Five Leeds United players have returned to Thorp Arch crestfallen at misisng out on a place at the World Cup
Isaac Johnson Leeds United reporter
07:30, 04 Apr 2026
Joe Rodon and Daniel James are two of them
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Joe Rodon and Daniel James are two of them(Image: Huw Fairclough/Getty Images)
Daniel Farke believes the best antidote for Leeds United players who have suffered World Cup qualification heartbreak is preparing for Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against West Ham United.
Quartet Karl Darlow, Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon and goalscorer Daniel James succumbed to Bosnia & Herzegovina in Wales’ play-off semi-final last week while Joel Piroe fell at the same hurdle upon making his debut for Suriname against Bolivia, having switched international allegiance in January.
Gabriel Gudmundsson is the exception to the rule, the defender helping Sweden qualify for the finals after beating Ukraine and Poland respectively. Farke, though, is aware that a key cohort of his squad have returned crestfallen ahead of a crucial run-in period.
He allowed these players, who arrived back at Leeds on Thursday, some time to gather themselves - but not for too long.
“It is always tricky. For a few players, it was not the best international period, if I'm honest,” he said. “I felt for them, of course, it was a big dream to take part in the World Cup.
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“But that's football, that's sport, this is life. If you want to take part in a competition, you have to accept that you could also be on the wrong end. You have to accept that the sun is not always shining. Then you have to keep going.
“We have allowed them two or three days to be down. But then right now they concentrate on having a perfect finish with the club and then looking forward to a long summer when they can recover.”
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Farke added: “I would love to give them a bit more time off to clear their head, but due to the fact that we have to play an important game on Sunday, we can't allow them to go away for two or three days right now.
“Of course, it's important not to overload them in training. This is the reason why they had just the recovery session. We also spoke, of course, about a few moments.
“My experience is also [returning] back to normality is always the best thing instead of just suffering too long. You're back on the pitch with your teammates and have some fun during the training session. That's quite important.”