Including new signing Victor Munoz, Liverpool have eight players currently featuring at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, all of whom have now qualified for the knockout stages.
With the expanded tournament seeing 32 teams make it through the group stage, it was always likely that the Liverpool players would extend their time away this summer.
Now that they’ve cleared that first hurdle, their paths to final are much clearer. So, with the eight players representing six different nations, what are each of their routes through to winning the World Cup?
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Tricky path opens up for the Netherlands
If their nation did not qualify for this summer’s tournament, Liverpool supporters have an easy choice for a team to support, with the Netherlands featuring three Reds as key players.
Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk have all performed well during the group stages, but despite topping their group, have been handed a difficult-looking last-32 match against Morocco.
Should they beat the top-ranked African team, the Dutch then have very favourable last-16 match against South Africa or Canada, both of whom they should beat with ease.
The quarter-final looks much trickier, though, with a likely date against play either Germany or – more likely – France. The semi’s could feature one of eight teams, but Spain and Portugal look like the most likely candidates. They should get through to the quarters, but it gets tough from there.
Germany cannot avoid France and Sweden are surely heading out
If the Netherlands know they are heading for a rough quarter-final, then Germany will perhaps already be preparing to meet France in the last-16.
Florian Wirtz and co have been drawn against Paraguay in the round of 32, and though they are not the force they once were, that should see them safely through to the last-16.
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There it is more than likely that France will await. The 2018 winners will face Alexander Isak‘s Sweden in the round of 32, and though Isak has been good so far, it is hard to see how Graham Potter’s team can get through to face Germany or Paraguay.
The Dutch could then await in the quarter-finals, as Liverpool players’ paths begin to intertwine.
Spain likely to set up Portugal clash
From a Liverpool point of view, the final player on the tougher, left side of the draw is Victor Munoz and Spain, who will face Austria in the last 32.
Munoz is still yet to play at all for Luis de La Fuente’s side due to an injury, and it seems likely that he will not be fit for this one either.
His chances may be better of featuring in the last-16, where Spain will probably meet Portugal, who have been drawn against Croatia.
Though that is not an easy game for the Spanish, they will fancy themselves to get through it, setting up a potential quarter-final with Belgium, Senegal, USA or Bosnia and Herzegovina. The semis, probably against the French, the Germans or the Dutch, looks more difficult.
Brazil and Argentina could meet in the semis
On the right side of the draw, both Alisson Becker and Alexis Mac Allister will already have their eyes on a potential semi-final clash in Atlanta.
The Argentines, fuelled by Lionel Messi’s never-ending brilliance, have perhaps the easiest knockout draw of all, facing Cape Verde in the last-32, before a meeting with either Australia or Egypt in the last-16.
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Colombia will probably await in the quarter-final, but that should not be a daunting route for Mac Allister, Messi and co.
Brazil, meanwhile, will have to navigate a tricky last-32 match against Japan, before a slightly awkward potential encounter against either Yan Diomande’s Ivory Coast or Norway.
Still, Alisson and his teammates should be favourites for both of those matches, before a quarter-final against England, DR Congo, Ecuador or Mexico, with the Three Lions surely the most likely to emerge in the last eight.
As things stand, a semi-final between Brazil and Argentina, Alisson and Mac Allister, looks very probable, and given the presence of Liverpool players on top teams in both sides of the draw, we could see two Reds teammates meet each other in the final.
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