10 players who were/are often overlooked by their national teams
Modern football fans are torn between the commitment of players between country and club. While many deem playing a club endears the players more to the fans, there is no substitute for pulling on the jersey of one’s nation to represent them at the higher stage.
With the International games getting fewer by the year and largely restricted to major tournaments and their qualifying rounds, often good players, even legendary players at the club level have found it hard to find playing time for their national side and in this segment, we bring to you 10 such players, who have not had their luck going with finding a place in the national squad.
#1 Diego Milito
The Argentine striker was a technically gifted forwarded who could wreck the opposition with his abilities on the ground as well as in the air. An ambidextrous attacker, Milito definitely knew where the back of the goal was and was a constant threat to the opposition with his presence in and around the box. His record of 254 goals and 49 assists in 597 appearances speaks volumes about his abilities as an attacker and would be deemed a decent statistic to propel him to a starting role with his national side.
However, that was not the case to be as he was often overlooked for a starting role. Despite scoring 133 goals in 305 appearances for Genoa, Zaragoza and Internazionale during the period 2003-11, Milito started just 42 games. While he did go on to add to the numbers at Inter, the emergence of other attackers kept Milito out of the Argentina national team.