Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time to win the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium, with Ferran Torres scoring the only goal in the 106th minute. Buried in that result is a genuinely wild summer for Liverpool's World Cup contingent — a winner, a runner-up, and everything in between.
Liverpool sent eight players to the tournament across six nations. Here's how each of them actually got on.
Technically a Liverpool player before he'd even kicked a ball for the club, Victor Munoz ends the summer as a World Cup champion. He didn't play a minute — an unused substitute across all eight of Spain's matches — but he was part of the squad throughout their dominant, historically stingy run to the title, and that's a medal that counts all the same. It's an almost surreal starting point for a new signing: officially a World Cup winner before he's made a single competitive appearance for his new club.
Mac Allister came agonizingly close to going back-to-back with Argentina, playing a major role throughout the tournament and ending it with the third-most minutes of any Argentine outfield player. Argentina's run included another trademark late comeback in the semi-final against England before falling just short against Spain in the final. A brilliant tournament individually, undercut by the one result that actually matters.
After a difficult debut season at Anfield hampered by form and injury, Isak needed a reset, and he got one. He scored and added two assists in Sweden's 5-1 opening demolition of Tunisia, picking up the Player of the Match award in the process, and carried real menace throughout Sweden's campaign. If there's one Liverpool player whose World Cup summer looked like exactly the confidence boost he needed heading into next season, it's Isak.
Both had strong individual tournaments that ended earlier than they deserved to. Gakpo was the focal point of the Netherlands' attack, scoring three goals and adding an assist, including a starring role in a 5-1 win over Sweden, but the Dutch couldn't get out of the Round of 32. Wirtz was arguably even more impressive for Germany — three assists in four matches plus real defensive work rate — before Germany's tournament ended in the Round of 32 on penalties against Paraguay. Two of Liverpool's most talented attackers, both playing well, both going out earlier than the quality of their performances suggested they should have.
Brazil's tournament ended in the Round of 16, a genuinely poor return for a five-time champion nation with the talent they had available, and manager Carlo Ancelotti was candid afterward about needing a reset for the next cycle. Alisson started in goal throughout and wasn't the problem, but a first-choice goalkeeper can only do so much when the team in front of him underperforms.
Gravenberch got his first taste of World Cup football alongside Netherlands teammates Gakpo and van Dijk, sharing in the same Round of 32 exit. For van Dijk, it was a different kind of milestone — captaining the Dutch side at a tournament this significant, even if the result didn't go the way any of Liverpool's Dutch contingent wanted.
Not every Liverpool player got a World Cup summer. Dominik Szoboszlai watched from home as Hungary missed out via the playoffs, beaten by a late Republic of Ireland comeback — a tough watch for a player who'd been one of Liverpool's standout performers through a difficult season. Milos Kerkez was in the same position with Hungary. Wataru Endo, meanwhile, had his tournament ended before it began — a recurrence of a foot injury forced him to withdraw from Japan's squad entirely, and he subsequently announced his international retirement.
Liverpool likely recouped up to £1m in FIFA compensation payments for the involvement of their World Cup contingent, but the real value is what players like Isak, Wirtz, and Munoz bring back into pre-season with them — sharpness, big-game minutes, and in Munoz's case, a winner's medal before he's even trained with his new teammates. For a squad going through this much change under a new manager, that kind of tournament experience arriving all at once isn't a bad thing to have heading into August.