PLAYERS THAT WILL BE MISSED IN THE WORLD CUP: The World Cup kicks off in Brazil in 12 days time. But some stars expected to light up the tournament will be missing in action due either to injury or being overlooked by their team coaches or failure of their countries to qualify for the World Cup. In this write up, our Correspondent, Austin Akhilomen chronicles some of the stars that will be missed in Brazil. ¤IKE UCHE (Nigeria) Despite scoring important goals for his club Villareal in the Spanish league, Ike Uche, Nigerias most prolific striker this season, scoring 14 La Liga goals, failed to capture the attention of Stephen Keshi, thereby, missing out of the 30-man provisional list for the World Cup in Brazil. Super Eagles will definitely miss the services of the Villareal striker even though the team has Fernabache man, Emmanuel Emenike to count on. ¤ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC – Sweden One of Europe’s most deadliest striker, in sensation will be missed, Ibrahimovic saw his dreams of Brazil 2014 ended in a play-off loss to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal but was able to console himself with the French league this season. ¤GARETH BALE – Wales Regarded as the world’s most expensive player, he may star for one of the plaGareth Bale’s biggest dream would have been to grace the World Cup this summer with Wales but the team’s inability to qualify from the group ensure its a seat at home for him.Bale, who scored a goal in Real Madrid 4-1 bashing of Atletico Madrid in Saturday’s Champions League final, will be dearly missed. ¤Brown IDEYE - Nigeria Brown Ideye, is another Super Eagles striker that is ruled out of the tournament. Ideye, did not do himself any good at the Confederations Cup last year where he failed to impress coach Stephen Keshi on his capability to lead the team in the absence of Emmanuel Emenike. Known for squadering important chances, the Dynamo Kiev star, will also missed at the World Cup. ¤BRANISLAV IVANOVIC –Serbia Despite playing a key role for Chelsea last season, Branislav Ivanovic featured in all 10 of his country’s qualifying matches for Brazil 2014. However, he could not help his team qualify for the World Cup in Brazil. Croatia–mainly because of their poor away form. ¤ARDA TURAN –Turkey Atletico Madrid’s Turan is always a good watch given his unpredictability. The scorer of two goals in qualifying, Turkey was out-performed by Holland, Romania and even Hungary in Group D. ¤ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI – Poland Another prolific striker that could score goals with his eyes closed, Robert Lewandowski scored three times in qualification but that wasn’t enough to see Poland on the plane to South America. The Borussia Dortmund man’s outfit finished a disappointing fourth behind England, Ukraine and Montenegro in a fairly balanced group. ¤PETR CECH – Czech Republic Yet to play at the world cup, Cech’s ambitions of retiring from football with the dream of playing at the world Cup still remain a dashed dream as Czech failed to qualify from its group. ¤SAMIR NASRI (France) Premier League title winner Samir Nasri is the biggest omission from Didier Deschamps France squad. Having missed out in France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup, Nasri went on to be selected for the European Championships in 2012, scoring in a group-stage match against England. But his 11 goals on route to helping Manchester City to two trophies this season was not enough for Nasri to appear in Brazil. ¤CARLOS TEVEZ (Argentina) Despite 19 goals in Serie A for Juventus this season, Carlos Tevez has fallen short of selection for Argentina. Having played in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup’s, the former Manchester United and Manchester City striker was overlooked in the attacking department in favour of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonazlo Higuain, Franco Di Santo, Rodrigo Palacio and Ezequiel Lavezzi. That’s some competition. ¤KEVIN STROOTMAN - Holland A key member of the Dutch international side, the midfield enforcer will miss the Finals in Brazil 2014. Although a revelation at Roma following his summer move, Strootman damaged knee ligaments in March which will see him sidelined for at least six months. ¤STEVAN JOVETIC – Montenegro Man City’s attacking midfielder, Jovetic may have had a quite and successful season, having won the EPL title and Capital One Cup. However, while other national teams will be representing its respective countries at the World Cup, Jovetic’s Montenegro will not be part of the party in Brazil. David Alaba – Austria A talented Bayern Munich left-back who scored an impressive six goals in qualification, the world won’t be watching David Alaba – his country’s youngest ever international–this summer. Pitted in a group that Germany dominated, Austria finished just three points shy of a Sweden side which qualified for the play-offs. …and those fighting to recover in time: Radamel Falcao (Colombia) – Knee injury, Giuseppe Rossi (Italy) – Knee injury, Jack Wilshere (England) – Broken foot, Makoto Hasebe (Japan) – Knee injury
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 22:44:43 +0000
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