World Cup 2018: 5 top footballers snubbed for the Mundial

#1 Mauro Icardi (Argentina)

Mauro Icardi was snubbed despite having a prolific season for his club.

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.