World Cup 2022 started in Qatar, for 3 game days, the audience saw a sensational victory of Saudi Arabia over Argentina from the Messiah and many injuries. Terrible injuries to Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiravand in the match with England, even more terrible injuries to Saudi defender Yasser Al-Shahrani after a collision with his own goalkeeper, and finally, the injury of “crosses” to the defender of France and Bayern Luca Hernandez - this definitely spoils the mood in the background holiday.
However, not all of the world stars and simply important players for the national team made it to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Before the start of the FIFA World Cup, the leader of the Senegal national team and one of the best players in the history of Africa, Sadio Mane, was injured, and 2 days later it became known that the owner of the Golden Ball in 2022, Karim Benzema, would also not be able to help his team. Today we have compiled a list of 15 best players who would definitely strengthen their national teams at the World Cup in Qatar. We hope this list will not be updated, although the reality is much more complicated.
Karim Benzema (France)
The latest news about Benzema’s exclusion from the national team the day before the start of the 2022 World Cup shocked the football community, although even before the official announcement it was clear that the best player of this year was not completely healthy. Karim had problems with his hip for a long time, in training before the start of the tournament, he aggravated the problem and will definitely miss the World Cup.
Benzema only joined the national team at Euro 2020 after the scandalous case with Valbuena, he did not become the world champion and in general Deschamps’ team played confidently even without Karim. However, now the loss of Benzema will definitely affect the prospects of the national team, despite the presence of Giroud and Mbappe. This pair shows itself perfectly - the first victory over Australia (4:1) proves this perfectly, but still Benzema is an important option in attack, he does not have a full-fledged replacement. But Giroud, Mbappe, Griezmann and Coman can manage without him, to be completely honest. Exactly in the same composition, these guys took the last World Cup, and with Karim they failed at the Euro. There is no connection here, just facts.
For Real Madrid fans, the only plus is that Benzema will be able to calmly receive treatment during the winter break and will be ready for the important spring matches of the Champions League and La Liga playoffs - Madrid has no other top-level striker.
Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Senegal star striker Sadio Mane was in the squad for the 2022 World Cup, but he was removed two days before the opening match of the tournament on Sunday. Mane suffered a leg injury while playing for Bayern Munich earlier this month, Senegalese shamans and the prayers of millions of fans did not help.
The French newspaper L’Equipe claimed that Manet’s injury was serious enough to rule him out of the World Championships with a tendon injury that would keep him out of action for “several weeks”. “We will have to rely on us to play the first games without Sadio and win without Sadio,” said Abdoulaye Sou, board member of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF), in an interview with AP a few days before the start of the World Cup.
Mane will definitely miss not only the 2022 World Cup, but also the spring matches of Bayern in the Champions League playoffs. Which is also a big loss for Munich.
Mane for Senegal is more than a leader and a captain. He is actually a deity who could make the game of Africans many times better. The more offensive it is to get injured a few weeks before the start. Now in the application of the Senegalese there is no forward similar in terms of the level of impact, Dia is not at all the same. Yes, there are young Sarr and Diatta - but they are unlikely to help Senegal get into the playoffs of the World Cup in Qatar. The Africans have already lost their first match to the Netherlands with a score of 0:2. Knowing their propensity for emotions, the loss of their main hope can greatly affect the level of play of good players.
N’Golo Kante (France)
There are a huge number of French on this list - they are just wildly unlucky with injuries this season. Even despite the huge depth of the composition, Deschamps had problems in the center of the field. And they are connected with the absence of the 2018 world champion and longtime leader N’Golo Kante.
Baby N’Golo spent 5 long years cementing and burning everything in the center of the field, giving freedom to Pogba and other partners in the midfield line. Its stability, reliability and performance gave Deschamps’ team a huge advantage. The versatile little midfield maestro suffered a serious hamstring injury last month and is scheduled to return in January.
The 33-year-old was a key cog in French midfield when France won their second World Cup four years ago. Now there are no oporniks close to Kante in the roster, from the word at all. Young Tchuameni is not able to cope with the amount of work that Kante gave due to his young age and lack of experience in big matches.
Most likely, N’Golo will no longer go to the World Championships - even before the injury, he frankly began to give up at Chelsea, at 37 years old he is unlikely to be as useful as at 29 at the peak of his form in Russia.
Paul Pogba (France)
Perhaps the most scandalous name on the list, Paul Pogba is the winner of the World and European Championships with France. The incredibly talented and just as incredibly lazy and infantile Paul misses the tournament in Qatar. After a serious knee injury, he decided to be treated conservatively in order to have time to get to the 2022 World Cup. However, he failed to follow the example of Umtiti Pogba - the September operation deprived him of all hopes of getting into the French dream team. The story of Umtiti is simple - Samuel decided to do without surgery and helped the French team win the Fifa World Cup in Russia. But at the cost of a terrible relapse and the actual end of a great career due to a severe decline in the level of the game.
Pogba, like Kante, is the most important link in Deschamps’ championship squad. He was responsible for creativity and even helped the defense, in conjunction with Kante, the French midfield was a mobile and reliable system that delivered the balls to Mbappe, Giroud and Griezmann. In Qatar, Rabiot will do it - despite terrible seasons at the club, Adrien plays cool in the national team, which he proved with a goal and an assist in the first match against Australia.
Marco Reus (Germany)
Royce is such a brilliant football player, and such a brilliant loser. Due to injuries, he missed so many major tournaments that it becomes scary for him. Reus could have been the leader of the Germany that took the 2014 World Cup and dominated the world. But injury right before major tournaments is Marco’s real scourge. Full list of tournaments Royce missed:
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World Cup 2014 (knee injury);
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Euro 2016 (knee injury);
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Euro 2020 (he refused to play due to fatigue).
Royce was supposed to meet Mundial in Qatar in the Bundesteam - he is still the leader of Borussia Dortmund and an important player in Hansi Flick’s team. But in August, he gets a torn ankle ligament, manages to recover by October, but aggravates the damage. As a result, another World Cup without Royce.
What is most offensive is that one of the best in terms of prospects, the player of the generation did not take any of the many medals with the Germans, but he played at the World Cup in Russia, where the German team failed miserably (did not leave the group with Sweden, Mexico and South Korea) Karma .
Diogo Jota (Portugal)
One of Portugal’s main offensive players, Diogo Jota would have been one of the first names in his team’s starting lineup for the team’s World Cup bid in Qatar. However, a calf injury in Liverpool’s crucial Premier League game against City in October left Jota out of Qatar, which could put the Portuguese in a lot of trouble at the World Cup. Let’s start with the fact that he and Leao were in great shape before the tournament, unlike Ronaldo, Felix and other strikers. The loss of Jota in the center of attack will affect the variability in attack, especially if the great Cristiano, who is in the worst form of his career, does not get his game. Andre Silva is clearly worse than Jota in all respects.
Although Diogo did not require surgery, the rehabilitation period after the injury will be long enough that he may not have time to recover by the start of the second part of the season. The pundits named Portugal as one of the favorites for the tournament, and the absence of Jota could greatly affect their chances. Especially given the “group of death” at the World Cup with Uruguay, Ghana and South Korea. Forecasts for the World Cup can be viewed on our website.
Timo Werner (Germany)
Although Timo Werner’s career has clearly taken a turn for the worse since joining Chelsea, head coach Hansi Flick has had no other choice in center forward over the past two years. Everyone laughed at Werner’s misses, but a return to RB Leipzig was able to return Timo to good shape, he began to score and had to go to Qatar as the main striker of the Bundesteam.
However, the last match in the Champions League decide differently - Werner injured his ankle in the match against Shakhtar. The examination showed that Werner had a torn tibiofibular syndesmosis, he was out at least until the end of the season.
Now, in the application of Qatar, the German national team has only 3 nominal forwards - young Adeyemi and Mukoko from Borussia Dortmund with 1 goal for two in the national team and lack of experience in big matches. The third striker is Fullkrug from Werder Bremen with ZERO matches for the Bundestim. Well, let’s wish Flick good luck in finding the optimal combination in attack. And Werner - health.
Amin Harith (Morocco)
Most of Amin Arita’s Moroccan teammates had already landed in Qatar when he suffered an injury that kept him out of the World Cup. The Marseille striker suffered a knee injury in his last club game before leaving for Doha.
The 25-year-old Moroccan team player was carried away on a stretcher, a ligament injury deprived Arita of football for at least 7-8 months. He played an important role in the attacking zone of the Moroccan national team, especially in conjunction with Ziyech. The loss of Arita will affect the variability of the Africans in attack, the team does not have many quality midfielders with an excellent first pass and a high level of creativity. Arit opened up in Marseille and could really help Morocco.
Harit was flooded with messages of support from teammates, reportedly Harit will travel to Qatar to support his national team during the tournament.
Georginio Wijnaldum
The captain of the Dutch national team and its longtime leader, after an unsuccessful transfer to PSG, went to Mourinho at Roma in order to revive his career. Even with his club career stagnant, Wijnaldum was one of van Gaal’s main options in midfield, in a box-to-box position. However, the very first match in Italy was fatal for the Premier League champion as part of Liverpool - he broke his leg just in the 12th minute of the season and will miss the World Cup. As well as the start of next year - the tibia does not recover quickly.
Giovanni Lo Celso (Argentina)
Argentina are among the favorites to win the trophy in Qatar, and not just because of Lionel Messi. As we can see, the great Messi is still sensationally losing to Saudi Arabia, but now we are not talking about him. The 2014 finalists have a solid roster of players on their team and the America’s Cup title. However, one of the most important figures in the national team did not go to Qatar - this is Giovanni Lo Celso.
An important player of Betis and Argentine midfield suffered a muscle tear last month. The loss of Lo Celso was a major concern for head coach Lionel Scaloni, who said there was no replacement for the 26-year-old midfielder. “Numerically, there is a replacement, but in terms of football, there is not,” Scaloni told reporters ahead of the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. As we can see, in the center of the field, the Argentina national team had problems in the very first match.
Who is not included in the list, but would also help their team
These players are definitely worth mentioning:
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Luca Hernandez (France);
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Presnel Kimbepbe (France);
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Wesley Fofana (France);
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Mike Meignan (France);
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Ben Chilwell (England);
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Reece James (England);
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Emil Smith Rowe (England);
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Bruno Martins Indy (Netherlands);
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Arthur Melo (Brazil);
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Ronald Araujo (Uruguay);
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Jesús Corona (Mexico).
We wish all the players who have already arrived for the World Cup in Qatar health and good luck. Calendar schedule all matches are available on our website!
