Fans are furious that Pau Kvarsi and Unai Simon are not in this World Cup squad. The Golden Glove Award winner and Young Player Award winner was strangely left out of the eleven despite Spain’s success.
Fans voted to replace social media sensation Vosinha, but despite playing only half the games, the Cape Verdean goalkeeper kept a clean sheet against the eventual winners, making 18 saves in four games. Two central defenders, Dayot Upemecano and Lisandro Martínez, started ahead of Kvarsi, but the latter could only keep two clean sheets for runners-up Argentina.
Fans online have criticized Spain’s goalkeeper and teenage centre-back for being ignored. Many people voiced their opinions following FIFA’s social media post revealing the team.
One person commented, “The Golden Glove winner is not the goalkeeper in the tournament. It’s a joke.” There was also a question, “Why isn’t Kvarsi on the defensive line?”
Another user responded on X: “This is a prank, isn’t it? Where’s Kvarsi? Where’s Simon who collected the Golden Globe?” Others wondered further: “Martinez over Kvarsi? Are we serious… He, Laporte and Unai kept just one goal throughout the World Cup.”
However, there were fewer opposing opinions regarding the remaining teams. England stars Jude Bellingham, Michael Oliseh and Rodri form the midfield trio.
However, despite winning the Golden Ball, the Spanish captain only received 15% of the votes, far behind Bronze Boot winners Bellingham’s 29% and Oliseh’s 19%.
Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi make up the front three. This summer’s Golden Boot and Bronze Ball winners, despite having won the Silver Ball and Silver Boot, which are comparable to the runners-up medals, lead Haaland with nearly 30% of the votes, with 27% and Messi with 22%.
Voting was open for 48 hours after the World Cup final. Fans also created a shortlist by voting for outstanding players: one goalkeeper, one defender, one midfielder and one forward after each round during the tournament.
The four winners of each round secured their place on the shortlist, joining “additional players identified by FIFA based on their performance during the tournament”. Kvarsi did not top the Defender vote in seven polls.
Simon qualified after the semi-finals by receiving approximately 45% of the goalkeeper votes. However, Vosinya averaged 50% when winning rounds 1 and 32.
