Gone Home XI: The best team of players to eliminate from the 2022 World Cup

Unwittingly putting all three Real Madrid inclusions in the featured image, here is the strongest XI of the players who left the 2022 World Cup much earlier than they would have liked.< /em>

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) Arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, Courtois was sent off for failing to add the World Cup to his long list of accolades.

Courtois was man of the match in Real Madrid's Champions League final win over Liverpool in May and carried his great form through to the World Cup, saving an Alphonso Davies penalty in the first day as Belgium edged out Canada despite a very unconvincing performance.

Ex-Chelsea keeper didn't have a great time against Morocco, conceding the exact same goal twice; he will feel like he should have done better both times, even though one of them was sent off for offside.

After losing to the Moroccans, Belgium had to beat Croatia on Thursday but Romelu Lukaku did everything to prevent that from happening. Alas, Courtois is on the plane to Madrid.

Right-Back: Joshua Kimmich (Germany) Guys, relax. I know Kimmich isn't playing fullback these days, but forget it. He used to do it and still could if he really wanted to. Also, the best actual right-back to get knocked out was probably Thomas Meunier and I'm taking an out-of-position Kimmich on him.

Kimmich won Caps 72, 73 and 74 in Qatar as his side lost to Japan, drew with Spain and beat Costa Rica. The 27-year-old played every minute for Germany and actually started as a right-back against Costa Rica with Niklas Sule as centre-back. Safe to say he's not in this defense alongside Kimmich, but another German player is…

Centre-back: Antonio Rudiger (Germany) The second German, second former Chelsea player and second current Real Madrid player in this star-studded XI, Rudiger made his distinctive run to the airport after another bitterly disappointing World Cup of the 2014 champions.

Like Kimmich, Rudiger played every minute for his team at the tournament as he is considered one of Hansi Flick's most important players.

Centre-back: Jose Gimenez (Uruguay) Gimenez joins Rudiger in our Madrid-themed defensive partnership after Uruguay knocked out of their squad, finishing behind Portugal and South Korea.

A lot of us (of us, but mostly not me) thought they were going far in the tournament, Uruguay finished third and went home.

Gimenez is a solid defender who would form a rather unpleasant partnership with Rudiger. You don't need to have watched Gimenez a lot to know that. He plays for Atletico Madrid after all.

Left-back: Alphonso Davies (Canada) The flying full-back played for Canada in their first World Cup final since 1986 and will do so again in four years time as his country qualified as as co-organizer alongside Mexico and the United States.

As mentioned earlier, Davies missed a penalty in the opener against Belgium before his side lost their other two group matches. The 22-year-old managed to make history by scoring Canada's first-ever goal of the tournament when he netted in the second minute against Croatia. Unfortunately, they ended up losing 4-1 and their elimination was confirmed.

Davies plays as a left-back for Bayern Munich and is well known for his incredible pace, but for his country he plays as a striker, sometimes on the left, sometimes in the middle. But he is without a doubt the best player in Canada.

Central midfielder: Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)Belgium had no chance of winning the World Cup because they are 'too old', De Bruyne proclaimed before he had kicked a ball in Qatar. They called him crazy. But he was officially ahead of the curve.

Belgium sucked at the World Cup and De Bruyne didn't really do much until the last game when he looked pretty decent.

The golden generation of the Red Devils is over and they have won everything. Is Roberto Martinez guilty? Belgium lost to the eventual winners of the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020. It makes you think.