Heartbreak for Joelinton as Newcastle trio book World Cup spots

Carlo Ancelotti named his Brazil squad for the World Cup, and it was mixed fortunes for Newcastle United's Brazilians.

The World Cup is creeping up, and squads are being announced this week with plenty of Newcastle United players in contention to go to the tournament, which will be held in North America.

It was probably no real surprise to see that Bruno Guimaraes was included in Carlo Ancelotti's squad, but the real question was whether Joelinton would make it into the final group.

Newcastle's battling midfielder has been in and out of the Brazil set-up over the last couple of years, but has unfortunately been injured for most of the international breaks since Ancelotti took charge, so the Italian hasn't really had the chance to see the best of him.

Joelinton's injuries key to Ancelotti snub? 

That could be the reason why Joelinton has missed out on this World Cup squad, which we feel may be his last chance to go to the tournament.

Joelinton turns 30 this year, which means he'll be staring down 34 when the next World Cup comes around, and we'd expect that may well be too late for him. Although saying that, Neymar Jr has been called up again at 34 despite being made out of sugar paper.

There are plenty of familiar names from the Premier League in the squad, but there was no place for our Joey and also no place for Chelsea's Joao Pedro, which actually feels like a bigger slap in the face, given he's their top scorer.

Elanga and Wissa join Bruno as England stars wait 

Elsewhere, there was good news for two other Newcastle players as Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa received confirmation that they will be heading across the Atlantic next month for Sweden and DR Congo, respectively.

Thomas Tuchel will announce his England squad on Friday, with several Newcastle players hopeful of being included. Anthony Gordon, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall and even Harvey Barnes will have their fingers crossed.

We don't see all of our lads having a seat on the plane, but perhaps four out of the five will have themselves a place. We expect Harvey Barnes to miss out, as will Aaron Ramsdale and Nick Pope, who may have had hope earlier this season but not so much now.