Mohamed Salah won’t take part within the 2023 World Cup in Qatar. This was the headline from an evening stuffed with drama and turmoil within the remaining spherical of African qualifiers.
Salah was focused with small handheld lasers within the crowd as he missed the penalty in Egypt’s penalty shootout defeat to Senegal – and joins a powerful record of stars who won’t be a part of the spectacular occasion on the finish of the 12 months. .
Cristiano Ronaldo shall be current on the World Cup for the fifth time after Portugal beat North Macedonia within the European qualifiers, which implies he and Lionel Messi are headed to Qatar, however who’re the gamers who will relaxation throughout the 2023/23 season?
Sky Sports activities It places collectively a world-class squad of gamers assured to not head to the match and lists among the Premier League’s names staying with their golf equipment throughout the month-long break in November and December.
Table of Contents
Italy dominates the eleventh world, not Qatar
Having been topped European champions final summer season, Italy are the crew’s most notable omission no matter within the remaining play-off matches throughout completely different continents after shedding 1-0 at residence to North Macedonia.
Roberto Mancini, coach of the Azzurri membership, is contemplating his future after Italy didn’t qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Which means there shall be no Gianluigi Donnarumma. The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper was named Participant of the Event final summer season – the primary goalkeeper to win the award in a European Championship – primarily because of the saves he made in Italy’s penalty shootout victories in each the semi-finals and the ultimate.
At 23, it appears to be like like he has an extended worldwide profession forward of him – nevertheless it will not add to the accolades he acquired in Qatar. Additionally lacking have been compatriot Jorginho – who completed third within the 2023 Ballon d’Or – Marco Verratti, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, and each Leonardo Spinazzola and Federico Chiesa – who have been additionally named to the Euro 2020 squad.
The absent Italians on the sidelines shall be joined by plenty of people whose abilities should be recommended at this stage.
Erling Haaland’s future at Borussia Dortmund shall be within the highlight throughout the summer season switch window, however he could have no additional World Cup distraction to think about subsequent season, and Norway’s failure to qualify denies Qatar’s Martin Odegaard of Arsenal.
Norway completed third of their qualifying group and didn’t qualify for the World Cup or the European Championships in Haaland’s life – the 21-year-old was born simply days after the tip of Euro 2000, their final main match.
The final time Norway performed in a World Cup remaining was in 1998 and Haaland’s targets had pushed his nation to the brink of ending their lengthy wait.
Of the opposite European nations that didn’t e book their place, David Alaba confirmed himself as a world-class participant at each Bayern Munich and now at Actual Madrid, however his nation Austria didn’t beat Wales within the play-off video games. The crew final performed within the World Cup finals in 1998.
A number of Swedish stars suffered the identical destiny by the hands of Poland, which means Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a last-ditch shot on the World Cup, together with Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof and potential thriller Alexander Isak.
Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s report scorer, seems to have participated within the World Cup finals for the final time. The 40-year-old Milan striker appeared in three variations – 2002, 2006 and 2018.
Ibrahimovic got here out of worldwide retirement in early 2023 with the goal of taking part in within the European Championship. He finally missed it via harm and was unable to assist Sweden qualify for the World Cup after being introduced within the remaining 10 minutes of the ultimate defeat, together with his crew already 2-0.
Ibrahimovic seems set to signal one other 12 months with Milan, however the match in Qatar was undoubtedly his final probability to play within the World Cup. He should be hoping to play at Euro 2024, having stated he’s nonetheless out there for Sweden.
Colombia have been the largest losers in CONMEBOL, which implies Salah shouldn’t be the one Liverpool striker to take a winter break subsequent season, as Luis Diaz will be part of his teammate on the membership’s Melwood coaching base fairly than fly to Qatar.
The 25-year-old winger took cost from James Rodriguez as Colombia’s participant of the 12 months, and tied with Lionel Messi as prime scorer in final 12 months’s Copa America.
He could not encourage his crew to qualify for the World Cup, with Colombia ending sixth within the South American qualifiers. His soccer profession continues to be on the rise following his transfer to Liverpool from Porto in January and a easy transition to the star-studded assault of the Premier League facet.
was a case deja vu For Salah as Egypt have been defeated on penalties within the play-off match towards Senegal, with fellow Liverpool striker Sadio Mane scoring the decisive penalty – as was the case within the Africa Cup of Nations remaining in February.
Skipper Salah was amongst those that missed out on a penalty kick because the Pharaohs didn’t safe qualification for the World Cup for the second time in a row. It was a tragic method to finish one other disappointing episode in a world profession that has but to yield any titles.
Salah entered the 2018 World Cup with a shoulder harm and was not in his finest situation, because the Egyptians have been eradicated from the group stage.
He misplaced in two finals on the African Cup of Nations and missed the World Cup on the top of his energy. For now, the 29-year-old should content material himself with profitable titles with Liverpool, for whom he’s main an unlikely bid for 4 titles this season.
Jurgen Klopp had wished his finest gamers to showcase their abilities on the world stage, however that might profit Liverpool’s Premier League title possibilities as two of their attackers can use the interval to relaxation earlier than the busy second half of the season.
The identical may be stated about Manchester Metropolis’s Riyad Mahrez, who was absent together with his Algerian teammates, however the overwhelming majority of Pep Guardiola’s crew will attend.
Mahrez, the previous African Participant of the 12 months, was a part of the Algerian crew, which conceded a web within the fourth minute of stoppage time towards Cameroon on Tuesday to overlook the qualification.
The Metropolis winger should wait at the least 4 years to seem once more within the World Cup. As an inexperienced 23-year-old, he went to the 2014 match in Brazil and began Algeria’s opening match towards Belgium.
For a lot of, Jan Oblak is taken into account the very best goalkeeper on the earth, though many of the widespread approval for him stems from his performances at membership stage with Atletico Madrid. Will he ever play within the World Cup?
Slovenia final arrived in 2010 and missed this time after ending fourth of their qualifying group. At 29, Oblak doubtless has a number of extra possibilities.
Who else won’t go to Qatar 2023?
Chosen gamers not heading to the World Cup:
Africa – CAF
Nigeria
Emmanuel Dennis (Watford)
Ademola Lookman (Leicester)
Victor Osimhen (Naples)
Wilfried Ndidi (Leicester)
Algeria
Riyad Mahrez (Man Metropolis)
Stated Benrahma (West Ham)
Egypt
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal)
Monetary
Abdoulaye Doukuri (Everton)
Yves Bisoma (Brighton)
Moses Gennebo (Southampton)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Yuan Wesa (Brentford)
Arthur Maswako (West Ham)
Europe – UEFA
Italia
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain)
Jorginho (Chelsea)
Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain)
Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)
Leonardo Spinazzola (Rome)
Federico Chiesa (Juventus / Fiorentina)
Czech Republic
Thomas Sucic (West Ham)
Vladimir Koval (West Ham)
Austria
David Worth (Actual Madrid)
Norway
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
Sweden
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan)
Victor Lindelof (Manchester United)
Alexander Isaac (Royal Society)
Slovenia
Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
South America – CONMEBOL
Colombia
David Ospina (Naples)
Luis Diaz (Liverpool)
Yerry Mina (Everton)
Davinson Sanchez (Totham)
Juan Cuadrado (Juventus)
James Rodriguez (Al-Rayyan)
What’s the World Cup format and schedule?
The 2023 World Cup in Qatar will function 32 groups in eight teams of 4.
4 matches shall be performed every day throughout the group stage, which is able to final for 12 days and can see the winners and runners-up advance to the spherical of 16.
Matches will solely be allotted to sure venues after the finals draw, so organizers can select the optimum kick-off occasions to swimsuit TV audiences in several nations, in addition to followers in Qatar.
Group stage: November 21 – December 2
Spherical of 16: 3-6 December
Quarter-finals: 9/10 December
semi remaining: December 13 and 14
final: December 18
When do matches begin?
FIFA has confirmed that the primary two rounds of matches will kick off at 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10pm native time (10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm within the UK).
The kick-off occasions for the ultimate spherical of group matches and knockout matches shall be 6pm and 10pm native time (3pm and 7pm UK time).
The ultimate is scheduled to kick off at 6pm native time (3pm UK time).
What is going to occur to the Premier League in 2023/23?
The Premier League has confirmed key dates for the 2023/23 marketing campaign, with the season adjusted to accommodate the World Cup happening in the course of the home calendar.
The season will begin every week sooner than standard on August 6, 2023, with 16 matches till the weekend on November 12-13, earlier than the match kicks off on November 21.
The Premier League will resume on Boxing Day following the World Cup Closing, which takes place on December 18.
The ultimate spherical of the 2023/23 season takes place on Might 28, 2023.