Erik ten Hag is preparing to welcome back all of his World Cup stars.
In terms of welcoming back players from Qatar, the club must be ready for the challenge of mentally managing players who return from the World Cup. Some will be happy with their performances but others will feel they crashed out prematurely.
England trio Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford, Portugal duo Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes and Brazilians Casemiro, Fred and Antony all suffered elimination at the quarter-final stage last week.
That means United have two players still involved at the World Cup. That includes Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez and France centre-back Raphael Varane.
“We are prepared for every situation,” Ten Hag stressed, as per the Manchester Evening News. “Players have success, if they don’t have success, so there will be some who are really happy and some will come back really disappointed and something can be in between. Maybe when you’re playing the final but lose, you’re going to first be really disappointed. But if you see it after you see we had a great World Cup.
“What I see until now, I’m really happy with the performance of our players, they are really in good shape. We talked already about Casemiro but you see Bruno, great World Cup until now.
“Diogo, in two games, did really well. If I see the English, all three are performing magnificently. Rapha Varane is back, is doing well. So I’m really happy with the performances of all our players.”
World Cup semi-finals
It’s the final week of the World Cup, with four countries desperate for glory.
Which two of Croatia’s Argentina, Morocco or France will meet in Sunday’s final?
Argentina vs Croatia
If Argentina win this World Cup, it will be Lionel Messi taking centre stage. But whilst the cameras focus on him, we should be looking closer at Argentina’s solid defence. They’ve somehow conceded five goals — two from the shock defeat against Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the World Cup. This should be a bonus against such a timid attacking side like Croatia.
France vs Morocco
France face their former colony Morocco in a semi-final with an extra edge.
Didier Deschamps overcame England at the weened and everyone will be expecting them to reach the final this time around. Meanwhile, Morocco added Portugal to the list of European scalps they have claimed in Qatar. Will France be next?
