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Bukayo Saka Named In L'Equipe's Team Of The World Cup While Gareth Bale Makes Worst XI

Bukayo Saka, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi have been named in L'Equipe's Qatar 2022 Team of the World Cup, while Gareth Bale is in the newspaper's Worst XI.

Robert Summerscales

Bukayo Saka Named In L'Equipe's Team Of The World Cup While Gareth Bale Makes Worst XI
Bukayo Saka Named In L'Equipe's Team Of The World Cup While Gareth Bale Makes Worst XI /

French newspaper L'Equipe published its Team of the World Cup on Monday.

The XI was based on L'Equipe's famously-harsh player ratings throughout the tournament.

Kylian Mbappe, having earned a 9/10 score for his hat-trick in the final, was the only player to end Qatar 2022 with an average rating above 7.00.

Mbappe was partnered in the dream team's attack by Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi and England youngster Bukayo Saka, who scored three goals in four games.

Bukayo Saka pictured celebrating after scoring the first of his two goals during England's win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Bukayo Saka has been named in L'Equipe's Team of the World Cup :: IMAGO/Ulmer/Teamfoto

Messi was joined in the XI by two Argentina teammates in Enzo Fernandez and Marcos Acuna.

Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss and Sofyan Amrabat also got in after helping Morocco become the first ever African semi-finalists.

Croatia, who beat Morocco in the third-place playoff, were represented in L'Equipe's Team of the World Cup by Dominik Livakovic, Josko Gvardiol and Luka Modric.

L'Equipe's Team Of The World Cup

Livakovic (Croatia); Hakimi (Morocco), Saiss (Morocco), Gvardiol (Croatia), Acuna (Argentina); Fernandez (Argentina), Amrabat (Morocco), Modric (Croatia), Saka (England); Messi (Argentina), Mbappe (France).

Kylian Mbappe pictured celebrating after scoring his second goal in the 2022 World Cup final
Kylian Mbappe was the highest-rated player in L'Equipe's 2022 Team of the World Cup :: IMAGO/Bildbyran/Joel Marklund

L'Equipe also published a Worst Team of the World Cup on Monday.

It featured Denmark midfielder Skov Olsen as the least impressive performer of the whole tournament.

Olsen played in Denmark's 0-0 draw with Tunisia as well as their 1-0 loss to Australia in the group stage, earning an average rating of just 2.5.

L'Equipe's Worst Team was formed mostly of players from nations that had been eliminated during the group phase.

For example, Wales were represented by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey - who had been sent off in their 2-0 loss to Iran - and Gareth Bale, despite the former Real Madrid forward scoring in a 1-1 draw with the USA.

Just four members of L'Equipe's Worst Team of the World Cup played during the knockout rounds. Three of those were Poland players, in Matty Cash, Piotr Zielinski and Krystian Bielik. Senegal's Krepin Diatta was also named and shamed.

L'Equipe's Worst Team Of The World Cup

Hennessey (Wales); Cash (Poland), Kanaani (Iran), Khoukhi (Qatar), Carrasco (Belgium); Skov Olsen (Denmark), Bielik (Poland), Zielinski (Poland), K. Diatta (Senegal); Bale (Wales), A. Contreras (Costa Rica).

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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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