Toney, Firmino among high-profile World Cup snubs
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The reality of World Cup rosters being capped at 26 means that some very good players aren’t going to be able to represent their nations next week in Qatar.
Whether it’s due to performance, injury or a disagreement with a manager, certain players will be left wondering why they won’t be on a plane with their countrymen to world football’s biggest stage.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest names who won’t be competing at World Cup 2022.
FW Roberto Firmino, Brazil – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called Roberto Firmino’s omission from Tite’s Brazil squad “madness” and said that it was obviously weighing on the 31-year-old forward. “A blow, definitely,” Klopp said of Firmino’s reaction to the snub ahead of Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Southampton. “You couldn’t see it in training, but definitely [it was there]. It was [a blow] for me [too], to be honest. I’m happy we have Bobby, but he deserves it. I think he deserves everything, to be honest. It just shows how incredibly good and talented this Brazil squad is if you can leave a player like Bobby Firmino out. Madness.” Firmino took out his frustrations on Saints, scoring his seventh Premier League goal of the season in the win. Capped 55 times by Brazil and a member of La Selecao at World Cup 2018 in Russia, Firmino was an unused substitute in September friendlies against Tunisia and Ghana, but still appeared in line for a call-up. Reports in Brazil indicated that Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli was the selection instead of Firmino. Antony (Manchester United), Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal), Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona), Rodrygo (Real Madrid) and Pedro (Flamengo) were the other forwards selected to the squad.
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GK David de Gea, DF Sergio Ramos and MF Thiago Alcantara, Spain – Luis Enrique had some difficult choices to make in picking his Spain squad, including leaving a trio of experienced veterans off of his roster in Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, Paris Saint-Germain centre-back Sergio Ramos and Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara. For de Gea, who is still only 32 years of age, the snub was the latest setback in an international career that has seen the Madrid-born player fail to become indispensable. Once seen as the long-term replacement for Iker Casillas, de Gea’s run as Spain’s No. 1 was not a long one. While he played well enough at Euro 2016, his performance at World Cup 2018 was poor, struggling mightily at times and blaming his inconsistency on the new game ball. While de Gea was picked for Euro 2020, he was an unused substitute in all matches. Athletic Bilbao’s Unai Simon, Robert Sanchez of Brighton and Brentford’s David Raya are Enrique’s three keepers for Qatar. A serial winner, including the 2010 World Cup, Ramos has not taken his omission well, admitting that it hurts heavily. “Of course, it was one of those big dreams I had to fulfill,” he wrote on Instagram. “Would have been the fifth [World Cup appearance], but unfortunately, I'll have to watch it from my house. It's hard, but every day the sun comes back up. Absolutely nothing will change about me.” The choice to overlook the 36-year-old Ramos, who also didn’t feature at Euro 2020, largely came down to a lack of football over the past year. While Ramos has made 20 appearances across all competitions during the current season for PSG, his first year with the team was limited by a series of injuries that saw him make only 13 appearances. A healthy Thiago has been transformational in his time at Anfield, but he’s been limited to only eight league appearances this season with a hamstring strain. Enrique suggested that had this been a more traditional World Cup (that is, played in the summer), then perhaps a player dealing with injury could have been included, but there just isn’t the time for that right now. “If it were a normal World Cup, we would integrate the physical needs into the training, but halfway through the season we are not going to work on the physical level of a player,” Enrique said of his decision-making.”
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FW Wissam Ben Yedder, France – Wissam Ben Yedder has been one of Ligue 1’s deadliest hitmen since his return to the French top flight in 2019 with Monaco. In 113 league matches over the past four seasons, the 32-year-old Sarcelles native has 69 goals. Still, being one of the most prolific goal scorers in France wasn’t enough for Ben Yedder to earn a place on Didier Deschamps’ France squad in Qatar, with a slow start to the current season the likely culprit. Ben Yedder has six goals in 13 Ligue 1 appearances thus far in 2022-2023. The signs that Ben Yedder, a member of Les Bleus’ Euro 2020 team, might miss out where there with him not called up during the team’s September friendlies. Age was certainly not a factor in Deschamps’ decision with 36-year-old Olivier Giroud of Milan and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, 34, getting the call as the side’s only true strikers. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig), Marcus Thuram (Borussia Monchengladbach) and Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich) make up the rest of France’s forward complement.
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FW Ivan Toney, Brentford – England manager Gareth Southgate was well aware of a few headaches he was going to have with drawing up his final squad. Centre-back Harry Maguire has seen only limited playing time at Manchester United this season, but he’s still going to Qatar, largely due to Southgate’s trust in the player. Despite struggling at Liverpool this season, Trent Alexander-Arnold was preferred at right-back to Chelsea’s Reece James. The biggest consternation facing Southgate was what to do with his forward options. Winger Jadon Sancho’s fall down the pecking order at Old Trafford meant that he was no longer in the conversation, but teammate Marcus Rashford, who has rounded into form in recent weeks after a largely forgettable 2021-2022 season, was selected. Also going to Qatar are Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling of Chelsea, Manchester City duo Jack Grealish and Phil Foden and Leicester City’s James Maddison. The final forward spot appeared to be a choice between Newcastle’s Callum Wilson and Ivan Toney of Brentford with Southgate going with the former. The 30-year-old Wilson has only four caps and hasn’t been selected to a Three Lions team since 2019, but his six goals in 11 league matches this season caught Southgate’s eye. But Toney has 10 goals in 12 appearances and showed his quality again on Saturday with a brace that gave the Bees a stunning 2-1 win over champions Manchester City. The Northampton-born Toney’s trajectory has been a stunning one. After seven seasons in League One, Toney made his Championship debut with Brentford in 2020-2021 and promptly scored 31 league goals to power the Bees to promotion to the Premier League for the first time. In his first Premier League season last year, Toney notched 12 goals and firmly put himself on the radar of some of England’s heavyweights. Still, a first England appearance has proved to be elusive for the 26-year-old Toney. He was called up for Nations League matches in September against Italy and Germany but did not play. The snub will be a bitter pill to swallow for Toney, who has done everything in his power to merit selection. While he’s not headed to Qatar, an international breakthrough for Toney appears to be inevitable.
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DF Robin Gosens, Germany – Since his first call-up to Die Mannschaft in a 2020 Nations League match, Robin Gosens has been a regular fixture in Germany squads, making 14 appearances and was a member of the team at Euro 2020 where he scored his first international goal. But the Inter left-back isn’t headed to Qatar, with manager Hansi Flick opting for a fairly inexperienced group of defenders. While Real Madrid centre-back Antonio Rudiger (54 caps), Borussia Dortmund’s Niklas Sule (42) and Frieburg’s Matthias Ginter (46) have a wealth of international experience, the rest of the defence (Southampton’s Armel Bella-Kotchap, Nico Schlotterbeck of Borussia Dortmund, Freiburg’s Christian Gunter, RB Leipzig’s Lukas Klostermann and David Raum and West Ham’s Thilo Kehrer) have combined for a total of 63 caps. Flick says that Gosens’s omission is due to a lack of playing time over the past year. Gosens split last season between Atalanta and Inter and made a permanent move this past summer. Thus far, Gosens has made 18 appearances across all competitions this season after a combined 17 last year. “Robin Gosens had very few appearances last year,” Flick said last week. “I think he himself can understand very well that we made this decision. It has nothing to do with his quality, but with the rhythm. Both Raum and Gunter are doing well at their clubs.” With no Gosens on the roster, there will be no Serie A representatives for Die Mannschaft in Qatar.