INJURIES HAVE SPOILED THE CHARM OF WORLD CUP

The world waits for the biggest show on earth to unfold and the excitement among the fans is just immense and unmatched. The players would be all set to unleash the best within them and get their hands on the most coveted trophy of football. But that is not the case of all the players who dreamt of playing at this year’s world cup.  Injuries have ruined some of the players and teams hopes of performing at the biggest stage of football. They would have to wait for another four years to play for their teams at the world cups.

Germany’s Marco Reus became the latest star player to be ruled out of the World Cup through injury over the weekend. The Borrussia Dortmund playmaker suffered strained ankle ligaments in a friendly against Armenia on Friday evening and will be out for at least six weeks. This would be a major blow to the german hopes of clinching the crown this time around.  Reus joins a host of famous names on the sidelines – this week France’s Franck Ribery (back) and Colombia’s Radamel Falcao (knee) were also confirmed as missing the tournament, which has been shorn of many of its biggest attractions. Sadly, Frank Ribery who has been the spearhead of the france attack for almost more than a decade would not be able to play a world cup again as he is already 31. Even before this latest batch, the injury curse had already struck the likes of England winger Theo Walcott, Belgium’s Christian Benteke and Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart. It all adds up to bad news for neutrals hoping to see the cream of the global game in Brazil.

On the contrary, there has been some good news as far as injuries are concerned. Cristiano Ronaldo has recovered from his injury and was the spearhead in the 5-1 rout over Ireland in their latest friendly match. Uruguay fans would be praying for the fast recovery of premier league’s top scorer Luis Suarez and the medical team has informed that he would be fit for the clash against England.

The stage is all set for the teams to battle it out for the ultimate glory. The world cup still has all the takings to be one of the best in the history of football but certainly something would be missing because of the absence of world class players due to injury. Just to highlight the extent to which the injuries have ruined the world cup, I have made two star studded squads with those players who would not feature in the world cup due to injuries. I would have bet my money on these teams if they were real ones.

Team sheet 1: Victor Valdes (Spain); Gergory van der Wiel (Netherlands), Holger Badstuber (Germany), Jerry Akaminko (Ghana), Bryan Oviedo (Costa Rica); Ilkay Gundogan (Germany), Kevin Strootman (Netherlands); Theo Walcott (England), Marco Reus (Germany), Franck Ribery (France); Radamel Falcao (Colombia)

Team sheet 2: Steve Mandanda (France); Kyle Walker (England), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Greece), Silvio (Portugal);Luis Montes (Mexico), Riccardo Montolivo (Italy), Thiago Alcantara (Spain), Rafael van der Vaart (Netherlands);Giuseppe Rossi (Italy), Christian Benteke (Belgium), Mario Gomez (Germany)