5 stars who picked up injuries before the World Cup

#3 Michael Ballack

Ballack in 2006

The second German on the list, Ballack had his hopes of featuring in his third World Cup dashed while playing for Chelsea. The Germans had a pretty young team but they did have a few experienced players as well.

The likes of Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose always performed regardless of their age when they put on the German shirt. But it was Ballack who was the captain for eternity and was expected to gee up the younger players for the biggest tournament in football.

33 at the time, Ballack suffered from torn ligaments on his right ankle after Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng's reckless tackle.

Ballack was gutted of course and said, "It's bitter to get a diagnosis like that before the World Cup.

"There's naturally a lot of disappointment. But that's football. Life goes on."