Roll out the Reus

Reus : Injury Struck

Joachim must quite truly be feeling Low. In spite of watching his ruthless, well-oiled German machine put Armenia to the sword and skewer them with six of the best, the Germany coach’s primary concern was quite obviously the ankle injury to the most vital of cogs in his machine.  Marco Reus. The Dortmund man, a swashbuckling genius capable of magic, or as much magic as German efficiency can permit, saw his World Cup dream shatter to pieces a heart-wrenching 6 days before the grand event. Germany fans all over the world, and the gaffer himself, must be ruing the fact that the man with quite possibly the most immaculate hair in all of football was not quite as careful with his ankle.

This brings us to an interesting, if rather unhappy, turn of events in the build up to this world cup. Several players, each fantastic talents in their own right, will be absent from the sojourn in Brazil and won’t be giving us a chance to sashay to their samba. World Cup previews can so often be boring and technical and grossly mistaken, so we decided to train our spotlight on which players we’ll be missing out on in the land of the favelas and the Selecao instead.

Deschamps may quite possibly have lost his best player

Let’s begin with France. Les Blues are quite literally having a bout of the blues, sweating it out over the last-minute injury to talismanic winger Franck Ribery. The Frenchman succumbed to an irksome lower-back injury in training, that will keep him away from the World Cup, and ostensibly all other action, for considerable time. Also affecting their chances will be the injury to Lyon medio Clement Grenier, the ever-optimistic Arsenal fan’s favourite Youtube-free kick taker. Didier Deschamps’ men made it to Brazil by the skin of their teeth, putting on a stupendous display to rout Ukraine by virtue of a Mamadou Sakho hat trick. The Bayern Munich winger will be sorely missed , as he serves as the fulcrum of France’s attack, and also provides some much needed experience in an either inexperienced (Antoine Griezmann) or often ineffective (Olivier Giroud) French attack. With his pace, goal scoring prowess and delivery, he has played a pivotal role at the Allianz Arena, as he often has for France too. His replacement was the young Remy Cabella, another perennial favourite with the red-half of North London.

Samir Nasri in happier times

Talk did abound of Samir Nasri finally getting that elusive call up, but that soon died down, nor was an eagerly anticipated rerun of his girlfriend’s expletive-laden outburst on Twitter forthcoming. Quite possibly the only silver lining in all of this is for a certain Pep Guardiola, who will reassure himself that there is now very little chance of Ribery facing arrest over the summer, given the nature of his injury.

Theo Walcott : Injured but still giving Spurs their due

England are next on our scanner. The Three Lions lost the marauding pace of Theo Walcott early on in January, after he was stretchered off during a win over Spurs. Although he may have waved happily at the crowd with a victory sign, the news of a six-month layoff must have hit him hard. The pacy winger possesses the speed, as well as unfortunately the fragility of a gazelle. A constant threat for the Gunners down the right and blessed with an eye for goal, Walcott provides a unique blend of industry and innovation for England. Roy Hodgson’s worry lines will have been deepened by the injury scare to another Arsenal player, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain (definitely something fishy going on at Colney, just look at Abou Diaby, whew!). The Ox is a highly versatile player, capable of plying his trade on the wings as well as centrally, where many believe he has a future. While the Ox may yet return in time, Walcott was ruled out long ago, and with that came the highly plausible fears that Hodgson may turn to (god forbid), Andros Townsend, or even worse, Ashley Young. However better sense prevailed, and Raheem Sterling flourished under Brendan Rodgers at Anfield, booking his seat on the plane to Brazil. Also injured are Kyle Walker and Jay Rodriguez, both of whom have been in fine form for their clubs. Jack Wilshere may well breathe a sigh of relief at that, given his none too discreet vilification of Spurs during Arsenal’s FA Cup victory parade. The Ox missing out may greatly affect England, even more so than Walcott missing out, given the impact he generally has for England. Hodgson awaits his recuperation with baited breath, while Tom Cleverley looms menacingly on the horizon as a potential replacement, striking fear into the hearts of the English fans.

Arjen Robben : The joy of not passing

Dutch manager Louis van Gaal has the small matter of having become the new man at the helm of Manchester United distracting him from the running of the national team. In a team never short of controversy when it comes to rumours of friction between the players in the squad, a further complication has been added this time in the form of injuries to key players, including the likes of Kevin Strootman, Rafael Van der Vaart , Jetro Willems and Gregory van der Wiel. Arjen Robben must be joyously contemplating the prospect of having four lesser teammates to pass to. Strootman’s form for Roma had instantly propelled him into the wish lists of many any-real-quality-in-midfield-deprived Manchester United fans, and he was also a favourite with van Gaal. A paper-thin defence is also further weakened by Willems and van der Wiel’s absence. Holland still have numerous creative players to fill in the void left by Van de Vaart, and getting into their manager’s good books could be the easiest way to Old Trafford.

Several players scattered right across the 32 countries have been inflicted by this rather depressing World Cup injury bug. Prominent among them include Colombian hitman Radamel Falcao, the cornerstone of Jose Pekerman’s team, and also Belgian striker Christian Benteke. Spain meanwhile will be missing out on the services of Thiago Alcantara, while Victor Valdes is also out for La Roja, albeit giving David de Gea an opportunity to prove his credentials.

 As if this were not enough, a long list of players follows, who are still recovering from minor knocks and may or may not be back in time for Brazil. And frankly, the list is quite troubling for those eagerly awaiting the World Cup.

El pistolero : A man of many talents

Luis Suarez ,or El Pistolero, is as famous for his prowess with his feet, as he is for his ability with his hands and teeth. However it is his dodgy left knee that could keep him out of the Cup, and the injury may well mean that he has to walk alone and watch the Uruguayan team from a distance.

Diego Costa is another striker who raised quite a few eyebrows and ruffled numerous feathers by picking Spain over his native country of Brazil. He picked up a hamstring injury and then made a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in the Champion league final for Atletico Madrid. His prognosis remains unclear, and the man he seems set to replace at Chelsea, Fernando Torres, may well have to take up his mantle for Spain. A Spanish striker, hampered by injury, arriving at Stamford Bridge, with hopes of a bright future ahead. Deja vu, anyone?

Cristiano Ronaldo : Can you beat me at this Leo??

Cristiano Ronaldo needs little introduction. A thigh injury and a left knee problem didn’t keep him from playing in the Champions League final for Real Madrid, where his biggest contribution was taking off his shirt to celebrate Real’s fourth goal in a 4-1 victory. The Portuguese winger, current holder of the Ballon D’ Or, is desperately working to be fit in time for the World Cup, so that he can bare his back once more on a truly global stage.

Neymar is the latest addition to those doubtful for the World Cup. Instrumental in the Confederations Cup for Brazil, the boy wonder made his way to Barcelona from Santos for 50 million quid. No, not quite, the figure was nearer 60. Infact, it may well have been 70.  In all likelihood, it was in the region of 80, of which Santos barely saw 10 million. And now, Sandro Rosell has left the Camp Nou, at the possibility that it may actually have been as huge as 90 million. Not bad for a player who had an injury-scuppered season at the club, and has now left all of Brazil in a state of panic after going down clutching his ankle in training, possibly while attempting to take another selfie.

Neymar may well have to resign himself to taking selfies

The list is nigh on endless, with the likes of Manuel Neuer and Arturo Vidal also doubtful. At the end of it all, we come to the rather disturbing conclusion that we may well see many football superstars appearing on hospital monitors as opposed to television screens this summer. The World Cup may not prove to be the Carnival it promises to be.

The Genius in their midst

And what about the man who inspired such considerable food for thought? Latest reports suggest that Marco Reus is sidelined for a minimum of 3 months, news that must be excruciating for Jurgen Klopp, with midfield metronome Iikay Gundogan already in the midst of a long and arduous recovery. Reus was phenomenal for Dortmund last season, generous with his contributions in the form of both goals and assists. The highlight of his splendid season was surely the glorious demolition of Real Madrid, adorned with two fine goals, which eventually came to no avail. If only Henrikh Mkhitaryan had had his scoring boots on that night. As fate would have it, it was against Mkhitaryan’s Armenia that his World Cup dream came to a simpering end, much like Mkhitaryan’s shots on that night against Los Blancos.  A player with admirers all over the world, his absence will leave many a fan distraught. My own mate, for instance, bid farewell to all those nights of staying up and watching the World Cup, for a World Cup without Reus holds little meaning. I can quite imagine the poor fellow crying himself to sleep while the cup runs its course and Reus nurses his injury. As the action moves to Brazil, one can almost hear Diego Maradona recommending a German rendition of ‘Don’t Cry for me Argentina’ to the man with the golden hair. It is with the utmost regret that we must Rule out the Reus.

Reus shall be missed

Author : 

Somdeep Dey

Follow me on Twitter : @Red_deyvil



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