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 E consists of 2014 World Cup winners Germany, 2010 World Cup winners Spain, one of the most successful Asian teams Japan and one of the most surprise packages from the 2014 World Cup – Costa Rica.

The below visualization shows who are the players to watch out for from Group E. All data is from the current season.

Gavi | Barcelona | Spain | 18 years old

The latest winner of the prestigious Golden Boy award is the 18-year-old midfielder from Barcelona, Gavi. Barcelona have been criticized for selling several talents coming out of the famous La Masia academy in recent times but one of the gems to come out of the same is midfielder Gavi. He made his senior Barcelona debut in 2021 and in only a little over 12 months, Gavi has gone on to become one of the untouchables in that Barcelona squad. The midfielder usually plays on the right side of the holding midfielder in a 4-3-3. His radar above shows he is quite an all-around player. He plays an active part in the ball progression as indicated by his percentile ranks for some of the important passing metrics. He also likes to make that late closer to the box. In 2021, Gavi became the youngest-ever player to play for Spain when he made his debut against Italy in Nations League. Since then, he has been a regular part of the Spanish national setup and is likely to be a key player for Luis Enrique’s side at Qatar.

Jewison Bennette | Sunderland | Costa Rica | 18 years old

One interesting player to look out for when the Costa Rica squad is announced for the World Cup is to look for Jewison Bennette’s name. The 18-year-old left-winger currently playing for Sunderland made history when he became the youngest player to represent Costa Rica at senior level towards the end of last year. He then helped his team secure their place in Qatar. Playing predominantly as a wide forward, Bennette is yet to start a game for the Sunderland senior team this season but has made 6 appearances scoring 1 goal. The forward, in a very small sample size, has shown to be a very excellent dribbler with the ball and a very good finisher as well. It is unlikely that Bennette will start or even play all games for Costa Rica if called upon to the squad at the World Cup but whenever he does play, it will be interesting to see how he does.

Jamal Musiala | Bayern Munich | Germany | 19 years old

Jamal Musiala has undoubtedly been one of the players from the Bundesliga this season. The midfielder’s rise to this position has been nothing short of an amazing story so far. Musiala has five goals and four assists to his name so far — ranking third-most for non-penalty goals and joint second for assists this season in the Bundesliga. Musiala is one of the best examples of versatility in world football. His biggest strengths include his ability to find space and create chances for his teammates — ranking above average for creativity. Defensively, he lacks a bit of awareness and physicality in his game, but it is something he has a lot of time to improve upon. Musiala has already represented Germany in a major tournament (Euro 2020) but playing in a World Cup is a different kind of challenge. With that said, on current form, Jamal Musiala should definitely be up for it.

Takefusa Kubo | Real Sociedad | Japan | 21 years old

Takefusa Kubo has had an interesting club career so far. Having signed for Madrid in 2019, Kubo is yet to make a competitive appearance for Real Madrid. He has had multiple loan spells with different La Liga clubs. Currently, on loan at Real Sociedad, Kubo has been a regular and has scored 2 goals and assisted 2 times. A lot of eyebrows were raised when Madrid signed him but the 21-year-old has shown a lot of potential since then and is a key part of the Japanese National Team. Kubo is a strong dribbler with the ball and his ability to create chances for his teammates is his biggest strength. Japan almost knocked out Belgium in 2018 but if they have to rise for a challenge like that this time around, they will have to cross a tricky Group E and they will very much rely on Kubo for that.