A Sunderland link (occasionally tenuous) with every country at the 2022 World Cup

The 2022 World Cup is almost upon us and, compared to other recent major tournaments, there are not many Sunderland players taking part.

You shouldn’t let that discourage you, though. Sunderland is, after all, ubiquitous, and we are going to prove it.

So, here is a Sunderland link – however tenuous and tortured it may have to be – to every single country playing at the 2022 World Cup.

Group A

Qatar

Let’s start with our hosts for the tournament. Thankfully, given their oppressive culture and appalling record on human rights, Sunderland links with Qatar are hard to find.

We can find one, though, through former Sunderland loanee Talal El Karkouri. The Moroccan had half a season on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in 2003, making eight appearances. Sunderland lost all eight as they hurtled towards relegation.

He later went on to have a significant career in Qatar, where he played for Al Gharafa, Qatar SC and Ummm-Salal, who he also managed for a while too.

Ecuador

Again, we are a little thin on the ground when it comes to obvious Sunderland links with Ecuador, so we have to dig a little deeper. That does make it more fun, though.

Anyone remember Claudio Marangoni? Long before Julio Arca, Marcos Angeleri, Oscar Ustari and Nacho Scocco, Marangoni became the first Argentinian to play for Sunderland. He arrived in 1979 after a failed attempt to land Diego Maradona, but didn’t last long as he struggled to settle.

Marangoni returned to Argentina and proved his quality, though, and made his first start for the national team in a 2-2 draw with Ecuador in the 1983 Copa America.

Senegal

It really was just a few short years ago that Sunderland were signing absolute rubbish for masses of money before having to actually sack them because it was the only way to get rid of them before they bankrupted the club.

Step forward Senegal international Papy Djilobodji. Good lord he was bad.

Anyway, he played 17 times for Senegal, one fewer than he managed for Sunderland, before being sacked for breaching the terms of his contract and not maintaining his fitness. He is in Turkey with Gaziantep now – and nowhere near the Senegal World Cup squad.

Netherlands

Sunderland have had some cracking Netherlands internationals in recent years with the likes of Bolo Zenden, Patrick van Aanholt and, to a lesser extent, Jeremain Lens. They are not the one we are going with, though.

That honour goes to the Feyenoord Mackems, who have stuck with the club since the 70s and 80s. With the shipbuilding industry declining on the Wear, many of the skilled workers sought opportunities across the North Sea in Rotterdam.

They found a team that play in red and white and embraced them. The Feyenoord fans reciprocated, and the relationship between the clubs and supporters still exists today.

Group B

England

Well there are two massive Sunderland fans and academy products in the England squad for Qatar in Jordan Henderson and Jordan Pickford, but they’re getting no more than an honourable mention.

That is because we wouldn’t be doing our duty if we did not take every opportunity to remind everyone who reads this that Sunderland have been the champions of England six times.

That is the same amount as Chelsea, for those who think football only started with the release of the first FIFA console game.

Iran

Again, we are struggling for natural and easy links here and, again, that’s probably not a bad thing.

However, thankfully there is Ji Dong-won. He didn’t leave that great an impression on Sunderland fans but he probably managed to annoy Iran fans even more.

Ji lined up for South Korea in the bronze medal match at the 2010 Asia Games. Iran were heading for a win before Ji scored both the equaliser and winning goal in the 88th and 89th minute respectively. Loved a late goal, did Ji.

USA

Lynden Gooch is the obvious link here, but where is the fun in that? We could also mention Jozy Altidore, but we are still trying our best to forget he ever happened. Claudio Reyna? Now we’re talking.

Let’s instead look to the current USA squad for the World Cup and, no, we’re not talking about DeAndre Yedlin.

One man expected to make a big impact in Qatar is Giovanni Reyna, who is Claudio’s son. He was born in Sunderland, although I doubt he remembers anything about being here. Still, born a Mackem always a Mackem, right?

Wales

Sunderland have too many Wales links to mention them all. Players such as Tony Norman, Colin Pascoe, Andy Melville and Danny Collins have been key parts of Sunderland promotion-winning squads, for example.

There is one former Sunderland player in their squad for the 2022 World Cup, though, so suppose we’d probably give it to him.

Jonny Williams? Remember him? Don’t blame you if you have erased him, and that god-awful kit he played in, from your minds.

Group C

Argentina

I provided a list of Argentinians who have played for Sunderland in the Ecuador section and, well, it wasn’t good.

The one man to stand out on it though is Julio Arca, who is probably one of the most universally popular Sunderland players in the modern era.

He never actually made it to playing for Argentina at senior level, which is mental considering Marcos Angeleri, Santiago Vergini and Oscar Ustari did, but there we are. I mean, even Nicolas Medina was capped for Argentina. Ridiculous.

Saudi Arabia

Luckily, Sunderland links to Saudi Arabia are few and far between and I sincerely hope it stays that way, no matter how much money they have.

As things stand, about the strongest connection Sunderland have to Saudi Arabia is Kader Mangane, who was signed on loan from Al-Hilal in 2013.

He only actually played 19 minutes for Sunderland – 18 of which came in the 3-0 knee-slide win against Newcastle at St James’ Park. The other was in the 1-0 home win over Everton the following week. Good record.

Mexico

Ohhhh da Silva. Our defender. From Paraguay. Ok, I grant you, Paulo da Silva was not Mexican, but he was signed from Mexican football.

In fact, Da Silva was a veritable star of Mexican football. He played more than 200 games for Toluca and led them to the 2008 Apertura title, and that was just his first spell there.

After leaving Sunderland, he returned to Mexico where he played initially for Pachuca before returning to Toluca to play another 150 or so games.

Poland

To watch Dariusz Kubicki for Sunderland was to love him. It’s as simple as that.

Kubicki first arrived at the club on loan from Aston Villa in 1994 but quickly made that deal permanent. It had to be quick really, as back then you could only loan a player for a maximum of three months – one month at a time.

He became the very picture of reliability for Sunderland before he was denied the record for most consecutive appearances for the club so that Gareth Hall of all people could get a game. 25 years on and that still annoys me.

Group D

France

Sunderland have always had some great links with French football. Steed Malbranque, Djibril Cisse, Eric Roy and, for me, the best full back I have ever seen at the club: Anthony Réveillère. And Yann M’Vila is definitely still signing.

Even in the current squad there is Abdoullah Ba and Edouard Michut, but I suppose we have to go with the big boss here, right?

Although Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was born in Switzerland, he is still very much French and, to be fair, he is providing some real hope of a bright future at Sunderland right now. And, look, any French Billionaire in his mid-20s who turns up to watch Sunderland under-21s play in Hetton in the depths of winter with his model wife in tow is very much okay by us here at Sunderland Nation.

Australia

There are some loose Sunderland links with Australia, like Dwight Yorke joining from Sydney and Roy O’Donovan somehow, inexplicably, still being one of the stars of the A-League even to this day.

It has to be Bailey Wright, though, doesn’t it. He’s the only Australian to play for Sunderland, he has wracked up more than 100 appearances, bled for the club, and he’s going to the World Cup too.

Denmark

The temptation is to go for Nicholas Bendtner, just because of how clearly crazy he was. He was also pretty good in the Sunderland shirt too, to give him his due.

It has to be Thomas Sorensen, though, right? At just £500,000, Sorensen is one of the best signings in Sunderland modern history and his penalty save against Newcastle is the stuff of legend.

Let’s also not forget that he has represented Denmark at the World Cup (2002) whilst playing for Sunderland.

Tunisia

While there is not a great Sunderland presence at the World Cup this time around, there is a splattering of former players.

They include the mercurial Whabi Khazri, who was brilliant (but a bit lazy) when we had him and presumably still is.

While Sam Allardyce focused on the ‘brilliant’ bit, David Moyes couldn’t see past the ‘lazy’ bit. Not hard to figure out who got that wrong, is it?

Group E

Spain

Legend has it that Spanish club Athletico Bilboa was founded by a Sunderland fan, hence the red and white stripes. Those tales are entirely unproven though and probably folklore.

Therefore, we will stick to the players. Marcos Alonso was in contention and think we all rated the now- Barcelona man when we briefly had him.

Let’s go with Jordi Gomez, though, who is probably one of the most underrated players we’ve seen at Sunderland, as well as being one of the best penalty takers.

Costa Rica

Until relatively recently Sunderland had no links with Costa Rica at all. Luckily, from a feature-writer’s point of view, that is no longer the case.

Costa Rica will almost certainly be showcasing the talents of Jewison Bennette in Qatar, and he has already made a big impression for his national side.

Former Sunderland defender Bryan Oviedo will likely be his partner in crime down the Costa Rican left.

Germany

Every single sinew of my being wants to talk about Jan Kirchhoff here. What a player! He was a Rolls-Royce of a midfielder who just couldn’t get over his injuries. I guess, though, if he could have, he wouldn’t have been at Sunderland for us to enjoy in the first place.

Instead, we should probably go with someone who, weirdly, was good enough to win the European Championships for Germany yet not able to displace Paul Butler for Sunderland – Thomas Helmer.

He came to Sunderland on a free transfer in 1999 but Peter Reid decided ‘his legs had gone,’ and he made just two appearances for the club.

Japan

Sunderland have never had a Japanese player, but a few former Sunderland players have played in the J-League.

Don Goodman and David Hodgson both had spells at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and Patrick Mboma turned out for Gamba Osaka, Tokyo Verdy and Vissel Kobe.

There is, though, surprisingly, one former Sunderland man still playing in Japan today: David Moberg Karlsson, for Urawa Red Diamonds.

Group F

Belgium

In many ways, it’s actually quite easy to forget just how good Simon Mignolet was for Sunderland. The perception is often skewered by his inability to step up to the next level with Liverpool.

Mignolet is a rarity for Sunderland in the sense that he was identified young, signed cheaply, developed, and sold on at a huge profit. In many ways, he was by fluke what the club are trying to do now by design.

Plus, in terms of a Belgium link, it was either Mignolet or Tom Peeters, or Jason Denayer. Think we’ll stick with Mignolet.

Canada

Canada have one of the easiest and strongest links with Sunderland of all the nations at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In fact, Sunderland once played a whole season in Canada.

In the summer of 1967, the US were trying to get their soccer organised and they started the United Soccer Association. It began with six clubs, but because they were not quite ready they actually imported teams from around the world to compete.

Sunderland, complete with players such as Jimmy Montgomery, Colin Todd, Jim Baxter and Billy Hughes played 12 matches as the Vancouver Royal Canadians. They finished fifth in the six team league.

Morocco

We have already used the one and only Moroccan to play for Sunderland, Talal El Karkouri, so we’ll go with Youssef Safri for this one.

Safri is the current assistant manager at Raja Casablanca, and he played 77 times for Morocco in a nine-year spell.

For many Sunderland fans, though, he will stick in the memory as the man who broke Colin Healy’s leg in a live televised game against Coventry City. It wasn’t really his fault, but it was horrific enough to stay firmly in the memory.

Croatia

Sunderland links with Croatia are incredibly tenuous, although they dio serve as a reminder how attractive the Sunderland manager job is.

In 2009, Croatia had just stopped England from getting to Euro 2008 and their manager, Slaven Bilic, was one of the most coveted coaches in the world. He, though, coveted Sunderland.

"Sure he would be interested to talk to Sunderland if they wanted to talk to him," agent Rudi Vata said after Ricky Sbragia left Sunderland. "He would be open-minded about any discussions if they were interested. It will only be a matter of time before he ends up at a big club.”

Group G

Brazil

It would be easy to just go with Emerson Thome here and give ourselves an easy life, right?

Instead, let’s go for the first ever Brazilian to play for Sunderland. Marcos di Giuseppe appeared to just turn up one day for a trial and the next thing you know he’s playing the full second half of a League Cup second leg match at Walsall.

Also known as ‘Bica,’ he vanished as quickly as he arrived and he went on to have a thoroughly awful career. A truly weird episode. Even his name is clouded in mystery. Wikipedia have it as Marcus, Sunderland say it was Marco, while he wore ‘Marcos’ on his shirt in his one game for the club.

Serbia

Sunderland fans took to Dick Advocaat so much that fans raised thousands of pounds to buy flowers for his wife to persuade her to allow him to stay at the club. It’s probably fair to say that Serbia fans held him in a little less esteem.

Advocaat was the coach of Serbia in his last job before arriving at Sunderland, and it didn’t go well.

In fact, he only lasted three matches and five months before quitting following a 3-1 defeat to Denmark.

Switzerland

Ah Bernt Haas. He arrived, he made us all laugh with his name, he made 27 barely memorable appearances for the club and he left a year later.

Haas was a perfectly mediocre defender who won 36 caps for Switzerland. He just wasn’t really up to Premier League level.

A year after leaving Sunderland he landed at WBA in the Championship, and that was a much better fit for him. As soon as they got promoted to the Premier League, they couldn’t ditch him quickly enough.

Cameroon

When Patrick Mboma joined Sunderland on loan in February 2002, it really should have been brilliant.

Mboma had just helped Cameroon to a second successive African Cup of Nations and he was the joint top scorer in the tournament. He was also a former, and recent, African Player of the Year.

In very typical Sunderland fashion, he turned out to be more Kenny Miller than Roger Milla, scoring just once in nine games.

Group H

Portugal

Who remembers Michael Simões Domingues? Anyone? No? The name he was known by will probably send a shiver down your spine. Mika.

Mika was signed a week after the transfer deadline (somehow) by David Moyes who (somehow) persuaded Sunderland to pay a reported £2million for a goalkeeper who had barely played before.

The former Portugal under-21 goalkeeper currently does not appear to have a club.

Ghana

Ghana is a nice and easy one considering Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and John Mensah played for Sunderland. In fact, at that time it felt like Sunderland was Ghana’s club, until Gyan soured it all of course.

There is actually, surprisingly, a former Sunderland player in their squad for the World Cup, though.

Antoine Semenyo had a short loan spell at the Stadium of Light in 2020, although he couldn’t score in seven games. He has developed since then, though, and is doing well at Bristol City.

Uruguay

Sunderland and Uruguay actually feel quite close these days. Juan Sartori owns a share of the club and he is always trying to develop partnerships with clubs in his homeland.

There is also Gus Poyet, who took the club to within one win of winning the League Cup in 2014 whilst also pulling off probably the greatest escape in the Premier League.

For sheer consistency, though, we’ll go with the former Sunderland player in a current World Cup squad and say Sebastian Coates. He is still playing Champions League football with Sporting Lisbon, so fair play to him. He also once had a good game for Sunderland at Arsenal...

South Korea

I’ve already used Ji Dong-won, and Ki Sung-yueng, class as he occasionally was, seemed to quit mentally when Sunderland needed him the most, so he’s out.

That is largely irrelevant, of course, as I was always going to mention Seongnam FC here. Sunderland went to the Suwon World Cup Stadium in the summer of 2012 to take part in the ‘Peace Cup’ alongside Seongnam, Grongingen and Hamburg.

Seongnam won the match 1-0 thanks to a goal from Brazilian striker Everton, but it was still a lot of fun to watch Sunderland spread their wings a bit globally.