No World Cup is complete without the world’s best players and teams competing but the extravaganza in Qatar has its fair share of no-shows.
French striker Karim Benzema was ruled out of the World Cup just last week after suffering an injury to his left thigh during training in Doha. The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner felt pain in his thigh during a sprint towards the end of the training session. After undergoing an MRI, it was confirmed that Benzema had suffered a muscle tear that would need three weeks of recovery time.
This will be the first World Cup since 1978 that the winner of the Ballon d’Or will be missing. On his Instagram profile, Benzema wrote, “I’ve never given up in my life but tonight I have to think of the team, as I have always done,” he said. “So reason tells me to give my place to someone who can help our squad have a great World Cup. Thanks for all your messages of support.”
France, the defending champion, will also be missing the efforts of star midfielder Paul Pogba who has to undergo knee surgery which has prevented him from playing since moving to Juventus in the summer. Also, fellow midfielder N’Golo Kante will be absent from the French squad as the Chelsea star is suffering from a hamstring injury.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane, 30, picked up an injury in Bayern Munich’s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen on 8 November. It was described as an injury to the head of the fibula bone in his lower right leg. Despite the injury, Mane, who came in second in the Ballon d’Or vote, was included in the Senegal squad. However, since then he has had surgery.
Belgium will miss the efforts of AC Milan star Alexis Saelemaekers who is out of the squad sue to a serious knee injury that will rule him out for the end of the year.
Brazil’s new Liverpool player Arthur Melo will be out for three to four months after undergoing knee surgery due to an injury during training. The player had made just one appearance since joining on loan from Juventus. Liverpool paid out a £4 million loan fee to sign Melo up for the season but he only appeared as a late substitute in the disastrous defeat of his team 4-1 against Napoli in the Champions League.
England will miss the efforts of Ben Chilwell due to sustaining a hamstring injury in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb. The defender had struggled with an ACL injury in the past and was substituted in the dying minutes, appearing in agony before leaving the stadium on crutches.
Joining Chilwell is teammate and Chelsea star Reece James who was ruled out due to a long-term injury although he was very optimistic about catching up. Later he tweeted that he was “very depressed” not to be able to make it to this year’s World Cup although it was his dream.
Morocco’s Amine Harit, one of Morocco’s most talented players, was injured in his club’s final game before the World Cup. Marseille’s 3-2 Ligue 1 win over Monaco at the weekend saw the midfielder suffer a cruciate ligament sprain after a collision with France’s Axel Disasi. “As you can imagine, beyond the physical pain, it’s hard to see the World Cup dream fly away a few hours before living it,” commented Harit.
Germany’s Timo Werner was ruled out due to an ankle injury, his club RB Leipzig said on 3 November. The 26-year-old, who has 24 goals in 55 appearances for the national team, was taken off in the first half of Leipzig’s 4-0 Champions League group stage win against Shakhtar Donetsk after sustaining the injury in the 13th minute. “This piece of news is extremely bitter,” Germany coach Hansi Flick said. “I feel very bad for Timo personally because he will miss the World Cup which he desperately wanted to play in.”
Liverpool forward Diogo Jota of Portugal will miss the tournament due to a calf injury sustained in their victory over Manchester City, but it will not require surgery.
Some big-name players are staying behind because their countries did not qualify for the World Cup, including marksman Mohamed Salah of Egypt and Norway’s blond bomber Erling Haaland.
Defending European champions Italy could not make it to Qatar altogether. So that takes care of Federico Chiesa, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Giorgio Chiellini and Marco Verratti.
Other unlucky players are Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden, Riyad Mahrez of Algeria, and James Rodriguez from Colombia.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 November, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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