World Cup Daily: Arzani milestone; Germany shock; Big, small, large, light of Russia; Morocco impress

THE SOCCEROOS will boast the youngest player in Russia - and the fourth oldest - although Tim Cahill will have to play another two World Cups if he is to match Egypt goalkeeper Essan El-Hadary.

Daniel Arzani has the honour being the youngest player in Russia.

IT’S official; Socceroos winger Daniel Arzani is the youngest player at the World Cup.

The 19-year-old is the only man born in 1999 to be heading to Russia after FIFA released the final squad lists of each of the 32 nations.

Poland had selected Sebastian Szymanski, five months Arzani’s junior, in its extended group, but the midfielder has missed the cut for the final squad. That move confirms Arzani as the youngest man at the 2018 tournament.

Daniel Arzani has the honour being the youngest player in Russia.

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Arzani’s run to the Socceroos squad has been spectacular and unexpected since making a first start for Melbourne City last August in the FFA Cup. The raw talent has just 16 starts in his professional career and made a debut for Australia off the bench in Friday’s 4-0 friendly win over Czech Republic.

Arzani is joined by Kylian Mbappe, of group stage opponents France, and England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold as one of just seven teenagers at the tournament.

Another of Australia’s opponents, Denmark’s Christian Eriksen, was the youngest player at the 2010 World Cup at 18 years and four months of age.

Age extremes

Youngest players

19 years old - Daniel Arzani (Australia), Kylian Mbappe (France), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Francis Uzoho (NIgeria), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England), Moussa Wague (Cameroon), Jose Luis Rodriguez (Panama).

Oldest players

45 years old - Essan El-Hadary (Egypt) 39 years old - Rafael Marquez (Mexico) 38 years old - Tim Cahill (Australia), Sergey Ignashevich (Russia)

At the other end of the spectrum, striker Tim Cahill is the fourth oldest player to be heading to Russia.

The oldest player honour belongs to Egypt captain and goalkeeper Essan El-Hadary, who will debut at the World Cup as a 45-year-old.

A Leroy Sane poster is taken down after he was dumped by Germany.

Germany leave young star out

Leroy Sane stunned Germany team-mates with his big-time attitude before getting axed from the World Cup, according to The Sun.

The Manchester City forward was heading back to England after Joachim Low left him out of his squad for Russia.

And Sane’s behaviour around the holders’ camp was a major factor.

The 22-year-old played poorly in last weekend’s defeat by Austria but was still a shock exclusion.

It came after Sane lifted the title with City and was named PFA Young Player of the Year. A change in his attitude was noticed in team meetings and around the German camp.

It is believed Low risked upsetting other members of his squad by picking Sane — and was happy to stand by his brave decision.

Sane only broke into the Germany team after they won the last World Cup.

The City star was tipped to join the likes of Brazilian Neymar as one of football’s biggest personalities in Russia.

England got the 8 and the 9 mixed up in Harry Kane’s weight.

Largest, lightest, tallest, shortest

Blundering England have listed Harry Kane as one of the World Cup’s heaviest players.

Red-faced England officials gave the wrong data to FIFA, meaning the England captain’s weight was logged on the official squad list as 98kg. That made him the joint-second heaviest player at the tournament.

His actual weight is 89kg.

Tipping the scales at the top of the list is Panama’s Roman Torres, who weighs in at 99kg.

There are three players who come in at 98kg, including England‘s Harry Maguire. They are joined by Danish defender Jannick Vestegaard and Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf.

South Korea forward Shin-wook Kim will go into the tournament weighing in at 97kg - a whole 15kg more than the next heaviest player in the squad, goalkeeper Jin-hyeon Kim.

Japan will have the lightest player in attacking midfielder Takashi Inui, who weighs 59kg. England’s Jesse Lingard set to be the second lightest player in Russia at 60kg.

Towering over everyone in Russia will be Croatia goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic, who stands at 201cm and he is swiftly followed by Vestegaard, who follows up his 98kg with a height of 200cm.

Argentina defender Federico Fazio and Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois are next at the height of 199cm.

There are three players who will be the shortest at the World Cup, with Panama midfielder Alberto Quintero, Al Sherhi Yahya from Saudi Arabia and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri all standing at 165cm.

It was a tough night at the officed for Serbia.

Serbia struggle, Morocco impress

Lukewarm Serbia have stumbled 1-0 to Chile while Morocco have downed Slovakia 2-1in World Cup warm-ups.

Meanwhile, Italy and the Netherlands, two of the biggest names to miss out on Russia, have continued their rebuilding work with a 1-1 draw in Turin.

Serbia, who face Brazil, Costa Rica and Switzerland in their group, looked vulnerable every time the South American champions - who surprisingly failed to qualify for the World Cup - came forward.

Guillermo Maripan headed in an 89th-minute winner for Chile, a fair reward for their more adventurous display.

Morocco, who face Iran, Portugal and Spain in World Cup Group B, produced plenty of slick passing against Slovakia as they extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches.

Although they fell behind to a long-range Jans Gregus effort in the 59th minute, Morocco replied with goals from Ayoub Kaabi and Younes Belhanda in a 10-minute spell.

Poland’s preparations suffered a blow when defender Kamil Glik seriously injured his shoulder in training on the same day as being named in their 23-man squad. Coach Adam Nawalka said the 30-year-old, who fell awkwardly after attempting an overhead kick, would be replaced by VfB Stuttgart’s Marcin Kaminski if he did not recover in time to travel to Russia.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said ‘we can afford whatever the congress decides’.

Huge boost for Morocco

FIFA can afford to have Morocco host the 2026 World Cup, according to president Gianni Infantino, even if the rival North American bid promises billions of dollars more in revenue.

Ahead of next week’s vote by FIFA member federations in Moscow, Infantino said: “FIFA can afford whatever the congress decides.”

“We have to live with that and to make the best of any decision which is taken,” said the FIFA leader, who Moroccan bid leaders have publicly suspected of favoring the joint United States-Canada-Mexico bid.

In a FIFA panel’s evaluation of the candidates, the North American bid got the only maximum mark for its tickets and corporate hospitality sales plan. A difference in projected ticket sales of $1.7 billion between the two bids helped lead the report to note “significantly higher” forecast revenue of $18.7 billion from North Americans and $9.4 billion from Morocco.

“Money is one element (but) not the only element” in the report,” Infantino said, revealing that FIFA will top $8 billion income during the four-year financial period for the 2018 World Cup.

Originally published as World Cup Daily: Arzani milestone; Germany shock; Big, small, large, light of Russia; Morocco impress