RM: Mario Gotze(Germany | Borussia Dortmund)
"I committed the mistake to talk about that sentence publicly afterwards," were the words of a disappointed Joachim Low, when talking about his famous quote in the World Cup 2014 Final.
The creative midfielder scored the only goal of the final to help Die Mannschaft lift the trophy, with Low telling Gotze to "show the world you can be better than Messi" when sending him on as a late substitute.
Things haven't been smooth since then for the young midfielder. After 2 disappointing seasons at Bayern, he returned to Dortmund. Though he showed flashes of brilliance, Gotze has not been the old self, that earned him a 37 million Euros switch to the Bavarians.
However, he was widely tipped to travel to Russia for a second consecutive time and was a shock omission for Germany.