The World Cup traditionally collects a real constellation of football players, but at the same time, each time it happens that one of the stars for a number of reasons is left out of the world forum with teams that have not qualified. The Sportstavki.online project offers a dozen football players who will miss the 2018 World Cup together with their teams.
Pierre-Emerick Obameyang (Gabon)
More recently, the best football player in Africa at one time chose the option with the national team of Gabon, although he could play for France or Italy - with much greater chances to play at the World Cup, or even win it. But having played one match for the youth team of France, Obameyang changed his mind to play for Le Bleu, and made a choice in favor of the team of his historical homeland, which his father played for. The predicted peak for Obameyang in such a situation is getting to the African Nations Cup, but Gabon is not enough to qualify for the World Cup one star, albeit a very bright one. In the qualifying group with Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, Gabon got only one victory and finished third, and the Moroccans will go to the World Cup.
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
We all remember the tears of the once-best goalkeeper of the world football, Gianluigi Buffon, after a butt match with Sweden, in which the Italian team was unable to play one ball ahead of an opponent in Scandinavia, and flew past the World Cup. Buffon had already won the World Cup in 2006, but really wanted to visit the Mundial again. Such strong players as Ciro Immobile, George Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Marco Verratti, Lorenzo Insigne and the whole Italian team will miss the World Cup with him.
Gareth Bale (Wales)
At the European Championships in France, the Wales team was a real revelation, reaching the semifinals, where they lost to future champions - Portugal. But this time, the team of Chris Coleman was unable to qualify and became the third in the group with Moldova, Georgia, Austria, Ireland and Serbia. The Irish as a result didn’t get anywhere either, losing to Christian Eriksen in the playoffs of Denmark, but Wales weren’t missed, and with him Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey.
Alexis Sanchez (Chile)
Chileans are America’s strongest team, if you take Cop America as the criterion for evaluating them, they won twice in a row, but Chile does not go to the World Cup, as they failed to qualify for the South American group. Everything initially turned out to be somehow clumsy for the team of Juan Antonio Pizzi, and in the end, the Chileans were sentenced to fly past the World Cup by Brazil, who beat them for the love of art in a match that did not solve anything for Selesao. After flying past the World Cup in Chile, a scandal erupted, and a number of stars led by Arturo Vidal were accused of neglect of the game for the national team and constant drinking in its location. Alexis Sanchez had fewer complaints, but he could not guarantee Chile a place at the World Cup. What is interesting - the head coach of the Pizzi team will go to the World Cup - he quickly went over to Saudi Arabia.
Christian Pulisic (USA)
The US team’s flight to the 2018 World Cup turned out to be enchanting - it could not have done without the intervention of higher forces or the CIA, which considered a trip to Russia for US football players an unnecessary risk. Judge for yourselves - to guarantee a ticket to the World Cup, the Americans had to draw with a clear selection outsider Trinidad and Tobago, but the “star-striped” lost this match. But this was not enough for the flight of the United States - it was necessary that Honduras and Panama beat Mexico and Costa Rica, which happened not without judicial assistance in favor of the winners, but in some places and not without the desire of unmotivated selection leaders to lose. As a result, America remained fifth, even missing the chance to play in the playoffs with Australia, and Christian Pulisic from Borussia did not go to the World Cup, as well as Clint Dempsey, who was still capable of at least a lot, coming on as a substitute.
Jan Cloud (Slovenia)
The Slovenian national team is a typical European middle peasant, but this team has two magnificent goalkeepers who are among the best in the world - Jan Oblak and Samir Handanovich. Alas, they can not score goals, and with this Slovenia had big problems in the selection, where they could not get ahead of England, Slovakia and Scotland in their group. Moreover - it was this group that became the one where the second place did not give the right to play in the playoffs, because too often there were draws here - including thanks to the game of Ian Cloud.
Andrey Yarmolenko (Ukraine)
For the Ukrainian national team, the desire to get to the 2018 World Cup was not at all obvious, since, for political reasons, it would still be most likely not to go there. But the team of Andrei Shevchenko on the football field tried as best she could and was close to getting into the playoffs from a very strong group, where there were four participants in the group round of Euro 2016 - Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and Croatia. As a result, Icelanders became the first here, and Ukraine lost second place, losing in the last match of Croatia. Many breathed a sigh of relief when the problem of “Ukraine at the World Cup in Russia” was resolved by itself, but for Andrei Yarmolenko and Yevgeny Konoplyanka, the chance to play at the World Cup may no longer be presented.
Edin Dzeko (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bosnia and Herzegovina played at the World Cup in Brazil, but now turned out to be not good enough to qualify in the group with Belgium and Greece, which were ahead of the Bosnians. Edin Dzeko - the main star of the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, tried as best he could, scored five goals, but his team could not beat Greece even, and Belgium just swept through the hurricane in the selection, leaving no chance for anyone to take first place in group N. Together with Dzeko flies past the World Cup and Miralem Pjanic from Juventus.
Arjen Robben (Holland)
Arjen Robben with performances in the team, like Gianluigi Buffon - tied. But this happened only after the Bayern winger scored six goals in the qualifying round for the 2018 World Cup, where his team could not get around not only France, but also Sweden, the team that eventually upset Buffon. Holland in general is experiencing an extremely painful generational shift and is missing the second big consecutive tournament. Now it has been accepted by Ronald Kuman, whom the Dutch Federation has been asking for a long time to take up the team and the chances that the Netherlands will be great at the next Euro. But Arjen Robben will no longer be in it, like Wesley Sneijder, Martin Stekelenburg and several other veterans.
Chris Wood (New Zealand)
We include Chris Wood more on this list for a broader geography and fill all continental associations - New Zealand after the departure of Australia to the Asian Confederation remained the only sensible team in Oceania, but does not give a direct ticket to this FIFA World Cup. Thus, New Zealand had to play with Peru and could not go through the “conquistadors". But there is no doubt that New Zealand could have a star at the World Cup - Chris Wood from Burnley scored a terrific shape after an injury and scored in the Premier League in almost every match. In the future, he may move to a stronger club or rise with the Claretovs progressing every year and New Zealand will have its own extra-class forward. However, he would have a couple of players of this level to him - only then could one dream of going to the World Cup.
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Earlier we wrote about the most expensive football players at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
