As with any international tournament, players will always miss out, whether that is due to injury or simply not being selected by their respective coaches.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia is no different, with several big names set to miss the tournament.
Most of the international teams due to compete in Russia have now released their squad lists, and we now know who will be representing Brazil, France, Portugaland England to name just four.
With absences being taken into account, you can actually form numerous starting line-ups that would be competitive if they were to play together.
Absentee Team 1:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Karim Benzema will both miss the tournament, although after taking no part in the qualification campaign that isn’t a major surprise.
Geoffrey Kondogbia’s fine form with Valencia wasn’t enough to displace Steven N’Zonzi in the French squad, whilst Javier Pastore, Adrien Rabiot and Mario Gotze all missed out on selection.
Joe Hart was a controversial topic in England as Gareth Southgate elected to leave his most capped goalkeeper at home, although this came after a horrendous domestic season with West Ham United.
Brazil’s defensive selection had numerous surprises, most notably Alex Sandro being left out, with Filipe Luis favoured over the Juventus star.
David Luiz’s frosty relationship with Antonio Conte has seen the central defender barely used since January and his international hopes have suffered, whilst Ezequiel Garay hadn’t done enough to make it into Jorge Sampaoli’s plans.
Dani Alves was set to be the Selecao’s first choice before injury took his World Cup dreams away from him in the French Cup final.
Absentee Team 2:
Neto was an ever present for Valencia, but was unable to break into the Brazilian team, whilst other LaLiga stars Lucas Digne, Clement Lenglet and Nelson Semedo all failed to be selected into their respective national teams.
Dimitri Payet has long been a favourite of Didier Deschamps, and his performances at Euro 2016 were fantastic, however injury has forced him out of the Russian showpiece after he exacerbated a muscular problem in Wednesday’s Europa League final.
Conversely, Jack Wilshere has actually put together a season where he’s been able to prove his fitness, but still hasn’t been selected by Southgate, much to his chagrin.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain benefited from a summer transfer to Liverpool from Arsenal and had established himself as an important figure in Jurgen Klopp’s midfield.
He was a near certainty for the England squad before a ligament injury cruelly took his opportunity away from him.
Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura’s lack of respective appearances for Tottenham Hotspur have seen the pair slip out of contention.
Alexandre Lacazette has had a mixed debut season with Arsenal, but despite scoring 14 league goals the preference for Olivier Giroud left the former Lyon star out.
Absentee Team 3:
Sven Ulreich deputised for the injured Manuel Neuer excellently at Bayern Munich this season, although it wasn’t a surprise when he didn’t make the cut for Joachim Loew’s selection.
Fabio Coentrao, Jeison Murillo and Joao Cancelo all failed to impress domestically.
The case of Aymeric Laporte is an intriguing one.
Despite joining Manchester City in January for a fee of 65 million euros and subsequently winning the Premier League title, he remains uncapped by the French national team.
Adam Lallana’s injury-hit season prevented him from ever being considered for England, whilst Emre Can and Kingsley Coman will also miss the tournament.
Andre Gomes hasn’t taken his chances at the Camp Nou this term, with the home fans often making their distaste for him abundantly clear.
With the emergence of Bruno Fernandes at Sporting CP, the Barcelona midfielder hasn’t been selected.
Anthony Martial has exquisite talent and under normal circumstances would be a key figure in France’s squad, yet an inability to convince Jose Mourinho of his worth domestically has cost him on the international stage.
(MARCA.COM/EN)