It’s been one week since the 2026 World Cup kicked off – how quickly has that gone?! With England doing the business against Croatia, most of you reading this will be pretty happy with how it has started but what makes an international tournament even better is when some of your club’s players are involved.
Originally, seven Wolves players were called up to represent their nations. You can now make that eight with the signing of Raul Jimenez. So, let’s have a look at how the Wolves representatives have kicked off the tournament.
Raul Jimenez
Let’s start off with the Mexican sensation. Re-signing for Wolves on Tuesday, starting for your nation in the World Cup opener on Thursday, not bad! Once we got the ropey opening ceremony out of the way, how good was it to see our new number nine leading the line. Jimenez looked sharp, he was involved and almost opened the scoring early on with a weak foot volley from the edge of the area. This year marked Raul’s fourth World Cup tournament, with him failing to score in the previous three.
Thankfully, that changed against South Africa. After 67 minutes, we saw a vintage Raul Jimenez goal. A deep cross to the far post and the forward was there to glance a header in. I’m sure most households in Wolverhampton and beyond were even celebrating that goal. We’ve seen him do that in Old Gold before and hopefully we see that a few more times next season too! Mexico went on to win the game 2-0 and with three red cards between the two sides, it was an eventful opener. Beware to any team facing off against the Mexicans at the Estadio Azteca, their record there is phenomenal.
Ladislav Krejci
Embed from Getty Images
The Wolves defender had to get in on the act as well, didn’t he? Krejci has got the armband for Czech Republic this tournament and after his fantastic performances in the play-off games to get into the World Cup, it was no surprise he continued that form for his nation. From a long throw situation, Krejci managed to find himself at the right place and right time to head Czech Republic ahead against South Korea. However, South Korea forced a comeback to end up winning the game 2-1.
Hwang Hee-Chan
Embed from Getty Images
One of those players part of South Korea’s comeback was Wolves forward Hwang Hee Chan. Hwang came off the bench at around the 60 minute mark and helped turn the game around for his nation. A brilliant start for South Korea and next up they face off against Mexico. Another all Wolves affair for Hwang, facing off against Raul Jimenez.
David Moller Wolfe
Embed from Getty Images
It’s a huge tournament for Norway, entering their first World Cup since 1998. Wolves left back Moller Wolfe started every match in their qualification stages so it was no surprise to see his name on the starting XI for their opener against Iraq. It was a fantastic start for DMW too, his hard and low cross right across the face of goal was perfect for the prolific Erling Haaland to tap in.
Norway went onto win the game 4-1, a perfect start for the Vikings, managed by former Wolves boss Stale Solbakken.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde
Embed from Getty Images
It’s the first World Cup for Haiti for 52 years and the Wolves midfielder Bellegarde was pinpointed as being one of their key players this tournament. Unfortunately, they lost their opener 1-0 against Scotland.
However, there have been some shouts that the Haitians were “robbed” as they were denied a penalty for handball. It was Bellegarde’s shot that was parried away by Grant Hanley of Scotland. I don’t want to come across as biased but… I’m not sure how Scotland got away with that one! JRB even took to social media to have a moan about it.
Sasa Kalajdzic
Embed from Getty Images
After his impressive form on loan in Austria this season, Sasa earned his first ever World Cup call up. The forward actually started Austria’s opener too as they faced off against Jordan in Group J. Despite being 1-0 up at half time, Sasa was withdrawn at the break and Austria went onto win the game 3-1.
Promising to see Sasa starting games now, hopefully we see more of him throughout the tournament.
Santiago Bueno & Jose Sa
Embed from Getty Images
Both Bueno and Sa were unused substitutes for their nations in gameweek one.
Santiago Bueno’s Uruguay came from behind to draw 1-1 with Saudi Arabia. Let’s hope Santi has the opportunity to get some minutes over the next couple of matches.
Jose Sa, as expected, was an unused substitute for Portugal. One of the more surprising results of the first round of fixtures as they were also held to a 1-1 draw against DR Congo.
In summary, a productive first round of games for the Wolves representatives. For a short time (about 48 hours), Wolves were even top scorers at the tournament! Hopefully the lads stay fit, sharp, injury free and can add to what we’ve witnessed so far.
