Mixed fortunes for Chelsea stars at the 2018 World Cup

The 2018 World Cup is now in the record books and it’s fair to say that Chelsea’s contingent of players had mixed fortunes at the tournament.

N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud were the biggest winners, playing key roles as France made it all the way to the final where they defeated Croatia.

Read on as we look at how the Blues’ representatives fared in Russia.

The good

Kante and Giroud can rightly be proud of their efforts at the World Cup, with both contributing massively to France’s success.

Giroud began the tournament on the bench, but he started every game thereafter and was a crucial part of the way France played. The striker failed to get on the scoresheet, but his unselfish play allowed the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and others to flourish.

Kante was a rock in midfield, helping to bring the best out of Manchester United star Paul Pogba and generally keeping France ticking over during games.

Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois performed well for Belgium as they claimed third place, while Michy Batshuayi made a decent contribution during his time on the pitch.

Denmark’s Andreas Christensen and England star Ruben Loftus-Cheek can also be pleased with how they played in Russia.

The bad

Antonio Rudiger played in Germany’s only victory at the tournament, but his display was nothing to write home about.

He will hope to put that behind him for his club next season, although he may end up needing to buy Chelsea tickets to watch the team if new manager Mauricio Sarri brings in the defensive reinforcements he has been linked with.

Willian (Brazil) and Cesar Azpilicueta (Spain) both exited the World Cup far earlier than they would have hoped, while England defender Gary Cahill’s only appearance came during a group stage defeat against Belgium.

Victor Moses and Kenneth Omeruo will be frustrated to have missed a golden opportunity to progress after Argentina snatched a late winner against Nigeria in their deciding group game.

The ugly

Heading into the tournament there was talk that Argentina star Lionel Messi could finally get his hands on a World Cup winner’s medal.

However, Messi’s dream was destroyed by goalkeeping errors as they missed their first choice stopper Sergio Romero badly.

Chelsea’s Willy Caballero’s mistake led to a goal in Argentina’s opening game against Iceland, although it was his ugly howler in the next game that summed upped his side’s miserable tournament.

Caballero tried to clear Gabriel Mercado’s back-pass in the 53rd minute, but instead gave Croatia star Ante Rebic a chance to smash a superb volley into the net.

The Chelsea goalie was axed for the next two games and it could be a long while before he sees any further action on the international stage.