With forty eight teams — including England —and twelve Sunderland players suiting up, there are already more than enough reasons to watch the World Cup, starting on Thursday in North America.
That said, if you’re looking for more, a handful of players that’ve been linked with Sunderland already this summer (and before) will be in national team colours in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Kerim Alajbegovic, an eighteen-year-old winger of Bosnia and Herzegovina and RB Salzburg, is eyeing a move to
Roma, but is also being pursued by Sunderland, according to gianlucadimarzio.com. In forty four matches last year in Austria, he scored thirteen goals and chipped in with four assists.
Bosnia and Herzegovina plays Canada on June 12 at 20:00, Granit Xhaka and Switzerland on June 18 at 20:00, and Qatar on June 24 at 20:00.
Another winger, Spain’s Victor Muñoz, was and is a Sunderland target, according to Diario de Navarra. The twenty two-year-old scored seven goals and added five assists in thirty six appearances for La Liga’s Osasuna last year.
Spain play Cabo Verde on June 15 at 17:00, Saudi Arabia on June 21 at 17:00, and Uruguay on June 26 at 18:00.
Algeria has two players who have been linked with Sunderland: twenty four year-old winger Anis Hadj Moussa and twenty two-year-old Yacine Titraoui.
According to La Gazette Du Fennec, Sunderland is one of several Premier League teams that are keeping an eye on Moussa, who scored against the Netherlands and Robin Roefs last week. In forty matches for Feyenoord last season, Moussa scored fourteen goals and logged seven assists.
Inside Futbol, meanwhile, suggested Sunderland has a leg up on Marseille to sign Titraoui, who scored five times and assisted three times in forty two matches for Sporting Charleoi in Belgium last season.
Algeria plays world champions Argentina on June 17 at 2:00, Jordan on June 23 at 4:00, and Austria on June 28 at 3:00.
West Ham’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka started both games last season against Sunderland, and TeamTalk and other sources are reporting the Black Cats are one of several Premier League teams interested in his signature. The twenty eight-year-old right back clocked up two assists in twenty seven games for the relegated Hammers.
Wan-Bissaka, Noah Sadiki, Arthur Masuaku and the rest of DR Congo will face Portugal on June 17 at 18:00, Colombia and perpetual Sunderland target Jhon Lucumi on June 24 at 3:00, and Uzbekistan on June 28 at 00:30 am.
TeamTalk have also linked Sunderland with Leicester City winger Abdul Fatawu. Sunderland reportedly had a £27.5 million bid rejected a year ago for the Ghanaian, who scored nine times with seven assists in forty four games for the Foxes.
Ghana plays Panama on June 18 at 00:00, England on June 23 at 21:00, and Croatia on June 27 at 15:00.
