The 2026 Soccer World Cup It will have two historic distinctions: it will be the first World Cup that will have 48 teams and the first that will be held in three countries. (Mexico, Canada and the United States).
The figures will also be present and names like Kylian Mbappe Erling Haaland, Lamine Yamal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luka Modric and Neymar Jr. they confirm it.
However, not everything is rosy, because there are footballers who play in national teams that did not have enough material to reach the world tournament.
One of the loudest is Gianluigi Donnarummagoalkeeper of the Italian National Team who has won Champions and Euro Cupbut has never been present at a Soccer World Cup.
The reason? The failures that the “Azzurra” has suffered since 2018 in the World Cup qualifiers.
The last one occurred in one of the UEFA 2026 playoff finals, a stage where Italy faced Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Balkans defeated the Italians on penalties and qualified for the second World Cup in their history while Donnarumma He put his hands on his head, regretting the moment.
There are few forward centers who have the career of Robert Lewandowski.
The Pole has scored 628 goals and has had the opportunity to win the The Best FIFA Men’s Player and in one the UEFA Best Player in Europe.
That talent was shown in his last season with the Barcelona Football Club when he scored 14 goals and distribute three assists in 34 games.
The Polish National Team was eliminated by Sweden in the UEFA playoffs and missed the opportunity to return to a World Cup, which meant that Lewandoski, top scorer in the country’s history with 89 targetswas left out too.
Two things are complicated to do with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia: pronounce his full name and have a one-on-one with him.
The Georgian had a brilliant time in Napoli (2022-2025) in Italy, he was even champion with those from the south of the “boot”. In addition, days ago he managed to win his second UEFA Champions League with Paris Saint Germain.
With Georgia he qualified Euro 2024However, the energy was not enough to reach United 2026 and consecrate yourself to history.
Being eliminated from a competition with a last-minute goal is one of the many frustrations that athletes experience on the field of play.
That was the case of Hungarywhich tied with Ireland in the last game of group F of the European qualifiers for the World Cup. However, Troy Parrott extinguished those aspirations and caused the sadness of a town and of Dominik Szoboszlai by leaving Hungary out and denying them passage to the playoffs.
The Hungarian midfielder had distributed seven assists, scored six goals and completed 88% of his passes in 36 games with Liverpool in England.
Nevertheless, Szoboszlai He will have to wait to get to the World Cup.
Nigeria’s last two qualifying processes have ended in failure (2022 and 2026) and the center forward was involved in both. Victor Oshimen.
In the 2026 African qualifiers, the “Super Eagles“They wanted to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo behind and take the last ticket to the international playoffs. However, the Congo team beat them on penalties (3-4) and then transformed the opportunity into a qualification for the World Cup party.
The eight notes of Oshimen in that knockout phase they were in vain and their talent will have to wait to show itself in a Soccer World Cup.
