The FIFA World cup is a football show piece where every footballer, young and old, established or upcoming, look forward to in their career to make an appearance and showcase themselves.
It is the most prestigious tournament, not in the world of football alone but in sports as a whole as it garners a huge number of viewers all around the world whenever it is on.
The world of football has seen lots of great players; remarkable and unforgettable because of their skills, however, some of these great remarkable players has never featured in the World Cup since its inceptions in 1930.
It is not that these players are not good enough, on the contrary, they are exceptional in their time, in fact they did very well for their respective club sides and left a huge shoe to fill when they left, but for situations beyond them, ranging from their national team not qualifying to the football show piece, to accidents, injuries, even disagreement with their country's FA posing an hindrance to them gracing the biggest stage of footballing festival.
To honour these players and their contribution to the game, we will give a brief insight into few of these players.
George Best: George Best is of Northern Ireland descendant, a Manchester United legend, took the British football by storm, won two league titles and the European Cup with Manchester United, he was voted European player of the year in 1968 after helping United lift the European Cup. George Best struggled with Alcohol, WOmen and gambling and this ended his footballing career abstructly.
George Weah: A Liberian International. Weah is considered one of the best African footballers of all time. George Weah featured for big clubs in Europe in his playing career, teams like AS Monaco, PSG, AC Milan, Chelsea all cannot forget his contribution to the success of the team. Weah was crowned the FIFA world Footballer of the year in 1995, but the inability of his national team to qualify for the World Cup in the African Region deterred him from gracing the world cup.
Eric Cantona: A very good skillful player, who featured for the French national team, captaining the team between 1993 and 1995 before he was banned for a violent conduct (his infamous 'kung fu' kick on a fan). Cantona managed 20 goals in 45 appearances for the Les Bleus, he was also voted Manchester United's player of the century in 2001. His arrogance and violent behaviour however ended his international career prematurely.
Ryan Giggs: A Wales international, prolific goal scorer, and a legend of the game. Giggs featured for Manchester United since 1991-1992 season and he has helped the team to win numerous trophies including two Champions League Trophies, Giggs is the first player to score in 11 successive Champions League seasons. He is regarded as the most decorated British footballer of all time. Giggs retired from international football in 2007 after being capped 60 times scoring 12 goals. Wales never made it to the biggest football show piece so, Giggs never had the opportunity to play at the biggest stage.
Ian Rush: A legend in Liverpool of Wales Descent, Ian Rush had a successful club career but like his country man, Giggs, he was unable to play at the World Cup because of Wales inability to qualify for the tournament. Rush scored 28 goals in 73 appearances for Wales in his 16 year international career
Alfredo di Stefano: Five time European cup winner with Real Madrid, di Stefano had more chances than most players to play in the world cup finals but he never did. Having featured for three different national side, - Argentina, Spain and Colombia - di Stefano only come close in 1962 when he was suppose to be part of the Spanish team but he pulled out of the tournament held in Chile due to injury. The injury that sidelined him back then finally ended his international career.
Bernd Schuster: A prolific midfielder in his days. The German born player featured for victorious West Germany team that won the European Championship in 1980, but major disagreement with coaches and team mates made him retire early from international football
Mark Hughes: Former Manchester United Welsh forward enjoyed great success in club football, especially during his 13 years at the club making 345 appearances and scoring 119 goals. Hughes also featured for the likes Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea winning several laurels.
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