Qatar 2022: the stars left out of the World Cup.
The Qatar World Cup 2022 It will go down in history, both for being the first to be played in the Middle East and in the months of November and December, and for being the last to have 32 teams. The increase to 48 teams will allow fewer stars in the world to be excluded from the most important match at national level.
As mostly happens in European and African countries that do not have a full squad of players who play in the big teams, there are several figures of the main European teams such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, among others, They will miss the chance to play the World Cup. Many of them, like the Gabonese and the Norwegian, still don’t know what it means to play a World Cup match.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
The Swedish striker missed the chance to play his third World Cup at the age of 40. After a nice gift to Milan in Italy, the striker was absent for his own decision from the Swedish national team for several matches, but returned in search of the ranking for Qatar.
Ibrahimović said goodbye to the desire to play the World Cup for the third time (he had already done so in 2002 and 2006) after losing 2-0 against Poland, the future rival of the Argentine national team in group C. Other great Swedish players who will lose the tournament are Alexander Isak (Newcastle United) and Dejan Kulusevski (Tottenham Hotspur), among others.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Leonardo Bonucci, Marco Verratti, Nicoló Barella, Jorginho and Federico Chiesa (Italy)
Without a doubt, Italy’s failure to qualify for the second consecutive World Cup represents one of the major absences of the championship Qatar World Cup. The surprising defeat to North Macedonia in the first round of the playoffs, when everyone expected a duel with Portugal to define the standings, marked one of the biggest failures of the year, especially considering that those led by Mancini had just won the championship. European.
Muhammad Salah (Egypt)
The 29-year-old Egyptian will not be present Qatar after his team fell on penalties against Senegal, who will be part of Group A alongside Qatar, Ecuador and the Netherlands. Salah missed the first penalty of the series against the team of his former team-mate Sadio Mané, who had also beaten them in the final of the African Cup by the same route.
Egypt remained in Group F of the African Qualifiers with 14 points, the result of four wins and two draws, leaving Gabon, Libya and Angola behind. The draw, however, did not favor him and he had to face Senegal, one of the best teams of the moment in Africa.
Jan Oblak (Slovenia)
The Atlético Madrid goalkeeper who directs Cholo Simeone is still unable to play in the tournament after finishing last in Group H of the UEFA Qualifiers. Jan Oblak He is the captain of the Slovenian national team, which since 2010 has not managed to qualify for a World Cup.
Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez (Chile)
The Chilean national There will not be Qatar despite having exhausted all the cartridges in search of the disqualification of Ecuador for an alleged poor inclusion of Bryan Castillo in the last dates of the South American Qualifiers. FIFA, however, has ruled in favor of those led by Gustavo Alfaro who will be present in Qatar.
Chile had a bad season in qualifying and finished 7th with 19 points, five behind Peru, who qualified for the playoffs and later lost to Australia.
David Alaba (Austria)
The central defender of Real Madrid, multiple champion with Bayern Munich, was very close to being able to play his first World Cup with Austria, but his team failed to beat Wales in the first round of the playoffs.
With a brace from former team-mate Gareth Bale, Wales took the 2-1 win, then beat Ukraine to seal qualification.
Luis Díaz, James Rodríguez, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, David Ospina, Duván Zapata and Davinson Sánchez (Colombia)
After having been present in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, the Colombian national team finished in 6th place in the last South American qualifiers and was only one point behind Peru, the last classified (they accepted the playoffs, where they lost against Australia and have been left out of the world).
Despite winning the last game against Venezuela with a James Rodríguez goal from a penalty, Peru’s victory over Paraguay put an end to the illusion of seeing Colombia in the World Cup for the third consecutive year.
Erling Haland (Norway)
Manchester City’s all-new reinforcement continues to be all the rage thanks to the great start to the season under Pep Guardiola. However, the Norwegian national team, which also has English Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard, finished third with 18 points in Group G, which included the Netherlands, Turkey, Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar.
Riyadh Mahrez (Algeria)
Another of the Manchester City figures who will not be able to compete in the World Cup. The elimination of Algeria was one of the tightest, as up to 124 ‘of extra time they beat Cameroon with a goal difference, but Karl Toko Ekambi left the southpaw with no chance to play his second World Cup ( only participated in one match in Brazil 2014).
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)
At 33, the Gabonese lost what could have been his last chance to play a World Cup. The Chelsea striker, who had an excellent season at FC Barcelona in 2022, failed to get his team to the top of African Qualifiers Group F: he finished second, seven points behind Egypt.
Other figures who have been excluded from the Qatar World Cup
- Bosnia: Edin Dzeko (Inter).
- Nigeria: Victor Osimhen (Naples).
- Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) – resigned from the national team.
- Slovakia: Milan Skriniar (Inter).
- Nigeria: Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City).
- Ivory Coast: Franck Kessié (FC Barcelona).
- Czech Republic: Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen).
- Scotland: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool).
Source: Clarin
