Cristiano Ronaldo, Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sánchez to star in the Confederations Cup
The Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Chileans Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sánchez will be the main attractions of the Confederations Cup (from June 17th to July 2nd), a tournament that will not have the main German stars, reserved by their coach Joachim Löw.
The star of Real Madrid has an unbeatable opportunity in Russia to continue earning points for the next Ballon d'Or, which many already attribute to him after his great season, in which he has won the Spanish League and the Champions League with the white team, and considering that Argentine Lionel Messi will not have a showcase like the Confederations Cup.
Ronaldo will arrive in Russia in top form, with 18 goals in his last 11 matches played. And after scoring a brace in the Champions League final against Juventus (4-1), last Friday, in a World Cup qualifying match, he scored two more goals and provided the assist for the third in Portugal's victory over Latvia (3-0).
And the ambitious forward does not want to miss the opportunity: "It's a dream to win the trophy. It will always be in your resume."
- Connection with Bernardo Silva -
The Confederations Cup will also serve to see the connection Ronaldo-Bernardo Silva, after the talented midfielder missed the European Championship last year due to injury.
Silva, who has not yet turned 24, has had a magnificent season with Monaco, which has led him to become the first major signing of the summer by joining Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
Chile will be the other great team to come with all its stars, including Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich) and Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal), two key pieces in the recent success of La Roja: the last two Copa America titles.
Other key players such as Isla, Medel, Pablo Hernandez, Vargas, Marcelo Diaz, Aranguiz or goalkeeper Claudio Bravo are also listed by Juan Antonio Pizzi.
Mexico, the team with the most participations in the tournament that will be played in Russia, also presents an almost unbeatable squad with all its 'foreign' stars, such as Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez, Carlos Vela, Andres Guardado, Guillermo Ochoa and the Dos Santos brothers.
Vela will have another opportunity to shine with El Tri, which will also have local championship figures such as Oribe Peralta or Rafael Marquez, the only survivor of the team that won this tournament in 1999.
- Germany, without stars -
The team that will travel without their main stars is Germany. After last year's European Championship and with the prospect of the World Cup in 12 months, the German coach Joachim Löw wanted to give rest to many of the players who won the World Cup in Brazil, such as Kroos, Hummels, Müller, Özil and Boateng; others retired like Lahm, Podolski and Schweinsteiger; and some are injured like Neuer, Gotze and Reus (who missed the World Cup and the European Championship due to injury).
Therefore, only three men from the 23-player squad can boast of being world champions: Julian Draxler, Skhrodan Mustafi and Matthias Ginter.
However, it will be the occasion to see some of the young players who are knocking on the door of the Mannschaft and who could soon become key players for the national team, such as forwards Sandro Wagner and Tino Werner or attacking midfielder Leon Goretzka, as well as other more familiar names like Leroy Sane, Antonio Rudiger, Lars Stindl or Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Cameroon will come with most of the team that surprisingly became African champions last February, including their goalkeeper Joseph Ondoa and forwards Christian Bassogog, Benjamin Moukandjo, or Vincent Aboubakar, the author of the winning goal in the final against Egypt (2-1).
Russia will present a team with 100% of players who play in the domestic league and although they will have significant absences due to injury (Roman Zobnin, Mario Fernandes, Alan Dzagoev, and Artem Dzyuba), they will be able to field other well-known players such as goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev and forwards Denis Glushakov and Fyodor Smolov.
The players from Australia (representing Asia) and especially New Zealand are much more unknown, although the Socceroos still have veterans like Tim Cahill, who have been joined by youngsters like Tom Rogic, midfielder for Celtic Glasgow, and Aaron Mooy, one of the architects of Hudderfield Town's promotion to the Premier League.