Turkey and Uruguay are often seen as dark horses when it comes to major tournaments. However, both Arda Guler and Federico Valverde's sides have already been eliminated from the competition. There is still a notable Real Madrid presence as we enter the knockout stages of this World Cup.
8 Real Madrid players still going strong at the World Cup for the Round of 32
🇫🇷 France - Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouaméni. Mbappé has started this tournament strongly. He has scored four goals with two assists in France's opening three games. Les Bleus topped their group and will play Sweden in the next round. Despite scoring a hat-trick in the 2022 final, France lost to Argentina. Mbappé will want to claim World Cup glory again as he did back in 2018. The Frenchman is also only three goals behind Lionel Messi's record of 19 in the all-time World Cup goalscoring list. Tchouaméni has played in two of France's games so far and set up one of Ousmane Dembele's goals against Norway.
🇧🇷 Brazil - Vinicius Junior. Vinicius is matching Mbappe with four goals at the tournament so far. Brazil also topped their group and will play Japan in the round of 32. Brazil will be the favorite for this one, but many supporters view this game as being a close one.
🏴 England - Jude Bellingham. It was often believed that Thomas Tuchel did not favor Bellingham and that Morgan Rogers may even start ahead of the Real Madrid man. However, Bellingham has the attacking midfield role for the Three Lions. He scored in their 4-2 victory over Croatia, but then was criticized for his performance in a 0-0 draw with Ghana. Bellingham bounced back from this by scoring and assisting as England defeated Panama in their final group game. The midfielder again showed that he is England's man for the biggest moments. The Three Lions will play DR Congo in the round of 32.
🇩🇪 Germany - Antonio Rüdiger. At 33 years old, Rudiger has still featured in all of Germany's games so far. They topped their group and will play Paraguay in the next round.
🇧🇪 Belgium - Thibaut Courtois. The goalkeeper has conceded just twice and kept one clean sheet as Belgium topped Group G. They will play Senegal in the round of 32. Belgium is also often seen as a dark horse, but their opposition, Senegal, has impressed so far at the tournament.
🇲🇦 Morocco - Brahim Díaz. The winger has two assists so far at the World Cup. He helped Morocco finish second in Group C, and they will play the Netherlands in the next round. Morocco got to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and could be a dark horse again. Diaz had an eventful Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco this year. He missed a penalty in normal time, which would have won them the tournament. Senegal went on to win in normal time. However, Morocco was later given the title as Senegal stormed off the field when the penalty that Diaz missed was awarded. Morocco will be hoping that there will be less drama at the World Cup this summer.
🇦🇹 Austria - David Alaba. For now, Alaba is still a Real Madrid player. However, he will officially leave the club on June 30. Austria then plays Spain two days later. Alaba will likely come up against Marc Cucurella in that game, who is joining Real Madrid on July 1. Alaba has started all three of Austria's games as captain, but the 34-year-old is being taken off around the 60th-minute mark. He even got an assist in their recent 3-3 draw with Algeria.
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