Football Superstars That WON’T Be Going to the World Cup

Everyone is abuzz with the world cup in less than two weeks. We all know who’s going to Germany, and there’s the usual talk about who’ll be the star of the World Cup (Messi? Deco?), who’s going to be the topscorer (Adriano? Tevez? Henry?) who’ll be the first to score an own goal, etc… But here are some of the big names in football that WON’T be appearing in Germany this summer, for a variety of reasons…

Ryan Giggs – At his prime, Giggs was one of the most gifted wingers in the world. But unfortunately, none of his Welsh countrymen of his generation were quite up there with him, so he’s destined never to play in the World Cup, although he is hugely successful at club level. Wales did come close to qualifying for Euro 2004, only to be pipped by Russia.

Jonathan Woodgate – He was labeled the biggest prospect for England when he was with Newcastle, but after a high profile move to the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid, everything has gone wrong for Johnny boy. Terribly wrong. Since then, he has been injured a lot, scored an own goal, got sent off, and got injured some more. What’s even more ironic is that his replacement, Sergio Ramos, bought from Villareal, is now going to Germany with the Spanish national team. Anyway, with Rio, John, Sol and so many others ahead of him in the pecking order, it’ll be tough job for him to get into the national squad…

Zlatko Zahovic – Slovenia’s most illustrious player was mostly remembered for being expelled from the last World Cup in Japan/Korea for rowing with the national coach after just one match. He retired from international football 2 years later, and pretty much disappeared into oblivion since…

Salomon Kalou – First he was supposed to play for Ivory Coast. But he wanted to play for the Netherlands, and so did the national coach Marco van Basten (and even Johann Cryuff). So he applied for a Dutch citizenship only to see it tanked by the immigration minister Rita Verdonk. So now he ‘decides’ to play for his native Ivory Coast after the World Cup. Incidentally, his brother, Bonaventure Kalou, is the Ivorian captain. Gee, if he had stuck with Ivory Coast from the start, he would be assured of playing in Germany next month, no?

Fernando Morientes – Another prolific striker who, at one time played for Real Madrid. But due to some big signings by a big-spending president, he was moved down the food chain below the likes of Raul and Ronaldo. Later, Liverpool saved his career. Unfortunately, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t repay the Kop with goals in EPL, a problem that most of the strikers at Liverpool faced at that time. Recent news is that he’s going back to Spain.

Ludovic Giuly – Made a huge impact with European champions Barcelona alongside Eto’o and Ronaldinho in a 3-man attack, this nippy forward has been controversially left out in the cold by French coach Ray Domenech. But Giuly isn’t the only one feeling puzzled, a large portion of the French press has also expressed puzzlement over Domenech’s increasing strange choices (like Barthez over Coupet in goal). But with the World Cup about 2 weeks away, there still might be a cance for Giuly to make it…

Although the same can’t be said for countryman Nicolas Anelka – He was brought into the limelight by another Frenchman, Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, then sold for an obscene profit to Real Madrid, later journey all over the place, including Liverpool and Manchester City. Last we heard, he was playing Sunday League in Turkey, and while he can moan and bitch and beg all he wants, it’ll be a long time before he plays for France again…

I was just about to add Wayne Rooney to the list here, but let’s wait and see… 🙂