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Not qualified to play the World Cup
“And perhaps deep down, I had been frightened that I might not have been able to stay dry during the World Cup and would end up making a fool of myself.” Only George Best could say it like this and not be censured.
Still good enough
Best would have been 36 when Spain hosted the World Cup but in 1981, Northern Ireland coach Billy Bingham thought he was good enough to be included for a qualifier against Scotland. Bingham changed his mind, says Best in “Blessed”, his autobiography, because he felt Best, then playing in the North American Soccer League, lacked fitness.
“But it was not the end of my World Cup dream,” he writes. There was an offer to join Middlesbrough and help them stay in the top division. “Show Billy Bingham that you can still do it, you are bound to go to the World Cup,” Middlesbrough manager Bobby Murdoch told him. A new dad then, Best says he turned it down because he “didn’t fancy playing for another poor team, nor stepping back into the media circus that my return to England would have become.”
The World Cup also didn’t appeal to him because Best knew that even if he had trained hard (despite his drink problem, he could do that), Northern Ireland wouldn’t have gone very far. “I never wanted to go to any tournament just to make up the numbers…” Not even in his fourth decade and with a knee so dodgy that it would sometimes need to be drained three times a day.
As it turned out, Northern Ireland made it to the second round (which was as far as the Brazil side with an abundance of attacking midfielders did), beating hosts Spain. They drew with Austria and were eliminated after a defeat to France. Norman Whiteside, another Northern Ireland player who would go on to have a good career at Manchester United, replaced Pele as the youngest in a World Cup in that edition.
Berth pangs
Forty-four years later, the 23rd edition will not see the man whose wing play has drawn comparisons with Best. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has won back to back Champions League titles; his trickery, speed and dribbling skills have stupefied defenders and delighted spectators at Napoli and Paris St-Germain. And his work ethic has helped left back Nuno Mendes. Luis Enrique has helped me become better defensively, Kvaratskhelia has said of his club manager.
At Naples, they called him “Kvaradona” and he played in a stadium bearing the great man’s name. He has won the league in Italy and France, been part of the last-16 in a European championship but with five defeats in six qualifying matches, Georgia blew their chances of making the cut.
Even the addition of 16 more berths couldn’t prevent Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Robert Lewandowski, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sandro Tonali, Ricardo Calafiori, Christian Eriksen, Bryan Mbuemo and Dominik Szoboszlai from a summer holiday they possibly wouldn’t have wanted. Winsportsonline compiled a list of the 21 most expensive players whose teams did not qualify and found that nine, the most from one league, play in the Premier League.
The Nigeria of Osimhen and Lookman lost to DR Congo on penalties in a play-off. Eriksen’s illness led to a Denmark friendly being called off but by then they had been eliminated by Czechia. Szoboszlai’s Hungary were third in their group and failed to make the play-offs. Viktor Gyokeres’s goal took out Poland and ended Lewandowski’s hopes of a last dance. Italy became the only former champions to have missed out on three successive editions when Bosnia and Herzegovina beat them in the shootout.
“Now is the beginning,” the dreadlocked Rigobert Song had said in his deep voice after Cameroon became the first African team to beat Brazil. With Andre Onana leaving during the World Cup after a fallout with Song – they have a history with goalkeepers going back to 1990 when Joseph Antoine-Bell spoke of a 0-3 defeat being a good result in the opener against Argentina leading to Thomas N’Kono being drafted into the 11 at the last minute – it had been a turbulent World Cup. But Cameroon had forced a thrilling draw against Serbia and then left Tite saying “history will remember him as the first coach of Brazil to lose to an African team.” Less than four years later, Mbuemo’s Cameroon missed out on the three-nation World Cup after defeats to Cape Verde and DR Congo.
Best isn’t the only big name to have never played a World Cup. The “blonde arrow” Alfredo di Stefano didn’t and neither did Ian Rush or Ryan Giggs. And the only Weah who has been part of the finals is Timothy.
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