If you want to enjot the 2026 FIFA World Cup and you want to experience somethin g different stop being fixated on Messi and Luka Modric. Stop looking only for Mbappe during the France games, but instead start looking for new emerging talents like Can Uznun, Armando Gonzalez or the emerging talent from Australia – Lucas Herrington.
Have a look at our take today.
Can Uzun (Turkey):
Age: 20 Position: Midfielder Club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Uzun chose to represent Turkey rather than Germany and was handed his senior international debut in 2024, when he was playing for Nuremburg in Bundesliga 2.
A German-born attacking midfielder who has delighted fans of Eintracht Frankfurt since joining from Nuremburg two years ago.
He scored five goals and provided three assists in Frankfurt’s first five Bundesliga games of last season, only for hamstring injuries to limit his involvement through the winter.
A playmaker for his club, he is yet to nail down that position for his country with manager Vincenzo Montella likely to see him as an option from the bench should anything befall Orkun Kokcu or Kenan Yildiz.
Luis Suarez (Colombia)
Age: 28 Position: Striker Club: Sporting
Suarez got off the mark at international level in September last year when he scored four goals in a 6-3 World Cup qualifying win over Venezuela. He scored his fifth goal for his country last week in a friendly victory over Costa Rica
He may not produce the same headlines as his Uruguayan namesake but the Sporting striker has ripped it up in Portugal this season, scoring an incredible 38 goals in his first season at the club.
He had big boots to fill as well after Viktor Gyokeres departed for Arsenal with the Colombian his direct replacement.
Suarez also set up another nine goals in an impressive maiden season after arriving in Lisbon from Almeria in the Spanish second tier. Now he looks to take this World Cup by storm.
Armando Gonzalez (Mexico)
Age: 23 Position: Striker Club: Chivas deGuadalajara
Gonzalez was nicknamed ‘La Hormiga’ (Spanish for ‘The Ant’) by his uncle because of a childhood fear of the insects
Gonzalez, who scored 25 goals for Guadalajara last season, won his first cap for Mexico in November and scored his first international goal in February.
They say he has something of Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez about him and he will doubtless have learned from the former Manchester United and West Ham striker who returned to Guadalajara to end his playing career just as Gonzalez was maturing.
The goalscoring hopes for the joint-hosts would appear to rest heavily on the shoulders of Fulham’s Raul Jimenez but they also have a brilliant prospect for the future in Gonzalez.
His goals for Guadalajara in their run to the title play-off round semi-final of Liga MX saw him break through to the national side.
He’s only netted once for Mexico in his first seven games – against Iceland – but there’s more to come from him. Watch out for him as a super sub.
