Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be missing out on the action

With the qualification stages cleared and the fixture list officially released, several world class players are unlucky enough to be missing from this prestigious tournament, whether it’s through failure of qualification or injury. In the first of this two-part article, we shall be taking a look at the players who won’t have the pleasure to entertain and amaze.

The Sweden vs Portugal play-off was not just a joy to watch, it was also a crushing realisation to every fan that the upcoming World Cup will only showcase either Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, two of modern football’s most outstanding athletes. Both players’ respective nations underperformed during the qualifiers, therefore when the Portuguese emerged as victors, the ugly truth also emerged which was the fact that this tournament will have no Ibra. Whilst claiming that the world Cup will be nothing without him whilst in full tongue in cheek mode, being at the age of 32, this phenomenon has just lost his last chance to appear in a World Cup in top form.

We have had countless top club players in the past who were not able to appear at national tournaments due to being the only true world class member in their squad (George Weah, anyone?). Modern age examples include Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, two of the world’s current best forwards who were both unable to pull Wales and Poland back to the pace necessary to qualify. This will add fuel to both players’ fires to perform even further for their new clubs, with the Pole having just signed for Bayern Munich during this winter market.

Tune in for the second part of this feature, where we shall look into more players who are among the world’s finest in their position yet will be watching the World Cup from the couch, as well as players whose Brazilian dreams have been tarnished by injury.