In less than a month, the most scandalous World Cup in the history of football will begin to unfold before our eyes.

And if the winter World Cup held in the Arabian Peninsula and sparkling Qatar is enough to pique anyone’s interest, the sports fanatics… have already begun to give their powers in the big leagues, but also to mourn the great absentees. Those who won’t come because their teams just dropped out of qualifying.

In the final 26, to be announced if there are no last-minute injury contingencies, figures can be found who will make their last appearance with their national team at the World Cup, expecting to lift the trophy of desire at the end of their career. for every player.

First of all, Lionel Messi, who made it clear that after four tournaments, this one will be the last one in which he will take part.

At the age of 35, the world-class ballader will have a unique opportunity to win the title he so desperately lacks and put him next to Diego Maradona in the hearts of Argentines once and for all.

The same applies to Cristiano Ronaldo, who at 37 will lead Portugal in his last major tournament. It seems the time has come for CR7, who in their fifth World Cup, will be looking for a way through the national team to find a way out of their adventurous second term at Manchester United. The last tournament will also be for another… veteran of the Fernando Santos team, Pepe, who, fortunately, is 39 years old.

Even if Luka Modric seems to be enjoying a second youth at Real Madrid, he turned 37 last September and the Croat has another chance in Qatar to give viewers samples of his rare football pasta. In Russia, he made it to the spring but did not drink the water, finishing in second place, while he is said to have admitted he would hang up his shoes for Euro 2024.

After a great career and three consecutive appearances (2010, 2014, 2018), 35-year-old Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and 36-year-old Celeste record holder Diego Godin are expected to win titles with the Uruguay national team.

The last “dance” for Messi, Ronaldo and other great figures of sports.

Olivier Giroud, at 36, is ready to write the final, but at the same time also history, highly motivated as with 49 goals he has scored, he needs two more to reach Thierry Henry as France’s top scorer of all time. Team.

Brazil, one of the main favorites for the tournament, has players in its ranks who want to say goodbye, returning it to the top of the world after a full 20 years. The last dance certainly belongs to defensive boulders Dani Alves (39) and Thiago Silva (38), but perhaps also to Neymar, who despite being only in his 30s, his statement last year that in Qatar will compete for the last time in the World Cup, still tormenting the Brazilians.

Another 11 world stars, most likely, for the last time “present” at the World Cup in Qatar: these are Robert Lewandowski (Poland, 34), Manuel Neuer (Germany, 36), Thomas Miller (Germany, 33), Mats Hummels (Germany, 33), Sergio Busquets (Spain, 34), Jordi Alba (Spain, 33), Hugo Lloris (France, 35), Angel Di Maria (Argentina, 34), Maya Yoshida (Japan, 34), Eden Hazard (Belgium, 31 ) and Gareth Bale (Wales, 33).

With the aforementioned stars, Kylian Mbappe is looking for distinction and consolidation in the football world. At the World Cup in Russia, at the age of 19, he was a big discovery, now he is a full-fledged footballer who will strive to lead France to the title again, even if lately he has been striving to find his best side. Along with Karim Benzema, who ended a stunning year and won the Ballon d’Or, they will form a top tricolor duo who will be unable to offer their services to injured Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Harry Kane continues to score in the Premier League, scoring 51 goals for England, overtaking Bobby Charlton to become second on the all-time top scorers list. The “three lions” depend on him, and if he finds supporters, then they can hope for something good.

Belgium expects a lot from Romelu Lukaku, Spain from Alvaro Morata and the Netherlands from Memphis Depay. World Cup players who are in their prime, such as Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Felipe Coutinho (Brazil), Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium), Sadio Mane (Senegal).

In addition to established stars, interest is focused on new faces who will represent their country for the first time at the World Cup. Many of them are already playing with their clubs, which have spent many millions to acquire them. A typical example is Real Madrid’s 22-year-old Brazilian winger Vinicius, whose market value reaches 120 million euros and has already won two Spanish championships, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.

The 19-year-old Spanish midfielder of Barcelona Pedri and the English Jude Bellingham (Borussia D) and Phil Foden (Manchester City) are among the most promising players on the world stage, and the 22-year-old Serbian striker of Juventus Dusan Vlahovic with 8 goals and 4 assists in a “float” shirt will be their main weapon in this event.

Jamal Musiala (Germany, 19, Bayern M.), Eduardo Camavinga (France, 19, Real M.), Aurelien Tsuameni (France, 22, Real M.), Federico Valverde (Uruguay, 24, Real M.), Anthony ( Brazil, 22, MJ), Rafael Leao (Portugal, 22, Milan) are some of the most recognizable names of the “stars of tomorrow” that we will see in Qatar.

They will be conspicuous by their absence.

At this final stage, things could have been different if the child prodigy Erling Haaland had taken part in it. The 21-year-old Norwegian center forward from Manchester City is considered the toughest player in the football market, but the national team of his country was eliminated from the qualifying stage. Mohamed Salah will also be absent frequently as Egypt are eliminated after losing on penalties to Senegal. So the 29-year-old Liverpool forward will have to wait another four years. The great Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is already 41 years old, will not have such an opportunity with Sweden. The absence of the European champion of Italy with its multi-star squad (Donnarumma, Chiellini, Giorginho, Bonucci, Immobile, Insigne, Verratti, Barella, Chiesa) is noticeable at the tournament. Alaba (Austria), Schick (Czech Republic), Oblak (Slovenia), Mahrez (Algeria), Sanchez (Chile), Diaz (Colombia), Kessir (Ivory Coast) are also among the most notable absentees.