2026 World Cup could give Rui Borges a huge headache over Sporting trio | OneFootball

While a large part of the Sporting squad is already enjoying the holiday period after a long and gruelling season, Gonçalo Inácio, Ousmane Diomande and Zeno Debast still have no rest in sight. The three Sporting centre-backs have been called up to represent their respective national teams at the 2026 World Cup and still have several more weeks of competition ahead of them.

Sporting, especially after an intense campaign in all competitions. Even so, the green-and-white defensive trio remain focused on their international commitments, postponing their recovery period.

Among the three, Gonçalo Inácio was the most used player throughout the season. The Portugal international racked up 4,007 minutes in a Sporting shirt and is expected to keep adding to that tally during the World Cup. Despite some physical problems in the decisive stage of the season, the defender recovered in time to help the team and remains among Roberto Martínez’s options.

Ousmane Diomande is also expected to play an important role for the Ivory Coast national team. The centre-back made 2,301 minutes for Sporting in 2025/26 and started in the warm-up match against France, which came before the Africans’ World Cup opener. After missing part of the start of the season due to muscle injuries, the defender finished the campaign strongly.

Zeno Debast’s situation is slightly different. The Belgium international is still recovering from a hamstring injury, suffered in the final weeks of the season. The centre-back has not played since the win over Vitória de Guimarães at the start of May, but he remains in manager Rudi Garcia’s plans for the final stage of the competition.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.