Former Northampton Town trio make their World Cup debuts
Former Northampton Town trio Tete Yengi, Carney Chukwuemeka and Kenji Gorre have all made their World Cup debuts at the 2026 tournament in America, Canada and Mexico.
Midfielder Chukwuemeka, who started his career in the Cobblers academy, shared a pitch with Lionel Messi during Austria’s 2-0 defeat to Argentina on Monday. The 22-year-old played for Northampton’s youth teams before being poached by Aston Villa.
He represented Villa and Chelsea at senior level and now plays his club football with Borussia Dortmund. Although he featured for England when they won the Under-19 Euros, Chukwuemeka now represents Austria after switching allegiances earlier this year. He was born in Vienna to Nigerian parents before his family moved to Northampton when he was a child.
He did not start either of Austria’s opening two group games but came on in both. He played the last 30 minutes in the win over Jordan before a late cameo in Monday’s defeat to Messi’s Argentina.
Gorre, who scored one goal in 18 games on loan at Sixfields in 2016/17, was an unused sub for Curaçao in their opening group game, a 7-1 defeat to Germany, but he featured for the final 15 minutes as the Caribbean side earned an impressive 0-0 draw with Ecuador. That was his 39th cap for his country.
Yengi, another former Cobblers loanee, came off the bench as Australia beat Turkey 2-0 in their opener. The forward scored on his international debut just before the tournament, netting in a 1-1 draw with Switzerland, and he played the final 20 minutes against Turkey but did not feature in the defeat to the USA.
Yengi now plays his club football for Livingston, although he spent the second half of last season on loan at Japanese club Machida Zelvia, netting six times in 22 matches to earn himself a World Cup call-up.