The first-ever winter world cup is almost here. It’s time to look at which teams are the strongest and which players are the ones to watch out for specifically. In order to list down the players to look out for, we have specifically looked at the U23 category and players who play quite often for their respective clubs this season. It is to be noted that, these players might not start all the matches for their teams in the World Cup and could potentially miss out on getting called up altogether, but if and when they do represent their country in Qatar, they definitely have the potential to be game changers.

Group A consists of host nation Qatar with Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands.

The below visualisation shows the U23 players to watch out for from Group A. All data from the current season.

Ahmed Al Ganehi | Al Gharafa | Qatar | 22 years old

Qatar play the first match of the tournament against Ecuador. Ahmed Al Ganehi, the 22-year-old who can play as a winger or a centre-forward, plays for Al Gharafa. Ahmed has just one goal to his name so far but when we look at his radar in the visual above, seems to be on par or just below par for several metrics.

Moisés Caicedo | Brighton & Hove Albion | Ecuador | 20 years old

There were many top clubs, including Manchester United, chasing the signature of Moisés Caicedo. Brighton & Hove Albion beat everyone else to sign the 20-year-old Ecuadorian from Independiente. Caicedo was sent out on loan initially but was recalled by Brighton in January 2022 and since then, it would not be wrong to say that Caicedo has been one of the best young midfielders in the league. Caicedo plays as the deepest midfielder for Brighton and brings a lot of qualities that cannot be found in players playing for a number of top European clubs. Having only recently signed for Brighton, Caicedo is still linked with some clubs regularly. His physicality and his defensive attributes are his strengths. Caicedo, having made 25 appearances for Brighton already, will look to make a name for himself on the world stage at Qatar.

Pape Gueye | Marseille | Senegal | 23 years old

Pape Gueye is known for a controversial move to Watford in 2020. The midfielder, after signing for Watford from Le Havre, almost immediately agreed on a deal to join Marseille. Since the incident, the 23-year-old has been a regular member of the Ligue 1 side and his national team, Senegal, as well. Pape Gueye has predominantly played as a left-sided midfielder in a 3-4-3 and is involved in the build-up quite often. With decent passing abilities and average to above-average defensive attributes, Gueye will look to help Senegal as much as possible to help them go further in Qatar.

Cody Gakpo | PSV | Netherlands | 23 years old

Cody Gakpo was linked with several clubs from all around Europe in the recently concluded summer transfer window. It’s obvious why from his performances of late, as Gakpo has been one of the best players in all of Europe this season so far. The attacking midfielder can play pretty much anywhere in the front four and this versatility has led to him being top of the Goals and Assists charts 10 games into the season. Gakpo’s creativity is unmatched as seen in the radar above and rightly ranks top tier for several attacking metrics. Gakpo made his senior debut for the Netherlands in Euro 2020 and has been a regular since then. He is definitely expected to light up the World Cup this year.