Liverpool Players Ready for World Cup Challenge

The World Cup is back on Liverpool’s horizon, only this time it stretches across an entire continent.

The expanded 48-team tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico begins on Thursday, June 11, and a strong Liverpool contingent will scatter across North and Central America chasing the biggest prize of all. From seasoned champions to debutants, the club’s fingerprints are all over this edition.

(All kick-off times below are BST.)

Alisson Becker (Brazil)

For Alisson, this is familiar ground with a fresh edge.

Called up for his third World Cup, the Liverpool goalkeeper is poised to become the club’s first representative to feature at this latest edition. Brazil still lean heavily on his authority, his calm, his ability to make the extraordinary look routine.

He is joined in Carlo Ancelotti’s 26-man squad by former Red Fabinho, now of Al-Ittihad, as the five-time winners try to reassert themselves on the global stage.

Brazil’s Group C path is anything but gentle. They open against 2022 semi-finalists Morocco, a side that relishes upsetting the established order. Then comes Haiti, a fixture that will test Brazil’s patience as much as their flair, before a potentially decisive showdown with Andy Robertson’s Scotland to close the group.

Brazil’s fixtures

• v Morocco – June 13, 11pm
• v Haiti – June 20, 1.30am
• v Scotland – June 24, 11pm

Wataru Endo (Japan)

Wataru Endo arrives at this World Cup with a captain’s armband and a scarred foot that tells its own story.

The midfielder battled back from a February foot injury with Liverpool to lead Japan into the tournament. The recovery was anything but straightforward, as he admitted when the squad was announced, but belief and persistence dragged him over the line. Now he carries a nation’s hopes again.

At 33, he stands as the experienced heartbeat of a side that stunned Spain and Germany at the last World Cup, only to fall to Croatia on penalties in the Round of 16. That campaign earned Japan respect; this one will test whether they can turn respect into something more.

The group offers a fascinating twist. Endo will face four Liverpool teammates in Group F as Japan line up against the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden. Familiar faces, unfamiliar stakes.

Japan’s fixtures

• v Netherlands – June 14, 9pm
• v Tunisia – June 21, 5am
• v Sweden – June 26, 12am

Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands)

The Dutch contingent carries both memory and ambition.

For Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo, the scars of Qatar remain fresh. The Netherlands reached the quarter-finals last time, only to be knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Argentina. They were close enough to taste it, and that lingers.

Gakpo announced himself on that stage, scoring in all three group games before his move from PSV Eindhoven to Liverpool. He arrives this time not as a breakout star, but as a proven World Cup performer.

Ryan Gravenberch, meanwhile, steps into this arena for the first time. The midfielder is the only member of Liverpool’s Dutch trio yet to play at a World Cup, and his tournament debut comes in a group that bristles with narrative.

The Netherlands start against Endo’s Japan, a meeting loaded with club subplots and tactical intrigue. Then comes Sweden, then Tunisia, two fixtures that will reveal whether this Dutch side has grown from the frustration of four years ago or remains trapped in the same cycle.

Netherlands’ fixtures

• v Japan – June 14, 9pm
• v Sweden – June 20, 6pm
• v Tunisia – June 26, 12am

Alexander Isak (Sweden)

For Alexander Isak, this is a long-awaited first step onto football’s biggest stage.

Sweden missed the 2022 World Cup, and the absence stung. They clawed their way into the 2026 edition via the play-offs, their UEFA Nations League ranking keeping the door open when it might have slammed shut.

Graham Potter arrived as head coach on a short-term deal in October, a curious, modern appointment that quickly began to make sense. By March, his contract had been extended to 2030, a sign of faith in the direction of travel.

Isak sits at the heart of that project. This World Cup is his chance to translate club form into a defining international tournament, in a group that offers both risk and opportunity: Tunisia first, then the clash with the Netherlands, before a potentially high-stakes finale against Endo’s Japan.

Sweden’s fixtures

• v Tunisia – June 15, 3am
• v Netherlands – June 20, 6pm
• v Japan – June 26, 12am

Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina)

Alexis Mac Allister heads into this World Cup with a medal already tucked away and another piece of history in his sights.

Argentina arrive as defending champions, hunting a place in the most exclusive company. Only two nations have ever won back-to-back men’s World Cups: Italy in 1934 and 1938, Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Lionel Scaloni’s side want to join that list, and they know exactly what it takes.

Mac Allister’s journey from squad player to central figure in 2022 still feels remarkable. Then at Brighton & Hove Albion, he watched Argentina’s opening 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia from the bench. After that, everything changed. He started the next six matches, growing in influence as Argentina surged all the way to the trophy.

Now he returns as an established international, part of a core group trusted to protect and extend Argentina’s era.

Once again, Lionel Messi wears the armband. At 38, he steps into his sixth World Cup, a number that underlines both his longevity and Argentina’s dependence on his genius. The supporting cast, Mac Allister included, must ensure this is not a nostalgic farewell tour, but another serious tilt at the title.

Argentina’s fixtures

• v Algeria – June 17, 2am
• v Austria – June 22, 6pm
• v Jordan – June 28, 3am

From Alisson’s third World Cup to Isak’s first, from Endo’s resilience to Mac Allister’s pursuit of a dynasty, Liverpool’s influence will be scattered across three host nations and a swollen field of contenders.

When the dust settles in North America, whose story will define this chapter of the club’s global footprint?