yep, just burned through a load of tokens, but asked my AI assitant in 3 parts (easiest way to get a true answer)
Here's what I found - Southampton players (on the books at the time) who featured at both tournaments:
2018 World Cup (Russia)
- Jan Bednarek – Poland
- Cédric Soares – Portugal
- Maya Yoshida – Japan
- Dušan Tadić – Serbia
2022 World Cup (Qatar)
- Mohammed Salisu – Ghana
- Armel Bella-Kotchap – Germany
Worth noting a few near-misses: James Ward-Prowse was heavily talked up as an England contender for Qatar but didn't make Southgate's final 26, and Hojbjerg and Boufal were both left out of their squads for Russia 2018 despite being at Saints at the time.
If you want, I can dig into how each of these players actually performed at their respective tournaments.
Yes —
Mohammed Salisu got the standout one. He opened the scoring for Ghana against South Korea in the 2022 World Cup (24th minute, 3-2 win), becoming the first defender ever to score for Ghana at a World Cup.
As for the others:
- Dušan Tadić didn't score at either tournament, but was Serbia's captain in 2022 and provided two assists in that group stage.
- Jan Bednarek, Maya Yoshida, Cédric Soares, Armel Bella-Kotchap — none of them found the net at their respective tournaments.
So out of that group, Salisu is your man — and notably it came while he was still a current Saints player, which made it a nice moment for the club.