Five Yellows will battle it out in the sand at the 2022 FIFA World Cup!
By Callum Jones
Five members of the Yellow Submarine will be looking to face individual battles on foreign territory as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is just around the corner! A handful of Quique Setién’s team: Geronimo Rulli, Juan Foyth, Nicolas Jackson, Yeremy Pino and Pau Torres have been selected to represent their countries on the biggest stage in world football. On behalf of Villarreal CF, we would like to wish our players the very best of luck as they battle it out for the most prestigious trophy in world football over the next four weeks in Qatar.
Geronimo Rulli
Rulli will be representing Argentina in Qatar and will be looking to collect a few more caps for his nation. He was selected off the back of a great start to the season with Villarreal CF, where he kept four clean sheets out of the first six games and only conceded twice. Such form has been hard to maintain especially with competition in Pepe Reina returning to the squad, but Rulli will be looking to keep his consistency and form going into the second half of the LaLiga Santander season. Rulli faces competition in the side from Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez and River Plate goalkeeper Franco Armani, but rest assured, when Rulli gets his moment like he has this season, he grabs it with both hands and takes full control.
Juan Foyth
Foyth has also been called up to the Argentinian squad where he will be joining teammate Rulli in bidding to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Foyth, who is no stranger to the national team having already racked up 15 caps for Argentina since 2018, is looking to turn his fortunes around in Qatar having missed a large chunk of the current season due to injuries. Since the beginning of the season, away to Atlético Madrid where Foyth put in an incredible performance to secure a 2–0 victory, his season has been very stop-start and has just recently returned from injury under new manager Quique Setién.
Scaloni and Argentina will back themselves to make it through their group, off the back of a 3–1 UEFA Cup of Champions win against Italy this past summer. Rulli and Foyth will look to feature against the other teams in their group: Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland. Here’s the schedule for Group C and Argentina:
vs Saudi Arabia on 22nd November at 11am CET
vs Mexico on 26th Novemeber at 8pm CET
vs Poland on 30th November at 8pm CET
Nicolas Jackson
Senegal called up young Yellows striker Nicolas Jackson. Jackson has been a prominent figure for the Yellow Submarine this season and has got himself a fair share of goals to help out the team. With Gerard Moreno having been out due to injury, Jackson was thrown deep into the limelight to facilitate the goal-scoring form of the start of the season. After scoring the last-minute winner against UD Almería and scoring the only goal away to Austria Wien in Europe, Senegal will be looking to unlock Jackson’s potential for the national team at this World Cup. This is a very exciting time for Jackson as he is yet to receive his first cap for the senior national team after briefly making appearances at U20 level for his nation.
Jackson will be in the squad that will feature Senegal playing against teams such as the Netherlands, host team Qatar and Ecuador. Here’s the schedule for Group A and Senegal:
vs Netherlands on 21st November at 5pm CET
vs Qatar on 25th November at 2pm CET
vs Ecuador on 29th November at 4pm CET
Yeremy Pino
Yeremy Pino, the Yellows’ young prodigy, has been called up to Luis Enrique’s Spain team for the upcoming tournament in Qatar. Pino, even at the age of 20 has become a star in Enrique’s Spanish team having received his first call-up back in 2021. Since then, Pino has managed to collect six appearances for the senior national team and even bagged himself one goal. Pino will be looking to hit the ground running in Qatar and pick up from where he left off from Villarreal CF and stamp himself in an already-coveted historic Spanish national team.
Pau Torres
Joining Pino for Spain is Vila-real born, star defender Pau Torres. Torres, like Pino, will be experiencing his first FIFA World Cup will be looking to continue his fine form for the national team. Torres has been a regular feature in the senior national team since his debut back in 2019 and has already made 21 appearances for Spain. He will also be looking to use his experience gained from the special UEFA Champions League cup run of last year but also from the Olympic Games in Tokyo where he took home a silver medal. Torres who has been a key player alongside club captain Albiol this season at Villarreal CF and will be eager to solidify his place in Luis Enrique’s team in Qatar.
Yeremy Pino and Pau Torres will be excited at the prospect of adding another golden star to the Spanish crest as they take on Costa Rica, Germany and Japan in the group stages. Here’s the schedule for Group E and Spain:
vs Costa Rica on 23rd November at 5pm CET
vs Germany on 27th November at 8pm CET
vs Japan on 1st December at 8pm CET
As for the rest of Quique Setien’s squad who will not be performing at this year’s FIFA World Cup, they now have a short holiday before returning to training on 24th November. The Yellows will be going on a mid-season tour to play friendly games to stay ready for the second half of the LaLiga Santander season and the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout stages.
Villarreal CF will be competing on a tour of Turkey during the World Cup period facing both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce before closing with games against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side at Villa Park and Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
