Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who will reportedly cost around £ 250,000 for a couple of matches to do punditry work at the World Cup 2014, says that the tournament will definitely miss the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale. Despite being stars in their own self, these players will not be present at the tournament since their national teams failed to qualify for the tournament. Ibrahimovic plays for the Swedish National team, while Bale is regarded as one of the Welsh national team’s star players. Bale currently holds the record for the most expensive transfer at £ 86 million.
Ibrahimovic’s Sweden team were unable to qualify for the tournament after losing to Portugal, who were guided through by their own superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, in the play-offs. Despite the disappointment, Ibrahimovic came close to getting his team into the World Cup by scoring two goals in the 4-2 defeat on aggregate. Other star players who will also miss out on the tournament includes Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, who is widely regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers. There are also several players set to miss the tournament due to injuries.
The likes of Radamel Falcao may actually return in time to play at the competition, but the likes of Victor Valdes are definitely out.
“In every World Cup there are a few big players that everyone would like to see there, and for different reasons they aren’t there. Zlatan? Everybody would love to see him there, but Sweden couldn’t make it. Gareth Bale is another fantastic player that I think everybody would enjoy seeing there, but Wales also couldn’t qualify. There are others. I have in my team the best goalkeeper in the world (Cech) and he’s not at the World Cup,” said Mourinho after becoming Yahoo’s ambassador for the tournament.