Brighton at the World Cup - past, present and nearly

And it may very well happen in the opening match of the tournament.

The Seagulls have already smashed their previous best for a Finals with eight of their current players picked for the Qatar trip.

That is more than they have sent to all the previous World Cups put together.

Three could be on the pitch in the opening game this time as Ecuador face Qatar.

Moises Caicedo and Pervis Estupinan look certain starters against the hosts on Sunday.

Jeremy Sarmiento less so – but there could still be minutes for him as a sub at least.

A host of popular Albion players have been to World Cups either before or after their time at the club.

They include Gary Stevens with England in 1986 and John Byrne, whose first club match after going to Italia ’90 with the Republic of Ireland was his Albion debut as he moved from Le Havre.

But only FIVE have gone to the greatest football show on earth while they were Albion players.

Steve Foster was on his way with Ron’s 22 as they remained undefeated in Spain 40 years ago.

The centre-back played one match, the final first-round group fixture versus Kuwait.

Sammy Nelson was also in Spain that summer.

He played two matches for Billy Bingham’s lovable Northern Ireland outfit.

Popular Albion winger Steve Penney had two outings for Northern Ireland in Mexico four years later.

That, of course, was while playing for Albion in the second tier.

And then nothing – until four years ago, when two Seagulls headed to Russia fresh from helping keep their club in the Premier League.

Maty Ryan played in goal for Australia in all three games as they came bottom of their group.

Jose Izquierdo went off in Colombia’s defeat by Japan and did not appear again as they eventually lost on penalties to England in the knockout stages.

There is an addition to that in Leon Balogun, who had signed for Albion just before the 2018 tournament but had ever actually trained or played with the club.

While eight is great, it is tempting to think how many more Albion could have had in Qatar.

The obvious absentee is Jakub Moder, who was cruelly denied a first World Cup when he suffered a serious knee injury playing for Albion versus Norwich last season.

Steven Alzate’s Colombia were one point off the play-off spot in the CONMEBOL section.

It would have been theirs had they, for example, drawn at home to Peru late in the campaign rather than losing to an 85th-minute goal.

Lewis Dunk’s claims have been pushed by fans, coaches, players past and present and media alike.

Andi Zeqiri was being mentioned as an outsider for a place with Switzerland.

Joel Veltman has arguably done enough in the Premier League to travel with the Dutch squad - but will be holidaying with his family instead.

Then the less obvious contenders.

Pascal Gross does not get mentioned too often in relation to the German squad.

But more than five seasons performing to a consistently high level in the Premier League would have got him into many squads around Europe.

As for those who played in a tournament before or after their Albion days?

Obvious examples include Adam Lallana and Danny Welbeck with England in 2014, a tournament which also included Veltman and Tim Krul with the Dutch.

Mel Hopkins, who went on to play for Albion, was part of the last Wales squad at a Finals, back in 1958.

Radostin Kishishev played three times for Bulgaria in France, 1998, fully 12 years before joining Albion as a veteran midfielder.

Chris Birchall had three appearances for Trinidad and Tobago in 2006.

Matt Upson and Chris Wood played for England and New Zealand respectively ahead of loan stints with the Seagulls.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh played in all three games for Iran in 2014 and repeated that feat four years later.

It was soon after the Russia tournament that he signed for Albion.

Gonzalo Jara Reyes played four World Cup Finlss games for Chile before his loan move to Albion.

He then had four more in 2014, after his colourful stint with Gus Poyet’s men.

Joe Corrigan, Frank Stapleton, Bobby Smith, Tony Meola, Dave Beasant, Juergen Sommer, Martin Keown, Wayne Bridge and Rami Shaaban all went to World Cups before or after their Albion days.

Gerry Armstrong went to two tournaments.

Former Seagulls in the current tournament include Jahanbaksh, Sam Adekugbe with Canada and, of course, Ben White.

The latter is in Gareth’s 26 rather than Ron’s 22.

Ron being Ron Greenwood, a former Albion director who managed England in 1982.

Albion bosses Alan Mullery and Steve Coppell both went to World Cups to play for England.

One of their successors, Chris Hughton, is there now on the Ghana staff.

And then the nearly men.

Albion famously had two Peruvians on trial in 1979, a year after they went to the World Cup in Argentina.

Neither Juan Carlos Oblitas nor Percy Rojas were taken on, but they still made the Peru squad again in 1982.

And, back in 2005, a dreadlocked centre-back named Brent Sancho appeared to have done enough in pre-season to have secured a deal.

Albion opted not to sign him - and he was next spotted in a Trinidad and Tobago shirt having his pair pulled by Peter Crouch in the 2006 Finals.

(With thanks to Tim Carder)