The 32 national team coaches preparing for the start of the World Cup next month in Russia will set provisional rosters by Monday’s deadline and submit final 23-man squads June 4.
As club seasons wind down, players will begin gathering for training camps as early as next week. But in these final weeks of selections and preparations, tactical decisions and second-guesses, coaches are surveying not only individual form but fitness.
For most players, May marks the end of a grinding league campaign that launched late last summer. Some, such as Brazil’s Dani Alves, England’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and three Russian regulars, did not survive and will miss the tournament.