4 players who will be missed at the FIFA World Cup 2014

Many players, who did well during the English League, have not been selected for the World Cup despite being fit.

Saif Ali Jafri June 04, 2014




One of the greatest and highly anticipated sports event is about to kick off on June 12, with the host nation Brazil facing Croatia in the first match of the FIFA World Cup 2014. Participating teams have already started preparations ahead of the competition, with some European teams travelling to the Americas a few days beforehand, to get used to the warm weather conditions in Brazil.

Coaches have announced their squads for the World Cup, comprising of the best and fittest 23 men – according to them, that is. However, there are some notable miss-outs from the squads being carried to Brazil.

For starters, let’s talk about the host country itself, Brazil. Known for his pace, agility and samba tricks, the FC Paris-Saint Germain star Lucas Moura will not be present at the World Cup. Turning 22-years-old this August, he has what it takes to play in the competition. However, despite his commitment and brilliance in the game, he was not selected by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian team manager. Moura will surely be a major miss for Brazil.

Lucas Moura. Photo: AFP

Next is the French starlet Samir Nasri, who has recently been crowned the champion of the English Premier League with his club, FC Manchester City. He has been a regular starter in the past seasons and has shown his presence on the field week-in and week-out. Yet again, he is another star who will not be present in Brazil. Furthermore, when the French squad was announced and Nasri’s girlfriend came to know he was not selected, she took to Twitter to vent her anger at the French Football Association with many abusive tweets. Not the right way to expel frustration, but yes, the protest was right in place.

Samir Nasri. Photo: Reuters

Samir Nasri’s attacking partner at Manchester City, Alvaro Negredo, was also not selected by La Roja’s manager, Vincente Del Bosque. Negredo has been brilliant this season. It was his first season in England and he has adapted well to the English game. But in his place, another player was selected who has been completely out of form since the past two to three seasons and has not been a regular starter for his club. If you guessed it, you guessed it right. It’s Fernando Torres, who was selected for the World Cup squad in place of Negredo. Negredo will be another player who deserves to be in Brazil but will only be able to support his team by cheering for them from the bench.

Alvaro Negredo. Photo: Reuters

One more noticeable player, who has been making some top-drawer saves since he switched to Real Madrid from Villarreal, is Diego Lopez. He has been excellent in the goal for FC Real Madrid, so much so that he made us forget who Iker Casillas was. Unfortunately, however, he was not called up for the Spanish squad. In his place, the goal-keeper from SSC Napoli, Pepe Reina, has been selected.

Diego Lopez. Photo: Reuters

In my opinion, these are few of those players who can actually make a difference in the game and #RiskEverything, as Nike says so in their new hash tag issued for Brazil 2014. However, we will not be able to see them perform their magic on the fields.

Injured players. Top (from left to right): Cristiano Ronaldo, Christian Benteke, Franck Ribéry, Luis Suárez. Bottom (from left to right): Ricardo Montolivo, Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Jonathan De Guzman.

Instead, there is a long list of players who were initially selected but are currently injured and their presence seems doubtful for the World Cup. Here is a list of a few such players:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Riccardo Montolivo (Italy)

Christian Benteke (Belgium)

Radamel Falcao (Colombia)

Franck Ribery (France)

Diego Costa (Spain)

Luis Suarez (Uruguay)

Jonathan De Guzman (Netherlands)
WRITTEN BY:
Saif Ali Jafri A Finance student at the Institute of Business Management, Saif is a football fanatic and a food lover. He tweets as @saif_ajafri (https://twitter.com/saif_ajafri)
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (12)

reza babaei | 9 years ago | Reply In my opinion messi is better than ronaldo because I think messi with his style can pass from all of defenders and nobody can stop him!!!
Jahangir | 9 years ago | Reply Joao Miranda will be a bigger miss for the Selecao than Moura.
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