u/Late-Welder-4083

Angel Rangel was selected at right back. After 5 hours of the post being up, there were no other nominations with multiple votes, so I've made an executive decision to move on and give extra time to a more contentious position

RULES

- Only include one name per comment, comments with multiple candidates will be disregarded

- You may comment more than once to nominate multiple players

- The two comments with the most upvotes win

- Please consider their performances and achievements for Swansea only, not their wider career

- Players can only be selected once (no team of Alan Tates)

Lukasz Fabianski won the goalkeeper vote, with Roger Freestone a distant second

RULES:

- Comment with the most upvotes wins

- Please consider their performances and achievements for Swansea only, not their wider career

- Players can only be selected once (no team of Alan Tates)

RULES:

- Comment with the most upvotes wins

- Please consider their performances and achievements for Swansea only, not their wider career

- Players can only be selected once (no team of Alan Tates)

In the official YouTube video "Eli Just's first 24 hours", there is a clip that shows Stamenic and Just discussing squad numbers, where somebody mentions a curse, before the video cuts to this sheet: appearing to show all available squad numbers below 31 (Opoku would later take 30), with the word "Cursed" assigned to #11. This has inspired me to revive a comment I made on an r/championship post to better explain the lore to any fans who may be unaware of the story.

The story goes that when Adrian Forbes wore it back in the Vetch field days, he became the last league goalscorer at the stadium. We promised him a new contract and never gave him one so since then it's been cursed (possibly by some Forbes-aligned tylwyth teg)

2006: Rory Fallon (yes we're going this far back)

Looking back, a very respectable goal record but became a bit of a scapegoat at times because we had 3 really good League 1 strikers in Trundle, Knight and Akinfenwa. Fallon switched from 29 to 11 in 06/07 and looked better, getting a move to Championship Plymouth. 8 in 24 in #11. So far so good. NOT A FLOP

2007: Pawel Abbott

A respectable League 1 striker at Huddersfield (26 goals in 04/05), one of the very worst Swansea players ever. Finished with 1 goal in 19 before getting shipped to League 2 Darlington

2007: Darryl Duffy

A poor record at Hull, a good record in League 2 with Hartlepool and an amazing 06/07 loan at Swansea wearing #24 (5 goals in 8!) earned him a permanent move in the summer under Roberto Martinez and the #11 shirt. He scored 2 goals in 32 games wearing that number. Amazingly, Wikipedia claims he's still playing to this day

2008: Mark Gower

The first player to claim that the shirt was cursed, after switching from 11 to 27 having failed to score in the #11 across 36 games. Became a valuable squad player in #27, scoring bangers in the promotion season and getting to play in the Premier League. He missed playing with Michu and winning the League Cup by one season.

2009: Cedric Van Der Gun

Despite the entire squad telling Gower to ditch the cursed shirt number, nobody told Cedric. A former Ajax and Dortmund youngster, signed thanks to Swansea's former links to ADO Den Haag, Van Der Gun not only had to deal with wearing the #11 and the curse, but also playing for Paulo Sousa's sufferball Swans. Ashley Williams was the second top scorer for that side with 3 goals. Cedric got 3 across his two seasons and remains a favourite with fans playing "name obscure former Swansea players"

2011: Scott Sinclair

Genuinely one of the greatest seasons in Swansea City history (wearing #21) saw him switch to #11 after we shot Cedric into the moon. He scored 8 in the Prem before getting a move to Man City in a move that worked out for everybody. NOT A FLOP

2012: Pablo Hernandez

His goal record isn't the most impressive but nobody can argue that he was anything but quality for Swansea. Won a League Cup as a vital starting player before leaving to chase the Qatari bag and become a Leeds legend (he only signed for Leeds because of his relationship with Garry Monk and Pep Clotet so you're welcome Leeds fans). NOT A FLOP

2014: Marvin Emnes

Marvin Emnes signed for Swansea from Boro 3 times. In 2010 (wearing #30) he scored 2 in 5 including the only goal in our first win at the Cardiff City Stadium before going back at the end of his month-long loan. In 2014, he was back, wearing #57 and playing against Gonzalo Higuain in the Europa League. In the summer he signed permanently, took the #11 and barely ever played again, but was the best part about FA cup 3rd round games away to lower league opposition. 3 in 24 wearing #11.

2017: Luciano Narsingh

This guy got 19 Dutch caps in an era where they made a World Cup semi final. Signed for the relegation battle under Paul Clement before he decided wingers were for planes, Luciano played 2 and a half seasons for Swansea. Scored a last minute winner against Watford in our relegation season (still our last away win in the Prem) and was so bad in training that Potter preferred to start youngsters with no senior football experience than play him in the championship. Somehow got a move to Feyenoord and in doing so burned his bridges with PSV, the only fans who might think of him fondly.

2019: Kristoffer Peterson (not the Danish left back)

Steve Cooper saw his squad completely gutted to pay the debts and was told he can pay a fee for one player, as a treat. He chose this guy because he was good for him in the Liverpool academy, spending £550k. He was so bad that Cooper decided he'd never play a winger in Swansea again. Played 12 games and scored 1 goal against Cambridge (I had no idea)

2020: Morgan Gibbs-White

Gibbs-White was signed to replace Conor Gallagher and immediately hit the ground running, before breaking his foot, making his comeback and playing 1 game (where he looked unplayable) just in time for Wolves to recall him to replace the injured Raul Jimenez (yes that injury). They didn't play him, loaned him out to Blades where he was great and then he got reunited with Cooper in the Premier League and I'm not bitter at all. 5 games, 1 goal

2021: Jordan Morris

Not to worry, Swansea's useless, terrible American owners have finally used their ties to MLS to bring in a star and he looks very sharp so the automatics push is well o- what do you mean he did his ACL in his first start? 4 games, 0 goals

2022: Morgan Whittaker

Went on strike to force a move to us. cored against Man City. Became the first Swansea player to score a hat trick since Scott Sinclair vs Reading in the playoff final wearing #11, Russell Martin didn't like his attitude, loaned him to Plymouth, recalled him, they had a very public argument at the training ground and he went on strike to force a move to Rangers or Plymouth, despite Russell Martin already having left. I'm sure he won't go on strike to force a move a third time! 6 in 37.

2023: Josh Ginnelly

Big vote of confidence by Michael Duff, as this was declared a Duff signing from the jump. Ginnelly scored a banger against Morecambe(?) in the cup and a handball against QPR before doing his ACL in September 2023 and then doing it all over again while still in rehab in August 2024. Ginnelly eventually played again in January 2025, by which point the manager who signed him, the sporting director who signed him, the head scout who signed him, the majority shareholders who signed him were all not only gone but pariahs in Swansea. Of the XI who started the game in which he was injured, only Josh Key, Ben Cabango, Matt Grimes and Liam Cullen were still there for his return. Unfortunately having your leg completely destroyed twice is pretty bad for your footballing ability. Ginnelly was released on a free earlier this year and remains unattached, as does the Swansea #11

So since Forbesy, that's 14 Swansea #11s

3 were actually not bad

3 suffered devastating injuries within a month of their arrival

1 threw a strop and refused to play for 2 managers

4 failed to get more than 2 goals a season

So Elijah Just took #8 and in doing so has confirmed that the #11 curse is still prominent in the minds of Swansea players, 18 years after Mark Gower first acknowledged it

It will not go on general sale and will not be worn in competitive football matches. The match worn shirts will be auctioned off to raise money for the Swansea City Foundation. This is the only kit Swansea have revealed so far

Inspired by the fact that the first European colony of Australia was populated by Welsh convicts

Eom Jisung

South Africa 1-0 South Korea

Eom did not come off the bench as South Korea faced a surprise defeat to South Africa. Results yesterday mean South Korea are officially eliminated from the tournament.

Cameron Burgess

Australia 0-0 Paraguay

Burgess also did not play as Australia and Paraguay played out a goalless draw which saw both sides qualify. Australia face Egypt on Friday in the round of 32.

Marko Stamenic

New Zealand 1-5 Belgium

Stamenic played a full 90 as New Zealand suffered a heavy defeat to Belgium. Despite this, Stamenic played relatively well. He completed 58 of his 61 passes, made 4 clearances, 3 blocks, and was only dribbled past once as New Zealand were also eliminated from the tournament.

Clearly Bellamy can't continue after the Burnley fiasco so here's my proposal

Daniel Farke is appointed Wales manager. He doesn't need to quit Leeds or even come to Wales, we simply start running Wales camps from Elland Road. That way most of our best players are comfortable and familiar with their surroundings and we don't need to worry about the politics of where to play games anymore. This will also encourage other players to sign for Leeds, and create a mini-national team in the Premier League.

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Eom Jisung

Mexico 1-0 South Korea

Eom came off the bench in the 71st minute to play at left wing back again. He did his job defensively, winning 2/2 ground duels and his single aerial duel, although Mexico were reluctant to attack having already taken the lead. His most important contribution came from an excellent cross which resulted in a goal mouth scramble at the end of the game and a save of the tournament contender from Raul Rangel. South Korea remain pretty certain to go through, needing only a point in their final game against South Africa to secure second place and a match against Group B's runners up.

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Cameron Burgess

USA 2-0 Australia

Burgess had a stinker in his 45 minutes on the pitch. He struggled with America's high press and constantly gave away the ball, achieving a passing accuracy of only 44%. More decisively though, he scored America's opener while under little pressure: his 4th own goal of the season (all of which have come against American-affiliated sides). Australia remain likely to go through. A point against Paraguay would likely see both teams progress, so perhaps it's not the match to watch that day.

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Marko Stamenic

New Zealand 1-3 Egypt

Stamenic had a very good game despite his side's defeat. He completed 47 passes (87% accuracy), including 3 key passes and 2 big chances created. The first was a deep inswinging cross that got headed over the bar and the second was a late shot which was deflected towards goal, but saved. He also did good defensive work, managing 3 clearances, 2 interceptions and a block, although he also lost 5 ground duels. New Zealand now require a win against Belgium to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stage.

Eom Ji-Sung

South Korea 2-1 Czechia

Entered the pitch shortly after South Korea equalised, replacing Lee Tae-Seok as a left wing back. Didn't have much to do going forward, but did a reasonable job carrying the ball forward. Did an excellent job defensively, winning both of the tackles he was required to and getting a clearance late on. This puts South Korea in an excellent position to qualify from their group, needing a win against Mexico at 2am tomorrow morning to confirm top spot.

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Cameron Burgess

Australia 2-0 Türkiye

Played the full 90 against perennial dark horses Türkiye and kept a clean sheet. Very Burgess performance from him, lots of short passes with a few long ones, rarely giving away possession, lots of clearances, and didn't lose a single duel, winning 2 on the ground and 2 in the air. The wider Australian performance forced Türkiye to resort to pop shots from distance, shooting 16 from outside the box and an average of 0.045 xG per shot overall. Again stands them in good stead as they take on hosts America on Friday evening in a game that will likely determine the winners of the group (though not mathematically)

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Marko Stamenic

Iran 2-2 New Zealand

Played 92 minutes before being subbed off for Tyler Bindon. Energetic performance, with 50 successful passes (86% accuracy), just under half of which were in the opposition half and 5 of which were long. Defensively did a bit of everything, 2 blocks, 2 clearances, 1 tackle, 2 fouls. Didn't have the best time on duels, getting beaten in air and on the ground more than he didn't. Overall a good showing, setting up NZ reasonably well, though they'll still need a win or two draws from Egypt and Belgium, who also drew. They take on Egypt in the early hours of Sunday morning in Vancouver

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