a position.
Vardy and Maguire could both could find themselves playing against another Leicester player in their opening game of the World Cup in Yohann Benalouane, who has been called up for the Tunisia squad after making his debut for them in 2018.
This will be Tunisia’s fifth World Cup but they have never made it past the group stages, and they will have another tough ask this time, too.
You can follow Jamie Vardy, Harry Maguire and Yohan Benalouane in the following games:
- Tunisia v England (Monday, June 18th,7pm BST)
- Belgium v Tunisia (Saturday, June 23rd, 1pm BST)
- England v Panama (Sunday, June 24th, 1pm BST)
- England v Belgium (Thursday, June 28th, 7pm BST)
- Panama v Tunisia (Thursday, June 28th, 7pm BST)
A record breaker
Japanese star Shinji Okazaki is a fan-favourite at Leicester City, and he could turn out to be a record-breaker for Japan.
Okazaki has 113 caps (fourth highest in Japan’s all-time list) so far, and 50 goals (third highest in Japan’s all-time list). This will be Shinji’s third World Cup, and has made seven appearances in the tournament for Japan, just three behind Hidetoshi Nakata.
If Okazaki was to appear in Japan’s three group games, he will be top the country’s chart for most appearances made in the World Cup alongside Nakata with 10 appearances. Should Japan progress to the round of 16 and Shinji make another appearance, then he would break the Japanese World Cup appearance record.
However, that wouldn’t be the only record Shinji could break. So far, he has a couple of World Cup goals – only behind Keisuke Honda (three goals),?who has the Japanese record for World Cup goals. If the Leicester City forward scores two more goals in Russia, he would be Japan’s leading goalscorer at the World Cup.
Next: Who could be the next arrival at Leicester City?
You can follow Shinji Okazaki’s progress in the following games:
- Columbia v Japan (Tuesday, June 19th, 1pm BST)
- Japan v Senegal (Sunday, June 24th, 4pm BST)
- Japan v Poland (Thursday, June 28th, 3pm BST)