The football changes. The calendar grows. And the seasons end up connecting each other, without proper vacation periods. When the ball will roll again in Zubieta (Sunday, July 5) and the Real Sociedad players will start the 2026-27 campaign, up to four of their teammates could be preparing for a hypothetical World Cup quarterfinal. So the question is how the four txuri-urdin players who will represent the club in the tournament will face the summer event. The answer, meanwhile, says that there are degrees and degrees of accumulated physical load depending on the name in question, Oyarzabal, Kubo, Sucic or Guedes. Although there is a positive condition for all: eibartarra, Japanese, Croatian and Portuguese, cared for by Matarazzo, they already had their breaks during the final stretch of the last League. Let's start with the captain, whose case is also current. During the morning of this Thursday, Luis de la Fuente left him out of the call-up for the friendly against Iraq, thus continuing a policy of rest that Matarazzo had applied a couple of weeks ago. Oyarzabal had been a starter in four consecutive games, the last one in the Girona field. But the Real secured the salvation by drawing in Montilivi, allowing the American coach to attend to the international commitments that were approaching. The eibartarra player would only accumulate a total of 46 minutes in the games that closed the championship, being a substitute both against Valencia and against Espanyol. Sure that Oyarzabal felt good about that mini break, because, unlike the other three World Cup players, he had hardly had moments of rest during the rest of the season. Yes, he lost five games in December due to a muscle injury, but the rest of the campaign did not grant him breaks like, for example, Guedes in the final stretch of the championship. The Portuguese arrives fresh to the World Cup, because after the Copa final on April 18, the day of his ankle twist, he only played 11 minutes, in Anoeta against Valencia. Few minutes. Injuries have also conditioned, to a greater extent, the season of Take Kubo, for good and for bad. For bad, because he has not enjoyed continuity with the txuri-urdin jersey. And for good, because he seems to face the World Cup with a full tank. He cost him to start in the fall due to a blow to the ankle, playing precisely with Japan in September. And in January, a severe fibrillar rupture occurred, reappearing almost three months later, in May. Technically speaking, Real Sociedad brings five players to the World Cup, a tournament corresponding to the 2025-26 season and which includes Duje Caleta-Car in the txuri-urdin roster. In any case, the physical load of the defense does not matter when we already know that he will not be part of the team next season. And besides, his presence in the list of blanquiazules selected does not distort the situation of the club in the table of players exported to the great event: with five or with four, Real would be sixth equally. That is, occupying European positions. A study published by Marca places Barcelona (14) as the leader of this particular classification, followed by Atlético de Madrid (12), Real Madrid (10), Villarreal (8) and Betis (7).