world cup 2014

C6-7
WORLD CUP 2014
THE global
STARS WHO
MISSED OUT
Jari Litmanen
National team: Finland
International caps: 137 (1989-2010).
Goals: 32
Club career highlights (appearances/
goals): Ajax 1992-99 & 2002-04 (179/96);
Barcelona 1999-2001 (21/3); Liverpool 200102 (26/5)
Honours: Dutch Eredivisie winner (1994, 95,
96, 98), Dutch Cup winner (1993, 98, 99), Uefa
Champions League winner (1995), Uefa Cup
winner (2001), FA Cup winner (2001), English
League Cup winner (2001), Ballon d’Or third
place (1995)
Background: Litmanen found fame throughout Europe in the 1990s and 2000s thanks to
his time with Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool,
winning the Champions League with the Dutch
giants in 1995 and a cup treble with Liverpool
in 2001. Unfortunately the talented second
striker was unable to inspire Finland to a first
ever major international tournament, so the
World Cup never got to witness any of his
classy performances.
Abedi Pele
National team: Ghana
International caps: 73 (1982-1998).
Goals: 33
Club career highlights (appearances/
goals): Marseille 1987-89 & 1990-93 (112/23);
Lille 1988-90 (61/16); Lyon 1993-94 (29/3);
Torino 1994-96 (49/11); 1860 Munich 1996-98
(50/2); Al Ain 1998-2000 (31/28)
Honours: Uefa Champions League winner
(1993), Ligue 1 winner (1991, 92), UAE ProLeague winner (2000), UAE President’s Cup
winner (1999), African Cup of Nations winner
(1982), African Footballer of the Year (1991, 92,
93), Serie A Best Foreign Player (1996), African
Cup of Nations Golden Ball winner (1992)
Background: Abedi Ayew (nicknamed Pele
because of his talent) is undoubtedly an
African football legend, winning the continent’s
Cup of Nations with Ghana in 1982 and being
named best player at the 1992 edition. Pele
also excelled in Europe, particularly in France
with Marseille, where he won three league titles
(although one was later revoked) and played in
two European Cup/Champions League finals,
winning one. The attacking midfielder’s dribbling skills and goalscoring were legendary, but
Ghana never qualified for a World Cup in his
playing days.
Gulf News | Saturday, April 12, 2014 | gulfnews.com
Next Special Report
In the next editon of Gulf News’ countdown
to the 2014 World Cup, we look at the
potential stars of this year’s tournament,
such as Brazil’s big hope Neymar
61
DAYS TO GO
With just two months to go until the 2014 Fifa
World Cup kicks off in Brazil, Gulf News brings
you the latest in a series of monthly features
looking ahead to the biggest show on Planet
Football. Today we look at some of the sport’s
most famous names who unfortunately missed
out on gracing the World Cup — the global stage
that was befitting of their talents.
Ryan Giggs
National team: Wales
International caps: 64 (19912007).
Goals: 12
Club career highlights
(appearances/goals):
Manchester United 1990(670/114)
Honours: Premier League winner (13 times),
FA Cup winner (1994, 96, 99, 2004), English
League Cup winner (1992, 2006, 09, 10), Uefa
Champions League winner (1999, 2008), Fifa
Club World Cup winner (2008), PFA Players’
Player of the Year (2009), BBC Sports Personality of the Year (2009)
Background: Giggs is surely the player of the
Premier League era in England, having played
consistently for all-conquering Manchester
United from the age of 17 in 1991 to the present
day, aged 40. The flying winger-turned-cultured central midfielder played 64 times for
Wales but was unable to help them qualify for
a major tournament.
George Weah
National team: Liberia
International caps: 60 (1987-2007).
Goals: 22
Club career highlights (appearances/
goals): Monaco 1988-92 (103/47), Paris
St Germain 1992-95 (96/32), AC Milan
1995-2000 (114/46), Chelsea 2000 (11/3)
Honours: Ligue 1 winner (1994), French
Cup winner (1991, 93, 95), Serie A winner
(1996, 99), FA Cup winner (2000), African
Footballer of the Year (1989, 94, 95),
Ballon d’Or winner (1995), Fifa World
Player of the Year winner (1995) and
runner-up (1996)
Background: Weah was a deadly
striker who won top honours in
France and Italy before playing in
England and ending his career with Al
Jazira in the UAE. He is undoubtedly
Liberia’s best ever player, but the lone
stars have never reached a World Cup —
their best qualification campaign being
for the 2002 event, when Weah led
them to within a point of reaching Japan
and South Korea.
Ian Rush
National team: Wales
International caps: 73 (1980-1996).
Goals: 28
Club career highlights (appearances/
goals): Liverpool 1980-87 & 1988-96
(449/229); Juventus 1987-88 (29/7)
Honours: English First Division
(EPL) winner (1982, 83, 84, 86,
90), FA Cup winner (1986, 89, 92),
English League Cup winner (1981,
82, 83, 84, 95), Uefa European Cup/
Champions League winner (1981, 84),
PFA Players’ Player of the Year (1984), FWA
Footballer of the Year (1984), European
Golden Boot winner (1984)
Background: Prolific goalscorer Rush is
widely regarded as one of Liverpool’s best
ever players and was a key figure in the
club’s dominance of English (5 league titles)
and European (2 European Cups) football
in the 1980s. He scored 346 goals in two
spells at Anfield and is Wales’ all-time leading scorer, but his national team agonisingly
missed out on qualifying for
three World Cups (1982, 86,
94) during his career.
George Best
(Northern Ireland, 1964-77)
National team: Northern Ireland
International caps: 37 (1964-77).
Goals: 9
Club career highlights (appearances/
goals): Manchester United 1963-74
(361/137)
Honours: English First Division (EPL)
winner (1965, 67), Uefa European Cup/
Champions League winner (1968), FWA
Footballer of the Year (1968), Ballon d’Or
winner (1968)
Background: It could be argued that Best
is the most talented footballer ever to have
played the game — perhaps better even
than Pele or Diego Maradona — but the
Belfast-born star was ravaged by off-field
problems and his outrageous skills were
never fully fulfilled, despite his early success
at Manchester United. Northern Ireland
failed to qualify for the World Cup during
Best’s prime, although they did make the
1982 tournament in Spain, but by then he
was 36 and his star had long since faded.
Laszlo Kubala
Bernd Schuster
National team: West Germany
International caps: 21 (19791984).
Goals: 4
Club career highlights (appearances/goals): Cologne
1978-80 (61/10); Barcelona
1980-88 (170/63); Real Madrid
1988-90 (61/13); Atletico
Madrid 1990-93 (85/11); Bayer
Leverkusen 1993-96 (59/8)
Video
Honours:
Uefa European Championship winner (1980), La Liga winner (1985, 89, 90), Copa
del Rey winner (1981, 83, 88, 89, 91, 92), Uefa
European
Cup Winners Cup winner (1982),
Have
your say
Uefa European Cup runner-up (1986), La Liga
Best Foreign Player (1985, 91), European Footballer of the Year runner-up (1980)
Background:
The ‘Blonde Angel’ featured in
SMS us
West Germany’s 1980 European Championship success and would have played for his
country many more times but for a series of
fall-outs.
Schuster reportedly argued with
Facebook
coach Jupp Derwall and teammate Paul Breitner, causing him to quit international football
at the age of 24 in 1984 — but the goalscoring
midfielder
still enjoyed a stellar club career in
Call us
Spain.
BLOG
On the web
Slide
Photo
galleryshow: For a gallery log on to
gulfnews.com
Write us
Duncan Edwards
Eric Cantona
National team: France
International caps: 45 (19871995).
Goals: 20
Club career highlights (appearances/goals): Auxerre 1983-88 (82/23),
Marseille 1988-91 (40/13), Leeds United
1992 (28/9), Manchester United 1992-97
(143/64)
Honours: Ligue 1 winner (1989, 91), French
Cup winner (1990), English Premier League
winner (1992, 93, 94, 96, 97), FA Cup winner
(1994, 96), Uefa European Under-21 Championship winner (1988), Ballon d’Or third place
(1993), PFA Players’ Player of the Year (1994),
FWA Footballer of the Year (1996)
Background: Controversial forward Cantona
played a key role in Manchester United’s emergence under Alex Ferguson in the 1990s, winning four EPL titles in his five years at the club,
but his eight-month suspension for attacking
a Crystal Palace fan after being sent off in a
match in 1995 effectively ended his international career. Cantona was part of the France
team that missed out on USA 1994 after
losing their final qualifying match at home
to Bulgaria and, when he returned from
his ban ahead of Euro 96, his place had
been taken by Zinedine Zidane and he
never played for his country again.
National teams: Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Spain
International caps: 28 (1946-61).
Goals: 15
Club career highlights (appearances/goals): Ferencvaros 1945-46
(49/27), Barcelona 1951-61 (186/131)
Honours: La Liga winner (1952,
53, 59, 60), Copa del Rey
winner (1951, 52, 53, 57, 59),
Inter-Cities Fairs
Cup winner
(1958, 60)
Background:
Kubala played
for three different national teams as he travelled
around post-Second World War
Europe, but it was with Spain that he
came closest to a World Cup finals as
he only missed out on the 1962 tournament due to injury. The Budapestborn all-round forward is known as
one of Barcelona’s best ever players,
but he almost didn’t make it that
far as he was supposed to be
on the Torino team plane
that crashed and killed all
31 people on board in the
Superga air disaster of
1949.
National team: England
International caps: 18 (1955-58).
Goals: 5
Club career highlights (appearances/goals): Manchester United
1953-58 (151/20)
Honours: English First Division (EPL)
winner (1956, 57), FA Cup runner-up
(1957)
Background: Edwards broke
into the Manchester United
team as a teenager and
helped them win back-toback league titles in 1956 and
57. The defensive midfielder
with an intimidating physique
and flawless technique looked
set to show off his talent on the global
stage at the 1958 World Cup, but his life
was tragically cut short by the Munich
air disaster of February that year, when
the 21-year-old was one of eight United
players killed on the way home from a
European Cup tie in Belgrade.
Alfredo di Stefano
National team: Argentina, Colombia, Spain
International caps: 41 (1947-61). Goals: 29
Club career highlights (appearances/goals):
River Plate 1945-51 (66/49), Millonarios 195153 (102/90), Real Madrid 1953-64 (284/216)
Honours: Copa America winner (1947),
Argentine Primera Division winner
(1945, 47), Colombian
Championship winner
(1949, 51, 52), La Liga winner (1954, 55, 57, 58, 61, 62,
63, 64), Copa del Rey winner (1962), Uefa European
Cup/Champions League winner (1956, 57, 58, 59,
60), Ballon d’Or winner (1957, 59)
Background: Di Stefano is one of the most decorated players ever, with a succession of league
titles for River Plate in his homeland of Argentina,
Millonarios of Colombia and in Spain with Real
Madrid. The ‘Blond Arrow’ was a key member of
the Real side that dominated La Liga and Europe
in the 1950s, as he played in all of the team’s five
successive European Cup final triumphs. But the
powerful forward missed out on the 1950 and
1954 World Cups as Argentina didn’t take part
and, after taking Spanish citizenship, helped his
adopted country qualify for the 1962 event, only
for an injury to mean he missed out on gracing
the biggest stage in the twilight of his career.