One of the numerous things that some people will do to improve their chances of wearing their country’s shirt in the quadrennial competition is play through the agony.
On November 20, 2022, Qatar will play host to the beginning of the FIFA World Cup. In the annals of the tournament, this will be the very first time that it has ever been held during the winter. However, there are already several players who won’t participate owing to injuries they’ve had over the course of the last few weeks. Players such as Christopher Nkunku, Paul Pogba, Reece James, and Diogo Jota will not be participating in the major tournament held every four years.
On the other hand, some players have made the decision to either play through the discomfort or have trust that they will be able to return to their previous level of fitness before the games begin. Players have decided to play through their injuries in order to represent their countries at the World Cup. Let’s have a look at the players who are still traveling to the World Cup despite the fact that they are wounded.
Tenth Memphis Depay
The Netherlands, Senegal, and Ecuador will be competing against each other in Group A at the Qatar World Cup 2022. The group will be hosted by Qatar. They are surely going to be optimistic about their prospects of advancing to the knockout stages.
After having his transfer listed by Barcelona, Depay has not had the finest season by any stretch of the imagination. Due to injuries and a lack of recognition in the first squad, the Dutchman has had a rough time recently. Since leaving on a stretcher against Poland on September 22 during the Netherlands’ Nations League encounter, Depay has not returned to action for Barcelona, where he has played for fewer than 150 minutes overall this season.
Depay will still be included on Louis van Gaal’s World Cup roster despite this decision.
Ninth Kavin Philips
Kavin Philips has been out due to a shoulder ailment since undergoing surgery in September, but he is expected to play in City’s Carabao Cup match against Chelsea. On his return to action, Phillips played 40 minutes in the Carabao Cup triumph over Chelsea on Wednesday night. However, the total number of minutes that Phillips has played on the field so far this season is just 54.
In addition, he has been absent for a total of seven weeks, during which time he spent seven weeks recovering from shoulder surgery. But even before that, he didn’t play much for City: he only has three official appearances to his name, and in two of them, he came in in the last minute of the game.
But England manager Gareth Southgate has demonstrated trust in him by selecting him for the team that will compete in the World Cup, despite the fact that he has played so little this season.
Eight Richarlison Richardson
Since the first World Cup was contested in 1930, Brazil has been the only side in the history of the competition to take part in each and every one of its iterations.
On November 24, the team coached by Tite will play their first squad match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Cameroon, Serbia, and Switzerland, the champions of their respective qualifying groups in Europe, will provide Brazil with a formidable challenge.
In October, when playing for Tottenham against Everton, the Brazilian sustained a calf injury and had to be helped off the field early in the second half. The injury caused him to become questionable for the next match. Despite this, Tite chose to include Richarlison in the 2022 FIFA World Cup roster, which means that he will be one of the wounded players competing in the tournament.
Seventh Heung-Min Son
Despite sustaining a broken eye socket while playing for Tottenham in the Champions League earlier this month, Son Heung-Min was selected to be part of South Korea’s 26-man team for this month’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The tournament will take place in Qatar.
Son, who is 30 years old and has announced that he is healthy enough to play in the world cup, was selected for South Korea’s team by head coach Paulo Bento. The World Cup finals will be South Korea’s 10th straight participation in the tournament.
If the son is going to participate in any way at the Qatar World Cup, he may have to put on a mask to protect his face. In Group H, South Korea’s other opponents will be Ghana and Portugal, Bento’s home country.
Sixth Kyle Walker
Since sustaining an injury to his groin during City’s 6-3 thrashing of Manchester United on October 2, Walker has not returned to the field for a game of football. He had surgery on his groin after the match and has not played since. The month before last, Walker had surgery on his groin. It is also speculated that Southgate will choose him for the team with a high degree of probability.
Walker, who can play both at right back and as the right center defender in a three-at-the-back system, has been an invaluable asset for England due to his experience as well as his quickness.
Despite the fact that Walker, who is 32 years old and has been dealing with injury issues recently, Southgate decided to select him in his final team for the tournament that will take place this month.
Fifth Angel Di Maria
A strong run of 35 matches without a loss has propelled Argentina to the top of the table in South American soccer. Argentina also won the Copa America tournament in 2017, claiming victory against Brazil in the championship match at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro by a score of 1-0. They have not been champions of the World Cup since 1986 when the late Diego Maradona captained the team to victory.
Argentina, defending World Cup winners, will open their tournament slate on November 22 against Saudi Arabia, who are also in Argentina’s Group C, before going on to play Mexico and Poland.
Di Maria sustained the injury, a low-grade lesion to the hamstring of the right thigh, in their 2-0 loss to Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League. The 34-year-old then had scans, which determined that he would be out for around three weeks due to the ailment. However, Scaloni has made the decision to bring him despite the fact that he has not played in over a month.
Fourth Raphael Varane
Varane In Group D, which also includes Denmark and Tunisia, France will begin the defense of their championship on November 22 against Australia.
Raphael Varane, who plays for Manchester United, has been named in France’s World Cup team, despite the fact that he is currently healing from a leg injury. France is the reigning World Cup winner. Varane has been selected to be a member of France’s 25-man squad. In addition, he has already participated in the World Cup in both 2014 and 2018, thus this will be his third time doing so.
He did not miss a single minute of action in Russia, scoring a goal in the victory against Uruguay in the quarterfinals. After that, they defeated Belgium in the semifinals and Croatia in the final on their way to becoming world champions for the second time in their nation’s history.
Three Romelu Lukaku
Lukaku was loaned back to Inter over the summer months after falling out of favor with the Chelsea coaching staff. The attacker, though, has only been given the opportunity to start three games during his second stay in Italy.
Since the month of August came to a close, Lukaku has been limited to only two games for Inter by a hamstring injury. He was only there for a short time in October, yet he still managed to hurt himself. It is not anticipated that Lukaku will be in his peak physical condition by December. However, the manager of Belgium, Martinez, has expressed optimism that it may occur sooner.
With 68 goals scored in 102 matches for Belgium, Lukaku holds the record as the country’s all-time leading goal scorer. Since Roberto Martinez has included him in the team, the head coach is responsible for determining whether or not Romelu Lukaku is fit to participate. If that’s the case, one of the players on the standby list may take Lukaku’s position. Up to 24 hours before the start of the event, the club has the opportunity to switch out an ailing player with a healthy one.
Two Paulo Dybala
Since making the move to Roma in the summer on a free transfer, Paulo Dybala has scored seven goals in 11 matches for the club. Since making the move to AS Roma this season, his career has been given a new lease of life. Jose Mourinho was finally able to coax the Argentine into playing the finest football of his career, which had eluded him in the last days of his time at Juventus.
On October 9, Dybala converted a penalty kick for Roma, which proved to be the game-winning goal against Lecce. The final score was 2-1 in Roma’s favor, and they came away with all three points. However, Dybala had pain almost immediately in his quadriceps. It was reported in the media in Italy and Argentina that Dybala had torn the rectus femoris and sustained an injury to his left quadriceps, which would keep him out of play for four to eight weeks.
The opening game for Argentina is scheduled to take place on November 22 against Saudi Arabia, and the team will also compete against Mexico and Poland in Group C. It is not obvious what decision Scaloni would make if Dybala is unable to participate in the group stage but may be eligible for the knockout stage action, which starts on December 3.
One Sadio Mane
Sadio Mane is one of the most well-known wounded players that has been invited to compete in the World Cup in 2022. After hitting the game-winning goal from the penalty spot in Senegal’s shootout victory over Egypt in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations championship match, Mane has become a revered figure in the country. The 30-year-old player was the driving force behind his country’s triumph in the Africa Cup of Nations.
After suffering a knee injury in Bayern’s match against Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, it was first anticipated that Mane could not be able to participate in this year’s World Cup. Aliou Cisse, the head coach of Senegal’s national team, believes that former Liverpool star Sadio Mane is essential to the team’s success at the World Cup in Qatar, thus he was ready to take a chance by including Mane in his roster of 26 players for the tournament.
