{"id":670073,"date":"2026-05-28T04:23:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T08:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=670073"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:37:37","slug":"2026-world-cup-attackers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/05\/28\/2026-world-cup-attackers\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: 5 Attackers With Something to Prove"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner, with a mammoth 48 teams competing across the United States, Canada and Mexico. There are so many talking points ahead of the competition. Can Cristiano Ronaldo fire Portugal to glory, or can Harry Kane help football come home? Here are five attackers we\u2019ve identified who have a huge point to prove this summer.<\/p>\n

2026 World Cup: Five Attackers With Something to Prove<\/h2>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 41 years old, will arrive this summer for what will surely be his final World Cup. His inclusion will not have been unexpected, but it still split opinion among the Portuguese football fans, who adore Ronaldo, but are fully aware his best days are behind him. His time in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr has helped keep him sharp, but he will be coming up against the world’s best defenders and will need to rediscover as much of his old ability as possible to help drive his country into the knockout stages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Neymar (Brazil)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Few players in world football have been as talented or as frustrating as Neymar. The Brazilian has dazzled at points during his career at both club and international level. Neymar has also had his career interrupted by injuries. His inclusion in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad was a surprise to many, given the form of other players such as Joao Pedro. The Italian boss said in the build-up that he \u201cwill only call up players who are physically ready.\u201d The detractors will be ready to criticise Neymar at the 2026 World Cup, and he has plenty to prove that he can still compete at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Harry Kane (England)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Harry Kane arrives at the 2026 World Cup as England’s all-time top scorer, yet the key question remains: Can Kane help football come home? At Bayern Munich, he has been sensational. His goalscoring record for England is excellent, with 78 in 112 appearances. Kane is one of the most complete attackers in world football, and he will be imperative for Thomas Tuchel<\/a> should the Three Lions make the later stages of the competition as expected.<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz (Germany)<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kai Havertz has divided opinion throughout his career. Moments of genuine brilliance have been followed by periods of inconsistency and plenty of frustrations from Arsenal fans, and Chelsea fans before them. Despite performances at big moments, questions still remain.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s expected that Havertz will be a vital player for Germany this summer. A big tournament would do wonders for his confidence after another season of inconsistencies and injuries. On his day, Havertz has the guile to be ranked among the best attackers, but he needs to deliver at the 2026 World Cup for his country and himself.<\/p>\n

Viktor Gyokeres (Sweden)<\/span><\/h3>\n

The last striker on our top five list of strikers with something to prove at the 2026 World Cup is Viktor Gyokeres. It\u2019s been a season of inconsistencies for the Arsenal hitman. He ended the season on a huge high, with 21 goals in 54 appearances in all competitions, on his way to helping the Gunners win the Premier League and reach the Champions League final, where they will face Paris Saint-Germain on May 30. Gyokeres has scored 19 goals in 32 games for Sweden, and Graham Potter will be hoping the Arsenal attacker will lead his team into the knockout stages this summer. He\u2019s a proven goalscorer, but can Gyokeres lead his country on the biggest stage?<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup will capture the attention of fans across the globe, but will any of the strikers on our list excel at this summer’s tournament?<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

IMAGO \/ Light Studio Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner, with a mammoth 48 teams competing across the United States, Canada and Mexico. There are so many talking points ahead of the competition. Can Cristiano Ronaldo fire Portugal to glory, or can Harry Kane help football come home? Here are five attackers we\u2019ve identified who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":670080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,2132],"tags":[798,369,264,3380,389,31697],"class_list":["post-670073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-football","category-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-harry-kane","tag-kai-havertz","tag-neymar","tag-viktor-gyokeres"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670073"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":670172,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670073\/revisions\/670172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}