World Cup 2018: 5 top footballers snubbed for the Mundial

With the FIFA World Cup only weeks away, the participating countries have been busy announcing their provisional squad to compete in the beautiful game's biggest spectacle.

At the time of writing, the majority of countries have already chosen the players on whose shoulders they will place their hopes of a memorable World Cup performance. However, some of the coaches' squad selection have left the fans flabbergasted and drawn the ire of critics.

It is to be noted that the provisional squads are liable to change but, barring the occurrence of an untimely injury to a player, they are likely to be final. In this list, we look at the five biggest names excluded from their respective country's World Cup squad.

#5 Mario Gotze (Germany)

After he scored the decisive goal in last rendition's final on the back of a trophy-laden club season with Bayern Munich, few could have really imagined the possibility of Götze's career declining as alarmingly as it did in the following years, ultimately leading to him missing out on the 2018 World Cup berth for Germany.

His drop in form and fitness is so unfortunately surreal that it almost feels as if that goal, which he scored to seal the World Cup for Die Mannschaft, jinxed his future.

Since the winning goal Götze scored in Brazil, he has gone on to fall out of favour with the then Bayern Manager Pep Guardiola, prompting him to take a U-turn back to Dortmund in the 2016-17 transfer window.

Even his return to the Signal Iduna Park was not a pleasant one as he was sidelined with fitness issues for a long period. It wasn't until this season that he was able to show glimpses of the Mario Götze of old.

Apparently, those performances weren't enough for German Coach Joachim Löw to pick him in his squad for Russia as he still believes that Götze is just a shadow of the player that won him the winners medal four years ago.

The progress of a young Mario (he was just 22 years old when he won the World Cup) whom we saw pry away the biggest prize in world football from a Messi led Argentina on their own continent, has been so dismal that Joachim Löw himself regretted publicly revealing his words of motivation for him on the night of the final, this he believes put immense pressure to perform on a midfield wizard who was yet to learn his trade completely.

Therefore, Götze's exclusion was less of a surprise and more of an inevitability.

#4 Alvaro Morata (Spain)

What one season signifies in a footballer's life is exemplified by, if you will, the curious case of Alvaro Morata.

If a season ago, someone had predicted Morata to be overlooked for the World Cup squad by Spain's Manager Julen Lopetegui, people wouldn't have believed him and instead would have him given him a list of reasons why he would be important for them in Russia.

But things change so fast in the world of football that what was seemingly an impossible scenario till last season is now a staring reality.

In the 2016-17 season, Álvaro Morata found his footing after a return to his boyhood club Real Madrid as he scored 20 goals and provided 6 assists in 43 appearances and helped them on their way to a Champions League and La Liga double.

Around this time, Lopetegui and Spanish fans became enamoured by Morata as he continued his fine goal-scoring form for La Roja as well. Although Morata delivered for Real Madrid whenever Zidane called on him, he was still designated as the second-choice striker to Karim Benzema whose goal stats were anything but impressive.

The unfathomable trust Zidane showed for his fellow Frenchman became a source of doubt for Morata, who was in search of more minutes. One thing led to another and he finally decided it was best to go somewhere else if he wanted more playing time to avoid jeopardising his claim for a national team spot in the forthcoming World Cup.

The next season, he switched to English champions Chelsea to replace fellow Spaniard Diego Costa, and reunited with his former boss at Juventus, Antonio Conte. He began his tenure at Stamford Bridge in an unconvincing fashion, missing the penalty which handed the Community Shield to Arsenal and then found it increasingly difficult to bag goals regularly, which is really the prime obligation of the league's most expensive striker.

The injury problems he faced near the end of this season meant he had to sit out some games. When he made his recovery, he couldn't hold a place in the lineup (notice the irony) as the new January signing, Olivier Giroud, overtook him in the pecking order.

The reputation of the man who is touted as the face of the new generation of the Spanish attack was tarnished in one poor season. Now in his absence, the veteran striker Diego Costa will once again lead the attack for Spain in the World Cup.

#3 Radja Nainggolan (Belgium)

Believed by many to be one of the most complete midfielders in the world, Radja Nainggolan is a man of many skills. He is a sturdy, tireless, classic box-to-box midfielder, who can contribute offensively and defensively to his team.

On the attack, he creates chances for his team and can also launch accurate shots from long-range. On the defensive front, he makes good use of his physicality and defensive prowess to regain possession in his own half and start a counter-attack.

He also possesses great vision and passing skill, which allow him to control the game from the centre of the pitch. This versatility in midfield is the reason why Belgian Manager Roberto Martinez is being criticised for overlooking Nainggolan, who has also been the main man at his club AS Roma for so many years.

He has scored 6 times and assisted 12 times in his 42 outings this season for AS Roma and played a key role in their scintillating Champions League run during which they even overcame cup favourites FC Barcelona.

The one and only time Nainggolan was picked for a big tournament with Belgium was when he was named in the Euro 2016 squad by former manager Marc Wilmots. Besides that, he has regularly been ignored by his national team managers, missing the 2014 World Cup (he was relegated to the standby list) and the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in the past.

The midfield maestro's string of omissions from the national squad lacks statistical basis to such a degree that it is often seen to be a consequence of his off-pitch habit of smoking, which is frowned upon in the field of sports.

However, Martinez has debunked such correlation by clarifying that the Roma captain just doesn't fit in his current system. Whatever the reason may be, it is clear from Radja Nainggolan's record that the problem isn't with him, the problem lies somewhere else.

Moreover, the latest snub has turned out to be very provocative, prompting the Roma midfielder to declare his retirement from international duty at the peak age of 29.

In the aftermath, the disgruntled fans have decided to peacefully protest against Martinez's decision in Belgium's friendlies leading to the World Cup, whereas on the other side, the Belgian FA has extended his contract till 2020 as a show of their support.

Evidently, not everyone has the same view regarding this squad selection and Belgians are divided over the veteran's exclusion.

#2 Karim Benzema (France)

The saga involving Karim Benzema and French Manager Didier Deschamps is painfully old, and the tendency of the latter to continue this internal feud has made the selection snub Benzema regularly receives a common practice.

Going into retrospect, it all began when the Real Madrid striker was implicated in French teammate Mathieu Valbuena's sex-tape blackmail case, in which he was accused of assisting the blackmailers to extract a ransom from his teammate.

Ever since this news surfaced, Deschamps has not picked either Benzema or Valbuena to avoid compromising his squad's integrity and morale, which were severely damaged after the emergence of Benzema's role in the Valbuena case.

Judging by their squad role and the stage of their respective careers, clearly it is Benzema who suffers a greater loss than Valbuena from not representing France. He was not selected for Euro 2016 hosted in his home country, was not a part of France's World Cup qualifying matches and friendlies in the last few years, and lately was snubbed for France's 2018 World Cup squad.

The harsh manner of the French-Algerian striker's ostracism from the national squad has also generated accusations of Deschamps giving him the racial treatment.

In the meantime, Benzema has enjoyed club-level success winning an unprecedented third UEFA Champions League on the bounce with Real Madrid, having scored the opener against Liverpool in Kiev last week.

Following this triumph, former French international and Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribéry took a dig at Deschamps for snubbing Benzema yet again.

No matter how many trophies he might win at his club, it seems highly unlikely that Karim Benzema would don the colours of Les Bleus again as long as Didier Deschamps is there at the helm, a belief that he himself has backed.

#1 Mauro Icardi (Argentina)

Having scored the most goals in one of Europe's top leagues, having had a remarkable league campaign with his club, and having helped the club secure Champions League football for next season on the final day, a player would normally assume his place to be virtually guaranteed in the World Cup squad unless of course the player being talked about is Argentine striker Mauro Icardi.

This is just how unfair life has turned out to be for the high-scoring Inter forward and his World Cup dreams.

Playing for his club Internazionale, Icardi has shown tremendous form throughout the season, scoring 29 goals in Serie A, making him the joint highest goalscorer alongside Lazio's Immobile.

Owing to his sublime form, Inter managed to stay at the top of the table for some time before eventually settling on the last Champions League qualification spot (fourth position), courtesy of a dramatic comeback win on the last match-day in which Icardi scored.

The only reasonable excuse one can deduce for Icardi's absence from the squad list would be the fact that Argentina is blessed with a plethora of world-class strikers, which may have forced Manager Jorge Sampaoli to leave out the Inter skipper despite his brilliant figures for his club last season.

Besides, Argentina's midfield and defense needed more urgent attention as they could act as La Albiceleste's vulnerable spots if not sorted out and this may have left no option for Sampaoli but to drop a surplus striker, and with an array of talented forwards including Messi, Di María, Agüero, Higuaín, Dybala and Icardi, who wouldn't have a selection headache?

The decision to drop any of such proven goalscorers would be seen as an open invitation to criticism. But, perhaps, the one logical thing Sampaoli could have done is to pick Icardi ahead of Pavón, who has made it in the provisional squad for Russia but has never even played in a league outside Argentina yet.

Edited by Anthony Akatugba Jr.