What we learned about Rangers' World Cup stars as tournament ends in Spain victory vs Argentina

Rangers took seven representatives to this summer's World Cup, with mixed success.

And just like that, the World Cup is done and packed away for another four years.

For Scotland, the Tartan Army were one of the big winners of the tournament, with their exemplary display of tradition, warmth and lively but well-mannered, good spirited fun capturing the hearts of Americans and the world.

Their performance on the pitch, well perhaps the less said about those the better, with four Rangers players returning to Ibrox left disappointed that Steve Clarke's team had just one goal and win to show for their participation.

It wasn't just that Scotland team where Rangers had an interest though, with three other national sides having at least one Gers player in them.

Ibrox News takes a look at how each of those Rangers players fared at the World Cup, and what the Gers fans and decision-makers can take from them.

Why Rangers' Scotland contingent had forgettable World Cups

Clarke called the numbers of four Rangers players to be on the Scotland plane for North America: Liam Kelly, John Souttar, Findlay Curtis and Lawrence Shankland respectively.

Starting with Kelly and working our way through, the 30-year-old goalkeeper hoped to push Angus Gunn for the starting role between the sticks.

However, Kelly - who Ibrox News has discussed the implications of his Rangers contract extension - didn't play a single minute at the tournament.

As a result, we've learnt that he's probably not going to really push new signing Ivor Pandur for the starting gloves next season either, with a frustrating absence of knowledge as to whether he's still a serviceable backup at this stage of his career.

It's an almost identical story with Souttar too, as the 29-year-old centre-back also didn't see a single minute of World Cup action.

That was a clear sign that Clarke didn't particularly trust him over his other options, and was further evidence of his stock being pretty low right now.

He's expected to leave Ibrox this summer, and these last few weeks have done nothing to suggest Gers chiefs will change their minds.

Then there's Findlay Curtis, who many were tipping to be a breakout star at the World Cup in this Scotland side.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as the exciting young winger appeared in just two matches, with his time on the pitch culminating in a mere eight total minutes.

What we can learn from his tournament though is to not read much into his role in North America, as it was always going to be tough for him to start ahead of John McGinn or Ben Gannon-Doak respectively.

Curtis is sure to return to Ibrox fired up and desperate to show Clarke made a mistake by not playing him though, and so we could be set for a hugely exciting campaign by the 19-year-old.

Finally, Shankland - a player who entered the World Cup in red-hot goalscoring form scoring three in the two pre-tournament friendlies, but whose flame went out when the real thing began.

He didn't play too badly against Haiti before coming off on 83 minutes, and when his two chances came against Brazil, he put both of them off target.

What can we learn from this? Well, perhaps the most obvious takeaway is that he's definitely a better and more impactful player in a front two rather than as the lone striker.

As aforementioned, he played well against Haiti alongside Che Adams without finding the net, but he struggled to really get involved against Brazil up top on his own.

Next up, let's take a look at a Rangers player who did at least leave some form of a mark at the World Cup: Thelo Aasgaard.

How Aasgaard became Rangers record-breaker with Norway

After a debut 2025-26 season with Rangers that saw him score eight times and provide six assists in 48 total games, Aasgaard is someone who firmly splits opinion amongst the Ibrox faithful.

Clearly a player with plenty of talent, the mere fact this was shown in flashes rather than on a consistent basis last term forms the foundation of his Gers frustration.

But, the chance to represent Norway at the World Cup was his opportunity to show those back in Glasgow what he can do on the biggest stage of all.

And, despite only featuring in one out of Norway's six at the tournament, he made his time on the pitch count when it came.

Scoring Norway's only goal in their 4-1 defeat to France in the final group stage match, Aasgaard became the first Rangers player to score at the World Cup since Brian Laudrup did so for Denmark in 1998 against Brazil.

One thing to learn from his tournament, and that France game in particular, is that his strong display came from operating as the left-sided central midfielder in a bank of three.

Rangers typically deployed him in either attacking midfield or out wide on the right last season, so perhaps by dropping him deeper or moving him to the left could unlock more out of him next term.

Now to Belgium, and undoubtedly the Rangers player who had the best World Cup of them all, Nicolas Raskin.

Raskin showed why he's destined for top European league

The long-term future of Raskin at Rangers has been a topic of discussion for some time now, as it was instantly clear upon his arrival back in January 2023 that he was a class above in the Scottish Premiership.

He's now widely being reported as on the verge of completing a big-money move to Spanish La Liga side Real Betis, and his World Cup displays showed why.

Helping Belgium reach the quarter-finals before narrowly losing to eventual winners Spain, Raskin played in all six of his nations' games, starting three.

The 25-year-old chipped in with two assists, one against New Zealand in a 5-1 win, and the other against the USA on the way to knocking the co-hosts out in a thumping 4-1 victory in the round of 16.

As per FotMob, no defensive midfielder created more than his three big chances at the World Cup, and that proves why as he enters the prime of his career, Gers look set to no longer prevent him from a move to a top European league.

There is one other player who was technically still with Rangers when he received his World Cup call-up, and that was Derek Cornelius.

Cornelius may have put questions in Rangers minds

Joining on a season-long loan from Marseille, Cornelius had a 2025-26 campaign to forget with Rangers, playing just 12 times in all competitions.

So, when he got the news of his selection to Canada's World Cup squad, he left Rangers early in order to be with his national side for their pre-tournament training camp.

Cornelius would play in four of Canada's five matches at the tournament, as they did extremely well to reach the round of 16 before losing 3-0 to Morocco.

As per FotMob, the 28-year-old had five shots on goal, wasn't dispossessed once in the entire tournament and no player in his position at the World Cup registered a higher expected goals (xG) than his 0.75.

What we can perhaps learn from his tournament performance is that he maybe should've been given more opportunities at Rangers last season.