How will Colombia, Italy, France and Germany cope without their injured stars?

The biggest celebration on earth just kicked off with Brazil beating Croatia 3-1 in the World Cupopener. But as with any major tournament, injuries continue to dominate the headlines. The hosts were already given an injury scare when their prodigal son Neymar was reported injured in training a few days ago.Fortunately for the Seleo, it wasnt anything serious. But, Italy, Colombia, France and Germany werent so fortunate, as Riccardo Montolivo, Radamel Falcao, Franck Ribery and Marco Reus were all ruled out of the World Cup with injury, after being included in the preliminary 30-man squad.All four of them were pivotal in their sides qualification for Brazil and are sure to be missed by their respective teams. How will those four sides cope up without their aforementioned star players? Will their injuries prove a blessing in disguise or will it end up in the sides elimination?Let us take a look at the alternative options available to those four sides.

#1 Colombia: Ramos and Martinez will ensure that Falcao wont be missed

Although Colombia were destined to their fate a few months ago, a miraculous recovery by Radamel Falcao meant that their talismanic skipper was named in the initial 30-man squad. Coach José Pékerman gave his captain every opportunity to recover, but in the end he wasn’t able to make it. Pékerman described the decision to axe Falcao as “the saddest day I’ve had since becoming Colombia coach”.

Fortunately for Los Cafeteros, their tremendous attacking depth means that they have enough cover for the injured Falcao. Both Adrian Ramos and Jackson Martinez are coming off the back of a stellar goal scoring campaigns for their respective clubs.

While Colombia will no doubt miss their inspirational leader, the fact that they have two premier forwards to lead the line means that, at least from a footballing point of view, Falcao won’t be missed as much.