The Athletic FC

Hello and welcome to the Athletic FC tactics podcast.

I'm Michael Bailey.

With the World Cup right around the corner, we're discussing

the most tactically interesting teams at this summer's tournament. Plus, we'll assess how the

favourites are looking and how to build a successful World Cup squad. Here with me is Michael Cox.

Hi, Michael. Connor O'Neill. Hello Michael. And Liam. And Liam Tham.

Hey, Michael. There's a week to go until the 26th World Cup kicks off across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

And I wanted to kick off this tactical preview by breaking down the concept of squad composition for a tournament.

Let's use England as an example.

People have been surprised by Thomas Tuchel's decision to leave out players such as Cole Palmer and Harry Maguire.

But what actually makes a balanced World Cup squad, Michael, is it just about including the quote-unquote most talented players?

I think in terms of the starting 11, it tends to be about including the most talented players.

I think sometimes people forget when you go back through previous World Cup successes.

Often players who are really out of form or lacking fitness coming into the tournament

end up having a massive impact.

I mean, the classic example would be Ronaldo, barely played for the two years before 2002

and ended up being the key player of the tournament.

I'd say to a certain extent, Iniesta going into 2010, didn't have a great season either,

and he was Spain's hero.

Now, obviously, they're on a very

very high level and probably players you would make allowances for when it comes to the squad

...