World Cup 2018: 5 shocking exclusions from the 23-man squads
The deadline has passed and the final 23-man squad lists for all the 32 teams participating in the 2018 FIFA World Cup has been announced.
It is always a difficult task for any manager to select the best 23 players, especially from huge footballing nations like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, and France.
Some of the prominent players who missed the 2018 World Cup squads include Aymeric Laporte, Alvaro Morata, Alexandre Lacazette, Christian Benteke, Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere, Mario Goetze, Emre Can, Joe Hart, and Adrien Rabiot.
While some of the players did not have a great 2017/18 season, others were unlucky to miss out on a place in the squad. But, the ones on this list were the extremely unlucky players who definitely deserved a place in the squad, but did not find one.
On that note, let’s take a look at the 5 most shocking exclusions from the 2018 FIFA World Cup squads.
#1 Leroy Sane
Arguably one of the best wingers in the world right now, Leroy Sane was phenomenal for Manchester City in their record-breaking Premier League season. Deployed on the left flank by Pep Guardiola, Sane played with a lot of pace and purpose.
One of the standout players of the 2017/18 PL season, Sane was left out of the Germany squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The 22-year-old has scored 14 goals and assisted 17 more for Manchester City in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
Though he was in Joachim Low’s 27-man preliminary squad, he could not find a place in the final 23-man squad. Sane has made 12 appearances for Germany, but has failed to score yet and provided only one assist so far. He did not impress Low enough and could not produce the kind of football he played for Pep Guardiola.
Low said, "It was a tight race between Leroy Sane and Julian Brandt. Both have big qualities, both are good in the one-on-one duels. Julian Brandt was at the Confed Cup, had some strong games there, and put in good shifts in the training camp too. Leroy Sane is a huge talent, no doubt, and he will be back with the team in September."