The Best Players to never appear in a World Cup, Part Nine

1- Ian Rush

Like so many of his Welsh contemporaries (Mark Hughes, Dean Saunders, etc), Ian Rush was part of a Generation that did not qualify for the Finals of any Tournament.

Photo From: Mondial, new series, Issue 85, April 1987

(Ian Rush at Liverpool)

2- Danny Blind

Dutch defender Danny Blind of Ajax Amsterdam was included in two World Cup Finals squads (1990 and 1994), however, he was unlucky not to be a regular and did not get to play a single match at any World Cup.

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Hors Serie 22, April 1996

(Danny Blind)

3- Mehmet Scholl

German and Bayern Munich midfielder lined up for Germany for many years but suffered consistently from injuries.

His best chances would have been the 1998 and 2002 World Cup, but he missed the boat on both.

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 151, August 2001

(Mehmet Scholl at Bayern Munich)

4- Fabrizio Ravanelli

Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli’s best chance to make it to a World Cup would have been in 1998, but he was cut from the squad in the last minute and never got his chance.

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 108, January 1998

(Fabrizio Ravanelli at Olympique Marseille, 1997/98)

5- Basile Boli

French defender Basile Boli was part of the post-Platini Generation of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

France missed qualification for the 1990 World Cup and in heart breaking fashion in 1994 (losing to Bulgaria 1-2 on November 17, 1993).

Boli missed chance(s) to make it at a World Cup.

Photo From: Onze, Issue 105, September 1984

(Basile Boli at Auxerre)

Honorable Mention:

Players who participated in a World Cup match but their presence was limited and negligible that would be considered tantamount to a non-presence.

Kevinn Keegan and Trevor Brooking

Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking were part of the 1970’s England Generation that missed out on the 1974 and 1978 World Cups.

They pair made the 1982 World Cup but were injured for most of it.

They were jointly sent on as substitutes in the 63^rd minute of England’s last match vs. Hosts Spain (July 5, 1982, World Cup, Spain 0-England 0)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 79, July 1982

(Kevin Keegan, July 5, 1982, World Cup, Spain 0-England 0)

Photo From: Mondial, New Series, Hors Serie 13, 1982

(Trevor Brooking)

Old Match Photographs-Part 30i

Photo From: World Soccer, November 1993

(Switzerland’s Georges Bregy)

Photo From: World Soccer, April 1977

(Torino’s Eraldo Pecci)

Photo From: World Soccer, November 1968

(Hungary’s Ferenc Bene)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 115, August 1998

(Manchester United’s Dutch defender Jaap Stam)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 75, April 1995

(Andrei Kanchelskis and Erland Johnsen, May 14, 1994, English FA Cup, Manchester United 4-Chelsea 0)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 137, May 1987

(Porto defender Lima Pereira)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 112, April 1985

(Alessandro Altobelli , March 13, 1985, Greece 0-Italy 0)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, Issue 85, April 1987

(Igor Belanov and Adrian Bumbescu, February 24, 1987, UEFA Super Cup, Steaua Bucharest 1-Dinamo Kiev 0)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, issue 31, October 1982

(Kevin Keegan at Newcastle United)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2066, November 12, 1985

(Antonio Di Gennaro, November 6, 1985, Champions Cup, Juventus 2-Verona 0)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 1967, December 20, 1983

(SV Hamburg’s Austrian Manager Ernst Happel)

Photo From: World Soccer, October 1994

(FK Austria Vienna’s Andreas Ogris)

Photo From: World Soccer, December 1977

(Dino Zoff and Sepp Maier, October 8, 1977, West Germany 2-Italy 1)

Photo From: World Soccer, January 1967

(Alberto Mario Gonzalez  of Boca Juniors and Argentina)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 110, March 1998

(Gabriel Batistuta and Oliver Bierhoff, January 31, 1998, Fiorentina 1-Udinese 0)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 77, June 1995

(Franco Baresi and Nwankwo Kanu, May 24, 1995, Champions League, Ajax Amsterdam 1-AC Milan 0)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 135, March 1987

(Sao Paulo’s Careca and Luis Muller)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 112, April 1985

(Giuseppe Bergomi, March 13, 1985, Greece 0-Italy 0)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, Issue 89, August 1987

(Thierry Rabat , Gary Lineker and Joel Bats, June 25, 1987, Mundialito of Clubs, Barcelona 3-Paris St Germain 1)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, issue 30, September, 1982

(Zbigniew Boniek , Michel Platini and Dino Zoff during a Juventus training session)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2063, October 22, 1985

(Patrice Garande and Jean Tiagana, October 18, 1985, Bordeaux 0-Auxerre 0)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 1966 , December 13, 1983

(Gary Birtles , December 7, 1983, UEFA Cup, Celtic Glasgow 1-Nottingham Forest 2)

Photo From: World Soccer, October 1994

(Stefan Effenberg re-signing for Borussia Moenchengladbach, summer 1994)

Photo From: World Soccer, October 1976

(Republic of Ireland’s Gerry Daly at Manchester United)

Photo From: World Soccer, September 1967

(USSR’s Anatoly Andreyevich  Banishevski)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Hors Serie 27, April 1998

(Norway’s Jostein Flo)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 79, August 1995

(Blackburn Rovers’ Tim Sherwood, March 4, 1995, Aston Villa 0-Blackburn Rovers 1)

Photo From: Onze, Hors serie 30, 1987

(Ghana’s Abedi Pele at Niort)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 116, August 1985

(Pedro Pasculli , June 30, 1985, World Cup Qualifier, Argentina 2-Peru 2)

Photo From: Onze, Hors Serie 7, 1978

(Spain’s Juan Manuel Asensi , October 26, 1977, World Cup Qualifier, Spain 2-Romania 0)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, Issue 90, September 1987

(Yugoslavia’s Velimir Zajec at Panathinaikos)

Photo From: Mondial, New Series, Issue 26, May 1982

(France’s Bruno Bellone and Daniel Bravo)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2590, November 28, 1995

(Nantes’ Reynald Pedros, 1995/96)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 1964, November 29, 1983

(Dieter Hoeness and Danny Thomas, November 23, 1983, UEFA Cup, Bayern Munich 1-Tottenham Hotspur 0)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2059,  September 24, 1985

(Bernard Ferrer , Basile Boli and Roger Boli, September 18, 1985, UEFA Cup, Auxerre 3-AC Milan 1)

Old match Photographs-Part 29e

Photo From: Guerin Sportivo-La Grande Storia Del Calcio Italiana-1956-1957

(AC Milan’s Swedish star Nils Liedholm)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2322, October 9, 1990

(Laurent Blanc and Montpellier President Louis Nicollin, October 3,1 990, Cup Winners Cup, PSV Eindhoven 0-Montpellier 0)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2027, February 12, 1985

(Jules Bocande with Metz’s symbol, the Lorraine cross, February 10, 1985, French Cup, Metz 0-Auxerre 0)

Photo From: Football Magazine, Issue 18, July 1961

(Uwe Seeler st SV Hamburg)

Photo From: World Soccer, April 1992

(Janos Farkas scoring Hungary’s second goal, July 15, 1966, World Cup, Hungary 3-Brazil1 )

Photo From: World Soccer, December 1984

(Jose Velazquez of Peru)

Photo From: World Soccer, February 1971

(Arsenal’s Franck McLintock lifting the Fairs Cup won in 1970)

Photo From: World Soccer, June 1961

(Benfica’s Jose Augusto with Danish fans, March 30, 1961, Champions Cup, Aarhus 1-Benfica 4)

Photo From: Onze-Mondial, Issue 116, September 1998

(Franck Lebouef and Ivica Vastic, August 19, 1998, Austria 2-France 2)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 117, September 1985

(AS Monaco and Ivory Coast’s Youssef Fofana)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 77, May 1982

(IFK Gothenburg’s Tommy Holmgren)

Photo From: Onze, Issue 10, October 1976

(September 8, 1976, England 1-Republic of Ireland 1)

Photo From: Mondial, new series, issue 99,  June 1988

(USSR’s Vagiz Khidiatullin)

Photo From: Mondial, New series, issue 14, May 1981

(Yannick Stopyra , April 4, 1981, UEFA Cup, Sochaux 1-AZ 67 Alkmaar 1)

Photo From: Mondial, old series, Issue 13, February 1978

(East Germany’s Peter Ducke)

Photo From: Placar, Issue 556, January 5, 1981

(Hansi Muller and Diego Maradona, January 1, 1981, Mundialito, Argentina 2-West Germany 1)

Photo From: Guerin Sportivo, October 31-November 6, 1990

(Bologna’s Lajos Detari and Genoa’s Nicola Caricola, Genoa 0-Bologna 0)

Photo From: Fussball Magazin, January february 1984

(Bayern Munich’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Jean-Marie Pfaff)

Photo From: Guerin Sportivo-La Grande Storia Del Calcio Italiana-1952-1953

(AC Milan’s Swedish striker Gunanr Nordahl)

Photo From: AS Color, Issue 123, September 25, 1973

(Valencia’s Austrian Kurt Jara and Mali’s Salif Keita)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2309, July 10, 1990

(Stephane Paille and Basile Boli, April 7, 1990, Bordeaux 0-Auxerre 1)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2022, January 8, 1985

(Ray Clemence)

Photo From: France Football, Issue 2020, December 25, 1984

(Dino Zoff, Michel Platini and Claudio Gentile at the end of the match, June 2, 1978, World Cup, Italy 2-France 1)

Photo From: Football Magazine, Issue 17, June 1961

(Benfica’s Hungarian Manager Bela Guttman)

Photo From: El Grafico 1978

(Jorge Omar Carrascosa, June 5, 1977, Argentina 1-West Gteermany 3)

Photo From: Don Balon, Issue 180, March  20-26, 1979

(Future Barcelona midfielder Victor Munoz at Real Zaragoza)

Photo From: World Soccer, September 1991

(Franz Beckenbauer scoring the winning goal, Brian Leslie Labone, Bobby Moore and Keith Robert Newton   unable to stop, June 1, 1968, West Germany 1-England 0)

Photo From: World Soccer, December 1982

(Garth Crooks , Paul Miller and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, October 20, 1982, Cup Winners Cup, Tottenham 1-Bayern Munich 1)

Photo From: World Soccer, October 1970

(West Germany’s Willi Schulz)

Photo From: World Soccer, January 1961

(Charles Antenen and Emile Lejeune, November 20, 1960, World Cup Qualifier, Belgium 2-Switzerland 4)