Briefly, I thought I would highlight a few of the best squads in the European bracket that will not play in next years World Cup in South Africa. It is never fun to be a team with a reservation in Heartbreak Hotel, but at least these teams will get a brief vacation this summer. Plus it beats making it there with great expectations and then losing in the finals. Right?
Oh it doesn’t. Oh well.
Sweden
This was likely the best squad of any in Europe that didn’t make it to at least the playoff knockout stage. Everybody knows their wonderful striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was recently transferred to Barcelona and he is likely the biggest star (so far) that will not be making the trip to South Africa. It must be very disappointing considering the squad was there last Cup, but Denmark was a nice surprise this year winning the group and Portugal managed to pull out second place.
Czech Republic
Last Cup Czech Republic was considered a world elite and were ranked as a top five club globally. But many of their stars have retired from that run and without Nedved and Koller leading the offense they came up a little bit short this time around. Slovakia and Slovenia shocked everyone by sealing this group.
Croatia
Croatia was hurt by playing in a very tough European group alongside England and the Ukraine. Unfortunately, the club came up one point short of the necessary amount and despite a 6-2-2 record they will be sitting at home this summer.
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