2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

On the eve of the opening match in the World Cup against Brazil, Croatia has been forced to make a change in their squad. 21-year old midfielder Ivan Mocinic due to a problematic ankle. Coach Niko Kovac sought FIFA's permission for the change and got the approval to get Milan Badelj as a replacement

Badelj was earlier left out of the squad due to his own injury problems but the manager has no other option to call in the half-fit midfielder who is ailing from a groin strain. Left back Daniel Pranjic will also miss the opening encounter with an ankle problem while Gordon Schildenfeld is recovering from a hamstring injury

Versatile Costa Rica defender Heiner Mora was diagnosed with a micro fracture in his right heel he suffered during a drawn warmup match against Ireland on Friday. The fullback who can also play the role of a midfielder or a right back sat out of Saturday's practice when he felt discomfort after the match. X rays revealed the injury which would rule him out for at least two weeks

He's the third casualty in the Costa Rican camp after Bryan Oviedo and Alvaro Saborio were earlier ruled out due to injuries. Manager Jorge Luis Pinto called Dave Myrie to replace Mora in the squad

Russian captain and midfielder Roman Shirokov has been ruled out of an injury after failing to recover from a knee injury he suffered in April. He is scheduled to have a surgery to resolve the problem next week. Russia manager Fabio Capello announced that midfielder Pavel Mogilevets will be added to the squad as the replacement

Shirokov joined training but was unable to play any friendlies and has suffered a deterioration in his status on Friday. He had been diagnosed by a ligament damage

Nigeria's defender Elderson Uwa Echiejile has been ruled out of the World Cup after suffering an injury during the warm up match against Greece last Tuesday. He limped out of the game before the half time with a muscle tear and is expected to be out of contention for at most three weeks and coach Stephen Keshi has announced on Saturday

Echiejile will be replaced by winger midfielder Ejike Uzoenyi, who plays for Enugu Rangers, in the World Cup squad

Dealing one of the biggest blows for the German campaign, Marco Reus has been ruled out of the tournament with a partially ruptured ankle ligament, The Borussia Dortmund midfielder suffered the injury during Germany's final warmup against Armenia, which they won comfortably 6-1. Reus turned his ankle just before the interval and is diagnosed with a partial tear of anterior ligament and will be on the sidelines for at least six weeks

Germany has already suffered an injury in the midfield as Lars Bender was ruled out due to a thigh problem earlier but coach Joachim Low chose to replace Marco with a defender Shkodran Mustafi despite him playing just once for the national team against Poland last february

2013 World's Best Player contender and one of the best Winger's of the world, Franck Ribery has been ruled out of the World Cup due to persistent back injury, which has been aggravated during training on Friday. Coach Didier Deschamps announced that Ribery's services would not be available to France during the World Cup due to the injury which has been affecting the Bayern Munich attacker since late April

Ribery, who has earlier announced that 2014 Brazil would be his last World Cup, was not able to play much during the period and according to Deschamps, he wouldn't even be able to train for the next couple of weeks

Meanwhile another injury ruled out midfielder Clement Grenier, who suffered a hip injury. Morgan Schneiderlin and Remy Cabella

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

Radamel Falcao will not be going to Brazil as part of the Colombia Squad as he failed to recover from the Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear he suffered in January. The Monaco star striker was crucial to the nation's World Cup fortunes but the extent of his injury and the recovery process left him no time to get back to match fitness

He has not played since the injury and the Colombia coach Jose Pekerman, who supported the striker throughout the ordeal, decided to leave the player out of the final roster after the medical team deemed him unfit to provide any decent contribution in the finals. The five month speculation over his place was over, Pekerman stating that it was the toughest decisions he was to make to drop the striker

After the ghastly injury on Saturday ruled  out the midfielder Luis Montes will be replaced by Villarreal's midfielder Javier Aquino in the final squad. Montes collided with Ecuador's Segundo Castillo and broke his leg before having to be stretchered out of the ground. The gruesome visuals showed his leg dangling while the Mexican writhing on the ground in unbearable pain. Castillas was also ruled out of the World Cup due to Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear he suffered in the same tackle

Javier Aquino, who was earlier disappointed that he couldn't make the cut for Brazil, played for Mexico in 21 games and is a regular member of Villarreal FC squad

Saturday turns out to be the most gruesome day in terms of World Cup preparations go as Ecuador's Segundo Castillo, with whom Mexico's Luis Montes collided in a brutal challenge only to break his leg, is confirmed to miss the World Cup. Castillo was diagnosed to have torn his Cruciate Ligament and will need months to recover completely from the injury

Luis Montes broke his tibia and fibula when he went in for a 50-50 challenge for the ball against Castillo. His injury was actually more severe than the initial prognosis. This is the second notable World Cup injury for Ecuador after defender Jayro Campos was ruled out of the tourney with an Achilles tendon 

Italy's midfielder Riccardo Montolivo has been ruled out the World Cup after he's diagnosed with a broken leg. Montolivo was substituted when he was taken down by Alex Pearce in the ninth minute of Italy's friendly against Ireland. He had to be stretchered off the pitch and an x-ray revealed the broken tibia of his left foot

Alberto Aquilani, who replaced Montolivo, also had to be substituted off the pitch when he felt dizzy before half time. He was later deemed alright after scans on his head

Ghana's friendly against Netherlands witnessed another player ruled out of the World Cup due to injury. The Black Stars defender Jerry Akaminko hurt his ankle during the side's 1-0 defeat and is expected to miss the action for three months after a surgery

According to the team doctor, Akaminko suffered a fracture to the fibula bone at his left ankle joint

Mexican midfielder Luis Montes suffered a gruesome injury when he broke his leg in a challenge for the ball during the friendly against Ecuador. The midfielder will miss the World Cup due to the broken leg. The match witnessed another injury scare as the Ecuador midfielder Segundo Castillo, who collided with Montes, was also taken out with a suspected knee injury

Miguel Herrera, Mexico coach, confirmed the news that Montes suffered a broken tibia and fibula. The injury hit match also featured a foot injury suffered by Mexican captain Rafael Marquez, who is now currently under observation. Mexico won the match 3-1

Colombia added to the ever growing World Cup injury list as midfielder Edwin Valencia failed to recover from his injury. Valencia has been struggling with his muscle injury throughout the season and Jose Pekerman announced on Wednesday that the Fluminense midfielder will not recover on time for the World Cup

Colombia is already facing a big injury problem in terms of star striker Falcao's recovery from Anterior Cruciate Ligament damage but Pekerman vowed to give him as much time as possible to get back in shape. Colombia's fortunes at the tourney hang on Falcao's ability to get back into the squad

Costa Rica first choice striker Alvaro Saborio suffered a fifth metatarsal fracture on his right foot during a closed door training session on Thursday and is ruled out of next month's World Cup. Coach Luis Pinto announced that the striker would not be able to make a recovery in time to feature in the finals

Saborio, who plies his trade at Real Salt Lake, is expected to miss the next 3-4 months as part of the recovery from the injury and he will be thoroughly missed in the Ticos squad. Pinto would now need to reassess his attacking plans as the other attackers Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz are supposedly more comfortable on breaks rather than with direct attacks

Defender Kim Jin-su's ongoing ankle problem forced him to drop out of the Korea Republic World Cup Squad. The 21-year-old Kim Jin-su, who plays for Albirex Niigata in J league, had been a regular in the Korean XI since coach Hong Myung-bo took over but suffered an ankle injury during training last week. He couldn't recover from the problem and had to be replaced, according to KFA

Mainz left-back Park Joo-ho will replace Kim in the 23-squad bound to Brazil. Meanwhile Yun Suk-young played as the left-back role in the home friendly against Tunisia, which the visitors won 1-0

The friendly also witnessed the central defender Hong Jeong-ho stretchered out in the 13th minute with a possible ankle injury. Hong, who missed the 2012 Olympics due to a broken leg was forced off after a tackle from Tunisia's forward Issam Jemaa. He's currently being assessed and is expected be back on the squad in time

Update - May 28: Van der Vaart will not be considered for the World Cup due to his injury. KNVB website has announced that coach Louis van Gaal decided to exclude the midfielder from the possible 23-man squad which is due to be announced this Saturday. The 31-year old backup playmaker is the most experienced of the Netherlands squad

May 27:
Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has suffered a calf injury during training at the camp in Portugal. He's struggling to be fit before the planned announcement of the final squad by coach Louis van Gaal, expected to be out on Saturday

Van der Vaart is considered to be backing up the Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder in the Dutch midfield. His season with his Hamburger SV club was already shadowed by fitness and form struggles after he suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the season. With Georginio Wijnaldum fighting for his place in the squad, the midfielder's injury couldn't have come at a worse time

Manchester United transfer target Kevin Strootman was already ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury but Netherland's midfield is not the only headache Louis van Gaal is encountering. Two right backs have injury issues, Paul Verhaegh is down with ankle problems and Daryl Janmaat just recovered from the same after a week's layoff

Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has suffered a calf injury during training at the camp in Portugal. He's struggling to be fit before the planned announcement of the final squad by coach Louis van Gaal, expected to be out on Saturday

Van der Vaart is considered to be backing up the Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder in the Dutch midfield. His season with his Hamburger SV club was already shadowed by fitness and form struggles after he suffered an ankle injury in the second half of the season. With Georginio Wijnaldum fighting for his place in the squad, the midfielder's injury couldn't have come at a worse time

Manchester United transfer target Kevin Strootman was already ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury but Netherland's midfield is not the only headache Louis van Gaal is encountering. Two right backs have injury issues, Paul Verhaegh is down with ankle problems and Daryl Janmaat just recovered from the same after a week's layoff

A ruptured hamstring during the biggest game of his career resulted in Croatian playmaker Niko Kranjcar missing the biggest tourney of his life. He was substituted in the 29th minute of the Queen Park Rangers Championship's playoff win over Derby County at Wembley last Sunday. The news was announced by Croatian Football Federation on twitter

Kranjcar feared any injury in the playoff game would result in messing up with his World Cup plans. His recovery would take around a month according to the medical team. This is the third casualty in the 30-man Croatian squad after defender Ivan Strinic and midfielder Ivo Ilicevic were already ruled out last week

Germany's training squad has been reduced to 26 members after injury forces another player out of the preliminary squad. Germany and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender has become the latest victim to injuries that plagued the German squad throughout the season. He picked up a muscle and tendon injury in his right thigh during training

Meanwhile Bastian Schweinsteiger has been declared 100% fit for the tourney but he's yet to join the training sessions. Captain Philipp Lahm and first choice goalkeeper Manuel Meuer are still days away from full recovery from their end of the season injuries. Striker Miroslav Klose is also in a race with time to get fit for the tourney while Sami Khedira has recently returned from a long injury

Bender's twin brother Sven failed to make it to the squad due to an injury too, so are Mario Gomez and Ilkay Gundogan