Football / Reaction / Missing Players World Cup Special

Missing Players: World Cup Special

A detailed look at the key missing players in this Summer's World Cup including Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba.

An injured Didier Drogba




Michael Essien – Ghana

Ghana lost their best player to a long-term knee injury that is set to keep the Chelsea star out till the end of July. Dating back to the 2006 World Cup Essien has played 20 of 30 competitive matches for the Black Stars and been on the winning side 15 times while suffering defeat on four occasions. In contrast, Ghana has lost six of their 10 matches without him while winning the other four.

Essien’s quality was also seen at the start of last season for Chelsea as the Blues won 77% of the 13 matches he played for them compared to 68% of the 25 he missed.

 

Nani – Portugal

Nani established himself as a first-choice player in the Portuguese team during the qualifying campaign but suffered a shoulder injury in a warm-up game that will keep him out of the competition. Portugal struggled for goals during qualification as they had three consecutive goalless draws at one point and in the six qualifiers Nani missed they scored just seven goals. However, in the six he played (including the playoffs) they hit the net 10 times.

Nani began to establish himself in the Man Utd side in the second half of last season with some excellent performances and United were unbeaten in his 16 appearances last season with 14 wins and an average of 2.75 goals per game scored.

 

Michael Ballack – Germany

Ballack picked up an ankle injury in the FA Cup final that has ruled the German captain out of South Africa and the loss of the Chelsea player could be a big loss for the Germans. Back to the 2008 European Championships Ballack has played 13 of Germany’s 16 competitive games and in their unbeaten qualifying campaign for these Championships their two draws came in the three matches he missed. Further back to the 2006 World Cup the German captain has won 77% of the 22 competitive matches he’s played for his country while without him Germany’s win rate has dropped to 62% from 13 matches.

Ballack has been released by Chelsea but was actually one of their most important players last season as the Blues won 21 of the 26 matches he played compared to just six of 12 without him, and they also scored more and conceded fewer when the German played.

 

Rio Ferdinand – England

Ferdinand picked up a knee ligament injury shortly after arriving in South Africa that ended his hopes of captaining England to glory this summer. However, England’s record with and without the Man United defender is very similar as they’ve won 18 of 24 competitive matches back to the 2006 qualifying campaign with Rio compared to nine of 12 without him.

Ferdinand was not at his best last season for Man Utd as he struggled with injuries and United actually conceded 19% fewer goals per game in their 26 matches without him.

 

Arjen Robben – Netherlands

Robben is struggling with a thigh injury that looks set to keep him out of the Netherland’s opener against Denmark and possibly longer. The Dutch winger who inspired Bayern Munich to a double last season has won 15 of the 19 competitive matches he’s played for the Netherlands since 2006 World Cup qualifying. However, the Oranje have a very similar record without him in this period of 16 wins in 21 matches, although the winger did miss both second round exits at the 2008 European Championships and 2006 World Cup.

Robben was superb for Bayern last season as they won 13 of the 17 Bundesliga matches he played after his arrival from Real Madrid compared to just half the 14 he missed, with their average goals scored dropping from 2.65 to 1.71 in his absence.

 

Didier Drogba – Ivory Coast

Drogba played 31 of Chelsea’s games last season and was not missed at all when he was unavailable as Chelsea won all seven matches and averaged 3.86 goals per game (compared to averaging 2.45 per game with Drogba). However, Drogba was Chelsea’s top scorer last season with 28 goals in his 31 appearances.

Drogba scored five goals in four qualifying games, with the Ivory Coast netting 15 times as they won all four matches. In contrast they managed to score just 14 goals in the eight qualifiers he missed as they won half and drew half. Drogba’s importance to his national side is highlighted by the fact he didn’t miss any of their nine African Nations Cup matches in 2010 or 2008.

 

Andres Iniesta – Spain

The favourites look set to be without one of their star midfielders for the opening match with Iniesta struggling with a high injury picked up in their final warm-up game against Poland. The Barcelona playmaker has played 13 competitive games since the start of Euro 2008 qualifying with a 100% record and an average of 2.6 goals per game scored. In contrast Spain has won only 14 of 19 matches without him (W14-D2-L3) as their average goals per game have fallen by 19% to 2.1. Iniesta also had a thigh injury last summer which caused him to miss the Confederations Cup and saw Spain shocked by the USA in the semi-finals.

 

Andrea Pirlo – Italy

Pirlo is set to miss the defending champion’s first two matches with a calf injury but should return for their final group match against Slovakia. However, the AC Milan midfielder’s impact has not been too significant in recent years as he’s won 11 and lost two of the 16 competitive matches he’s played for Italy back to 2008 Euro qualifying. In contrast Italy are unbeaten in the nine games he’s missed with six wins and they’ve conceded40% fewer goals per game (0.56 compared to 0.94).

Pirlo was an almost ever-present for AC Milan last season as he missed just five matches, although those games saw Milan struggle as they recorded just one win and twice failed to beat eventual bottom-placed side Livorno.

 

Alex Frei – Switzerland

The Swiss captain limped out of their final training session before flying to South Africa and is now a major doubt for the finals. Switzerland’s all-time leading scorer has been in excellent form as he scored 15 goals in 19 matches for FC Basle last season. If he’s ruled out this will be the second successive major competition Frei will have missed through injury having been carried off after 44 minutes of Switzerland’s opening match at Euro 2008. Back to 2006 World Cup qualifying Frei has played 22 competitive matches with an excellent record of 12 wins and just two defeats. Without him the Swiss have struggled as they’ve won two and lost two of seven matches to see their PPG fall by 36%. Furthermore, he’s scored 14 times in these games, including five in eight qualifiers for these finals.

 

 
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