Doha, November 02 (QNA) – The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is filled with the participation of world-class football stars, but World Cup fans will miss a number of stars whose national teams did not qualify for the world championship and those absent due to numerous injuries.
Fans around the world hope to not miss more stars to injuries, the latest of which was the injury of the star of the French national team, current World Cup title holder, Paul Pogba, who confirmed that he will not participate in the World Cup due to injury, joining his compatriots N’Golo Kante, Boubacar Kamara, Belgian Alexis Saelemaekers, England’s Reece James, Dutchman Georginio Wijnaldum, Portugal’s Diogo Jota and Pedro Neto, Sweden’s Alexander Isak, Brazilian Arthur Melo, and Mexico’s Jesus.
Additionally, some players have not confirmed their participation with their country’s national teams in the World Cup. This includes Romelu Lukaku (Belgium), Paulo Dybala (Argentina), Kyle Walker (England), Calvin Phelps (England), Ronald Araujo (Uruguay), and Angel Di Maria (Argentina).
Some teams that include international stars will not participate in the World Cup Qatar 2022. Among the most prominent absences are the two Arab stars, Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) of England and Algerian Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) of England, along with Norwegian star Erling Halland, and veteran Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Egyptian Mohamed Salah is undoubtedly the biggest absentee from the World Cup, as the Liverpool star will not participate in the World Cup in Qatar after his country was eliminated during the play-offs by Senegal, the African champion, who beat Egypt in the African Cup of Nations a few months ago. Thus, Mohamed Salah will not participate after participating in World Cup Russia 2018.
As for the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, Algeria was eliminated by Cameroon in the World Cup Qualifiers final, and so, Mahrez and his team will not play this year, despite Algeria’s football skills and have always played great matches during the World Cup, as it was the case in the 2014 World Cup after losing against Germany in the Round of 16.
Despite winning the 2019 African Cup of Nations; Riyad Mahrez will not be able to delight football fans with his presence during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will also be one of the most prominent absentees from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The rising star has never participated in an international competition with his country. Norwegian fans had great hopes for him and his talented teammates such as captain Odegaard, Arsenal playmaker, but suffered a great loss in the decisive match against the Netherlands, where Norway was eliminated in the last minutes.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will witness the absence of Ivorian Franck Kessie, who will compete due to the exclusion of Côte d’Ivoire in the qualifiers. This is considered a significant decline in the performance of one of the best football teams in the African continent.
Among the most prominent stars absent from the World Cup Qatar 2022 is Italian Marco Verratti, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, as Italy was eliminated from the playoffs by Macedonia. Although the Italians dominated the match, they lost in the last minute when they conceded a fatal goal.
Italy was going to face Portugal in the final qualifying match, however, Cristiano Ronaldo’s companions faced the Macedonian national team and won 2-0.
Similar to Verratti, Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma will not participate in the World Cup. The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper will not be able to play this World Cup after European champion Italy failed to qualify for the second time in a row, as it was also absent from World Cup Russia 2018.
The other most prominent absentees, Napoli and Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen after his country’s team was disqualified with a goal difference scored outside the home by Ghana (0-0 back and 1-1 away), and Colombia playmaker James Rodriguez, the top scorer in World Cup Brazil 2014, after his country’s team placed sixth in the South American Qualifiers.
In terms of the market value of the most prominent absent players in the World Cup Qatar 2022, in the forefront is the Norwegian Erling Haaland at 150 million euros, the Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak at 80 million euros, the Slovakian Milan Skriniar at 60 million euros, the Ivorian Franck Kessieat 55 million euros and his compatriot Wilfried Zaha at 45 million euros and Sebastian Haller at 27 million euros, Burkinabe Edmond Tapsoba at 40 million euros, Norwegian Martin Odegaard at 40 million euros, Ivory Coast Nicolas Pepe at 35 million euros, and Guinean Naby Keita at 32 million euros. (QNA)