"Excluding Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in, North Korea-China World Cup 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup First Star" will be released... Top 3 is Mbappe, Dembele, and 18-year-old genius

*This content was translated by AI.

Who is expected to perform in the 2026 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup?

The U.S. "Sports Illustrated" recently selected the "15 best players to participate in the 2026 World Cup" based on their form and performance.

The media said, "We excluded Rodri (Manchester City), who had the aftermath of a cruciate ligament injury, and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), whose form has deteriorated, from the list, and thoroughly ranked based on recent skills."

Looking at the rankings selected by the media, 15th place was Bruno Fernandes of Portugal (Manchester United) and 14th place was Ashraf Hakimi of Morocco (PSG). Portugal's Vitinha (PSG) ranked 13th, Argentina's Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) ranked 12th, and Belgium's Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) ranked 11th.

Uruguay's Federico Valverde (Real Madrid) ranked 10th, Brazil's Rafaela (Barcelona) ranked 9th, Norway's Erling Holan (Man City) ranked 8th, and Brazil's Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid) ranked 7th. France's Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) ranked sixth, England's Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) ranked fifth, and Spain's Pedri (Barcelona) ranked fourth.

In third place is France's Usman Dembele (PSG), the winner of last season's Ballon d'Or. The media explained, "Dembele's scoring pace has recently fallen somewhat after recording a career high in the 2024-2025 season, but he has increased his tactical maturity at PSG."

He then predicted, "He is still good at using both feet and will play as a main striker in this tournament, his third World Cup."

Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid), the same French national team, came in second place. The media said, "Mbappe is chasing the record of Miroslav Klose (16 goals), who has scored a total of 12 goals in the past two World Cups. Despite having a history of knee injuries this season, he is said to be maintaining his skills by scoring goals in recent national team games.

Spain's Ramin Yamal (Barcelona) was chosen as the long-awaited first place winner. The media said, "The winner of the Euro 2024 Best Young Player Award, this is his first World Cup appearance. "It is considered a resource that maximizes the team's offensive power by adding overwhelming personal tactics to the organization of the Spanish national team," he explained.

"The 18-year-old Yamal is likely to perform overwhelmingly like Maradona at the 1986 World Cup or Messi at the 2022 Qatar World Cup," he said.

Meanwhile, Son Heung-min (LAFC) and Lee Kang-in (PSG), the main strikers of the Korean national team, were not listed on the 15-man list selected by the media.

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*This content was translated by AI.