Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson has dropped a 2026 World Cup claim regarding injury-prone defender Liberato Cacace.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 starts tomorrow. Co-hosts Mexico face South Africa in the Group A opener of the tournament. Although Wales failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, a majority of Wrexham fans will tune in for the tournament like always.
Until now, Trinidad and Tobago’s former centre-back Dennis Lawrence remains the only Wrexham player to participate in FIFA World Cup history. Lawrence did so at the 2006 tournament in Germany, rallying Trinidad and Tobago to a draw and 2 defeats in 3 group stage games as they finished fourth in Group B behind England, Sweden and Paraguay.
This time in 2026, Wrexham will have club captain Dom Hyam representing Scotland in Group C and left-back Liberato Cacace lining up for New Zealand in Group G. The defensive duo will aim to secure Round of 32 passage for their nations at the bare minimum, while also hoping to play an integral part in it.
Dom Hyam and Liberato Cacace’s Wrexham debut seasons
Both Dom Hyam and Liberato Cacace joined Wrexham for a combined 6m transfer fee from Blackburn Rovers and Empoli respectively. Their debut 2025/26 Wrexham seasons, though, have been completely contrasting.
Dom Hyam led the Red Dragons backline from day 1, and eventually succeeded James McClean as club captain following the Irishman’s Derry City return in January. Overall, Hyam made 43 appearances for Wrexham in his debut season across all competitions and was among the club’s player of the season contenders behind eventual winner Josh Windass.
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On the other hand, Liberato Cacace just made 13 Wrexham appearances all season. The 25-year-old Kiwi left-back started in the 2-1 Championship opener against Southampton but recurring thigh injuries and hamstring injuries kept him on the sidelines for much longer than anybody had expected.
His absence forced Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson to deploy George Thomason as a makeshift fullback, and ultimately held Wrexham back from making it to the playoffs after a strong turnaround in 2026.
Phil Parkinson drops Liberato Cacace World Cup claim following injury-ridden debut season
On the back of a poor Wrexham debut season, it’ll be important for Cacace to put his injury struggles behind and start catching form from the World Cup. Last Saturday, Cacace got an hour of playing time under his belt as New Zealand narrowly lost 1-0 to England as part of their 2026 World Cup preparations.
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson kept an eye on Cacace’s performance and dropped a massive World Cup claim regarding him. Speaking to Leader Live, Parkinson said: “It was good that Libby got some game-time against England. He does need game-time so he is one player being at the World Cup which is going to benefit us a lot for pre-season.”
Counting upon Cacace for pre-season is ambitious from Wrexham, but a lot will depend on the New Zealand fullback’s fitness also. Starting from 16th June, Cacace and New Zealand are set to play thrice within 11 days against Iran, Egypt and Belgium respectively.
Let’s see how good Cacace performs, and how effectively his workload is managed. Wrexham can’t certainly go into 2026/27 with only Cacace as a natural left-back. A worthy backup is needed, and hopefully Cacace plays more than half of the season next time out and leads Wrexham to a better placed finish than the 7th in 2025/26 Championship.
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