The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is well underway now and Aston Villa supporters have been able to watch current first-team stars Matty Cash and Emi Martinez in action for their respective countries.

Villans head coach Unai Emery may be watching the matches to see how they get on in the competition, while also potentially eyeing up targets ahead of the January transfer window.

The Spanish manager would have been impressed by Cash's performance if he tuned in to watch Poland in action against Saudi Arabia on Saturday, as the full-back put in an excellent display in a 2-0 win for his country in the Group C clash.

Football author Richard Foster claimed that the full-back produced a "masterclass" at right-back by putting in a number of successful defensive interventions while being on a yellow card.

The £80k-per-week dynamo was booked after just 16 minutes and navigated his way through the rest of the match without picking up a second caution.

He completed the 90 minutes in spite of his early yellow card and made four clearances, one tackle, and won 100% of his aerial battles (2/2) - as per Sofascore.

This shows that he was solid defensively for Poland as he played a crucial role in them keeping a clean sheet and that he was still able to go about his defensive work with the threat of a sending-off looming over his head.

The former Nottingham Forest man was also crucial to his side's opening goal in the match as he burst down the right flank on the overlap and squared the ball to Robert Lewandowski, who then teed up Piotr Zielinski to score.

Cash's attacking prowess was highlighted in this move as he showed terrific pace and timing to execute the run and pass to essentially create the goal, although his two teammates took the glory with their direct involvement.

Villa boss Emery could now look to strike gold with the right-back after his side returns to action after the World Cup break as the defender's performances in the Premier League so far this season have left a lot to be desired.

He has averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.66 in the top-flight this term and this places him 15th in the Villans squad. This comes after he averaged a score of 6.94 across 38 appearances in the division in the 2021/22 campaign, which shows that he has the quality to be an excellent performer at that level.

Emery can now attempt to use Cash's performance at the World Cup, with more positive displays hopefully on the way before the competition comes to an end, to ignite the defender's season and get him back to his glittering best - bombing up and down the right flank.

The 25-year-old is showing off his skillset on the world stage and Villa's manager can strike gold by tapping into his potential and getting the best out of him upon his return in December.