From Alexis Sanchez, Gareth Bale and David Alaba to Gianluigi Buffon, Arturo Vidal and Miralem Pjanic, next year's World Cup will be deprived of some of world football's biggest talents.
After a number of shock exits in this year's qualifiers the likes of USA, Chile and Netherlands have unexpectedly found themselves out of the World Cup, eight months before the 32 teams arrive in Russia.
And, for the first time since 1958, it was confirmed that Italy would not appear in next summer's competition after a 1-0 aggregate defeat against Sweden during a qualification play-off.
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With Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Oceania's World Cup qualifications all done and the draw for next summer's tournament set to take place today, we've decided to create a starting XI of players who will miss out on Russia 2018.
Following the shock exit of Italy you can hand pick several world class players from their talented squad, including Gianluigi Buffon, Marco Verratti and Lorenzo Insigne, but we've only included three.
Here's our talented XI that will not feature in next year's tournament:
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Away from that starting XI, there are plenty of alternatives. Future Liverpool player Naby Keita and Manchester United's Henrikh Mkhitaryan could easily slot into many international squads.
Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez could also make up a very decent midfield, while in form Roma striker Edin Dzeko would undoubtedly be a threat at the tournament next summer.
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Another Manchester United player in Antonio Valencia will also miss out, as well as Jan Oblak, Daniele De Rossi and Serge Aurier, who has impressed for Tottenham this season.
And not to forget Bayern defender David Alaba.
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Thoughts on the above team? Can you make a better XI of players?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Football News, Football, FIFA, World Cup 2018, World Cup
