K minus 8 days - World Cup Injury Roundup

The pre-tourney friendlies are one of the most dreaded competitions to happen before a World Cup. There are players, already fatigued by the club competitions throughout the season, who choose to impress the coaches one last time with their skill and commitment, with an aim to cement their place in the squad or push for that last available berth

In doing so, ironically, the footballers tend to play a bit too hard and end up injuring themselves or their opponents. Dreams would be shattered and the team plans tattered. Coaches almost always would be tentative when dealing with the warm ups, they couldn't justify not giving opportunity for a prospect, in pursuit of getting back into form, and at the same time much is at stake in case some of the crucial member of the squad gets injured badly

Some players who carry niggles from their season would be in race to be fit on time to be selected for their team and sometimes they aggravate the injury trying to cheat time. While more than fifteen people missed out on a place in the provisional squads due to chronic or late season injuries, almost as many lost their place on the final squad losing the battle trying to get fit or by acquiring new traumas

Here's the list of players that are going to miss the World Cup despite being on the initial team plans

Falcao lost the race against time in recovering from the Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear he suffered in January

Edwin Valencia was ruled out after he failed to recover from his chronic muscle injury

Thiago managed to recover from his ligament tear successfully before suffering the same injury as soon as he returned to Bayern Squad

The French backup goalkeeper collided with a forward and broke his vertebra playing for Marseille on the final day of French League

Silvio Proto was only named in the squad as a reserve to ailing backup stopper Koen Casteels. Wilmots had to replace him when he broke his arm in the Belgium League finale

Lars Bender suffered a muscle and tendon strain in his thigh during training

He suffered a hamstring tear while playing for QPR in the Championship Playoff match

The most capped dutch player was ruled out after he suffered a calf injury in the training camp

The Korean defender couldn't recover from the ankle injury suffered during training

He suffered a fifth metatarsal fracture on his right foot during training

The friendly between between Mexico and Ecuador turned out to be a gruesome affair when Montes attempted a tackle on Segundo Castillo and broke his leg. Castillo also suffered an ankle injury but was included in the final team

An ankle injury during a friendly against Netherlands and a subsequent surgery ruled out Akaminko from the World Cup

Montolivo broke his leg during a friendly against Ireland

Matias Fernandez was ruled out of the World Cup after undergoing a surgery on his persistent ankle problem

Apart from these players, a few others managed to get into the final rosters despite injuries

• Diego Costa, Spain - Hamstring
• Luis Suarez, Uruguay - Knee
• Frank Ribery, France - Back
• Jonathan De Guzman, Netherlands - Hamstring
• Kolo Toure, Ivory Coast - Malaria
• Sengundo Castillo, Ecuador - Ligament tear