Have you ever seen one of those local news stories that desperately tries to frame a national story with a local angle even though it doesn’t really work? Like, “Honley Bakery makes Royal Wedding cupcakes to commemorate special day” or something similar. This article is the Huddersfield Town equivalent for the World Cup that starts on Thursday night, when Mexico play South Africa.
Given Huddersfield Town’s recent history has had them knocking around the bottom of the Championship and the middle of League One, it’s not a huge surprise that there aren’t a load of players at the World Cup with a Huddersfield Town connection but I’ve found three and suspect there may be more I’ve not unearthed yet.
Players with a Huddersfield Town connection at the World Cup
Owen Goodman – It’s odd that a player most Town fans would class as not being good enough for an ambitious League One club has somehow managed to get a place in the World Cup for one of the host nations. It seems likely that he’ll be warming the bench rather than seeing any competitive minutes but given his tendency to push routine saves into dangerous areas, Canada may be better off without him.
Goodman received his first international callup back in November while still a Huddersfield Town player. Even if he doesn’t play, it will be a good experience for him to experience a World Cup as part of one of the host nations.
Juninho Bacuna – The expanded format of this year’s World Cup means there are an awful lot more minnows competing in the group stage, and Curaçao feels like one of those nations that have only qualified because of the greater number of teams involved. I thought Curaçao was one of those obscure cocktail ingredients that form part of a messy night out on the tiles but it’s also a lovely looking little island. It looks like someone picked up a small town in the Netherlands and dumped it on a beautiful part of the Caribbean.
Bacuna was a frustrating player to watch when he was at Town, as he had bags of ability but also would spend entire games stuck on a side quest to kick a player that he’d decided had wronged him for some reason. When he was on the top of his game he could be a real difference maker but too often he was playing to his own agenda rather than being a genuine part of the team.
Bacuna is now 28 years old, and since leaving Town he’s had spells at Rangers, Birmingham City, Al Wedha in Saudi Arabia, Gaziantep in Turkey and most recently for Volendam in the Netherlands. Given the frequent changes of clubs and the downward trend in their quality, I suspect he’s not thrived since leaving Town.
Dean Gorré – The final former Town player that is involved in the World Cup is Dean Gorré, who is an assistant coach for Curacao. While he won’t be playing, he is going to be actually involved as a member of enemy of the swear filter, D*ck Advocaat’s backroom team. Maybe it’s misty eyed nostalgia but I have very fond memories of Gorré at Huddersfield Town, even though his stats of six goals in 62 appearances during his two seasons don’t seem that impressive. Stats aside, I remember him being one of the first Town players that really excited me whenever he got on the ball and he seemed like a decent sort of person too. I vaguely remember him tending to play with a smile on his face, which was a nice contrast to the permanent scowl George Donis played with at a similar time in Town’s history.
Forcing a connection with the England squad and Huddersfield Town
I admit that this is a stretch, but Huddersfield Town do have a kind-of connection to the England squad, as Martin Drury coached Jordan Henderson during his brief spell at Brentford last season. Simply coaching an England player is a fairly loose connection but it seems Drury and Henderson are friendly, as Henderson sent a congratulations message to Drury when he was appointed full time Huddersfield Town coach.
Drury held Henderson up as a monster in terms of mentality and a quality human being during his opening press conference as head coach. While he doesn’t seem certain about whether Henderson is a human or a monster, it’s clear that Drury is a Henderson fan and will be one of the few English football fans that wants to see him play plenty of minutes in this summer’s tournament.
The players that didn’t make it
Here’s a quick list of Huddersfield Town players, past and present, that didn’t quite make it to this summer’s finals:
- Radinio Balker – Balker played a role in Suriname’s World Cup qualification campaign and was unlucky to fall at the final hurdle when they lost the playoff semi-final to Bolivia. OK, not quite the final hurdle, the penultimate one. But Balker was two games away from being on the plane this summer.
- Colwill, Chalobah and Chilwell – Three former Huddersfield Town loanees have been part of the England set up in the past but none of them made it onto the plane. Levi Colwill was the most likely to get into England’s squad but a nasty injury this season meant he didn’t get enough game time to impress Tuchel. Chalobah isn’t really part of the thinking for England at the moment and Ben Chilwell hasn’t been called up since the summer of 2024, though might have fancied his chances given the lack of high-quality options for England at leftback.
- Zanka and Lossl – Neither Zanka or Lossl are getting called up for the Denmark squad, and the Danes failed to qualify after finishing behind Scotland in their group, so they won’t be at the World Cup anyway.
- Sorba Thomas – Despite his Greek sounding first name and his London accent, Sorba plays international football for Wales. He made an appearance off the bench in their defeat to Romania last Saturday but sadly the Welsh didn’t qualify for the World Cup, so he won’t be involved in the tournament.
Have I missed any Huddersfield Town World Cup connections? I have a feeling there are some players or coaches that I’ve not covered, so let me know in the comments if you know any others I can add to this admittedly brief list.