When Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand went down with serious injuries, it became clear this World Cup would have its share of high-profile player losses. Little did we know how bad things would get.
Dutch star Arjen Robben was the latest player to join the list of the injured this past weekend, but he was hardly the only one. Honduran star Wilson Palacios was also hit with a serious injury, though it remains unclear just how bad his injured shin is after being taken to a hospital after Honduras' 3-0 loss to Romania.
Here is a rundown of top players are expected to either miss the World Cup entirely, or miss some part of the tournament due to recent injuries:
World Cup Wounded
Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast
Rio Ferdinand, England
Arjen Robben, Netherlands
Andrea Pirlo, Italy
Humberto Suazo, Chile
John Obi Mikel, Nigeria
Michael Essien, Ghana
Michael Ballack, Germany
Wilson Palacios, Honduras
What do you think of all these injuries? Which if these do you consider the most devastating to the player's team? Praying no Americans fall victim between now and Saturday's World Cup opener vs. England?
Share your thoughts below.
i would much rather have seen costa rica over honduras
i can’t believe the first player mentioned isn’t ballack! drogba is a goal-scorer, not a goal-scorer/playmaker/offensive/defensive/all-around-everything player. ballack is the reason many established german players were left off the squad for younger, more risky ones.
ballack is without question the most impactful loss
the casual american soccer fan doesn’t even know who rico clark, jay demerit, jose torres, clarence goodson, or pretty much any other american player who is not in an espn commercial during mlb or nba games is…
you can be sure no ‘casual’ american soccer fan knows drogba by name. we are not talking about beckham
word
And Captains.
I agree that it would be worth it to do the research to find out exactly what’s contributing, and if this is truly abnormal. It is true that more injuries happen (trauma or otherwise) when players are tired.
But I would say that this year does seem abnormal as compared with previous years. I remember there were routine injuries before the last two WCs, but nothing like this.
Good teams missing include Russia, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Egypt, Turkey, Colombia, Ecuador
totally agree. these players are expected to play way too many games with there being so many different club competitions
he may be in the discussion, but i dont think he beats out donovan, dempsey marquez amongst others
Mn that sucks – Honduras is the feel good story of the cup
I agree – it would be quite the motivational tool for the team to read this insightful article. Still – at the same time, the questions we should be asking are…
What is our strategy against England? (not just our lineup)
What are England’s weaknesses? (goalkeeper?)
(Rooney’s temper?) (Terry’s speed?)
What can we exploit in order for us to get a surprising 3 points?
Costly picked up an ankle injury playing for his club team in Romania 3 days before the 23-man rosters were announced. Rueda decided not to take him.
Overturn the call, give him the perfect game
People should also consider the fact that theres never been a world cup as stacked as this one in terms of the quality of the nations participating. What major power is sitting at home that would have added something to this tournament? Russia, maybe?
In 2002, Holland didnt qualify, yet no one said the world cup was going to suck then because Davids, Kluivert, Overmars, Seedorf and Makaay werent there. All those dudes were world class players back then who missed out, just by different circumstances.
who cares? dudes age. There were lots of guys that were centerpieces for teams back in 2002. Guess what? They arent as good 8 years on.
Yeah, it’s sad. I don’t think we realize just how many good players are seemingly disappearing overnight from MLS. D.C. United seems like it was hit especially hard. No wonder they are such a mess right now. Then there’s players who are just struggling to get back to playing. I wonder if Twellman and Eskandarian are done. On the positive side Bobby Convey looks like he may be coming back from the dead. I’m still not sure what happened to him in the first place, but he is really starting to play well for San Jose now.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND, Charlie Davies.
I agree, but I think most people are just bummed that arguably Africa’s two biggest stars are going to miss the first ever World Cup held in Africa. And I don’t remember there ever being so many injuries to key players so close to the World Cup.
I normally love British humour, but this was more obnoxious than funny. The only thing worth noting about our players is Donovan “talking the talk” (which I must have missed, wasn’t it the media that hyped him?), Bradley’s “clogging” and Bocanegra’s horror challenge six years ago?
I hope Bob Bradley makes everyone read this Saturday morning.
Yeah, you should definitely skip it and watch more baseball.
Maybe if he had ever played a game for us.