Tottenham’s 10 Players Shape 2018 World Cup Storylines

Tottenham Hotspur will have 10 players at the 2018 world cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer. That gives Spurs fans a direct line into several group-stage matches, including one that could put Pedro Porro against Rodrigo Bentancur on June 27.

The count is the headline. Ten players from one club spread across multiple national teams is enough to turn the tournament into a Spurs tracker, with Scotland, Croatia, Austria, the Netherlands and Argentina all part of the picture.

Porro and Bentancur at June 27

Porro could face Bentancur in the climax to Group H on June 27. Spain and Uruguay are on opposite sides of that fixture, so the matchup would put two Tottenham players on the same pitch in a game that could shape the group.

Jan Paul van Hecke is also in the Netherlands squad, while Marcos Senesi could yet join Argentina after an injury to Leonardo Balerdi. Tottenham have made two offers for Van Hecke, which adds another Spurs link to the tournament before the first whistle.

Robertson leads Scotland

Andy Robertson will captain Scotland at their first World Cup since 1998. He started all of Scotland's qualifying games, assisted Scott McTominay's late winner against Belarus and wrote a letter and gave a gift to every member of the squad before the opening game against Haiti.

Scotland will meet Morocco and Brazil in the group stage, giving Robertson a heavy workload in a section that leaves little margin for error. He will not officially join Tottenham until his Liverpool contract expires at the end of the month, but his World Cup role already places him at the centre of one of the tournament's clearest Spurs threads.

Vuskovic and Austria

Luka Vuskovic scored six goals in 28 appearances for Hamburg last season and has started four of Croatia's last five games in all competitions. Croatia open against England, a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final, and that match brings him into a direct meeting with Harry Kane and Luka Modric.

Kevin Danso is another Spurs name to watch. Austria are making their first World Cup appearance in 28 years, and their second group game is against Argentina, but Danso is not guaranteed to start at centre-back.

For Tottenham, the practical takeaway is simple: this tournament will not just scatter club players across three host countries. It could also produce Spurs-on-Spurs matchups, transfer-linked storylines and a long list of fixtures for fans to follow from the opening round to the group-stage finish.