As with every major competition, the qualifying campaigns offer their share of unfortunates. For the 2022 World Cup, many absences are notable and have allowed us to establish an eleven of the players who will watch the competition in Qatar in front of their television. Thus in the goals, we find the goalkeeper of Paris Saint-Germain Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy). Exit by North Macedonia (1-0) in the semi-final of the European zone play-offs on a goal from Aleksandar Trajkovski (90th +2) in the last seconds, the transalpine goalkeeper will have to wait before playing the very first world of her career. Juan Cuadrado (Colombia) was in the game in 2014 and 2018, but this time misses his turn. Following the sixth place in qualifying for the CONMEBOL zone of his country, the Juventus player misses the mark this time. Now 33 years old, he has undoubtedly said a final goodbye to this competition.
Also present in 2018, Victor Lindelöf (Sweden) will not be adventure in Qatar. On many occasions, his team could have qualified, but failed. Leaving a big lead in pool over Spain, the Blågult barely dominated the Czech Republic (1-0 after extra time) before losing against Robert Lewandowski’s Poland (2-0). It also feels like a last missed chance for Giorgio Chiellini (Italy). The 37-year-old had already failed to qualify with Squadra Azzurra in 2018 and is reliving the same tragedy. It’s hard to imagine him frolicking at the age of 41 in North America during the 2026 edition… David Alaba (Austria) retain this perspective. The Real Madrid player and his partners remain on a 2-1 defeat against Wales.
A fire attack!
In the double pivot, we find Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast) who has just experienced a new failure with his selection. Already absent in 2018, he fell by the wayside even before the play-offs since the Elephants finished second in their group behind Cameroon. Disappointment also for Arturo Vidal (Chili). Four years after the failure of 2018, the Inter Milan player and his partners finish in a sad seventh place in the CONMEBOL zone and will have to rebuild. Present at the 2018 World Cup, Mohamed Salah (Egypt) will not be part of the adventure in 2022 with the Pharaohs. However, Egypt had won the first leg 1-0 against Senegal, but fell by the same score in the return. In the penalty shootout, he missed his attempt like two other of his teammates for a 3-1 loss.
New disappointment for Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) who has been chasing a World Cup since 2014. Failing to qualify in Russia in 2018, the Manchester City player and his compatriots broke down at the last second against Cameroon (1-0/1-2 ap). Result, new World Cup on the couch for the Fennecs. The attacking duo is Scandinavian with Erling Braut Haaland (Norway) who is still looking to qualify for the first competition of his career with his selection. Third in their group behind the Netherlands and Turkey, Norway was quickly eliminated. For Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), the 2-0 defeat of his selection yesterday against Poland was fatal. Having only played in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, the 40-year-old striker has surely said goodbye to this competition.
We can also mention other players like the goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (Chili) or the defenders Davinson Sanchez (Colombia) and Leonardo Bonucci (Italy). Many midfielders have failed in play-offs in recent days, such as Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey), Ismael Bennacer (Algeria), Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria), Amadou Haidara (Mali), Marco Verratti (Italy) and Tomas Soucek (Czechia). The failure of James Rodriguez (Colombia) and his selection is the consequence of the disappointing performance of the Cafeteros for many months. At last, Aleksandr Golovin will miss the 2018 World Cup following the sanctions imposed on Sbornaya after the War in Ukraine launched by Russia. At the level of offensive players, we also note the absence of Luis Diaz (Colombia), Alexis Sanchez (Chili), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Victor Osimhen (Nigeria), Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenie) or Burak Yilmaz (Turquie).
