Big Question: Which Player Can your Team least Afford to Lose to Injury?
Every day that we inch closer to the start of the World Cup it seems that another player gets bitten by the injury bug (see Wayne Rooney). At the same time, players who have been out for months are finally working their way into shape. It is truly a nerve wracking time for World Cup hopefuls and their teams. An injury to a key player or two could mean the difference between a memorable tournament and an early exit. Today’s Big Question asks you to imagine the worst case scenario. Of all the players on the team you support, who would be missed the most if he couldn’t play in the World Cup?
For those who believe in jinxes, we are offering a money back guarantee on this one. You name your player and we assure you that he won’t go down to injury or you get your money back plus interest.
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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 33 comments.
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By Euler | April 30th, 2006 at 6:27 am 
Wow, Justin, isn’t that a little sad? So it means that Italy only have one goalkeeper? What about the mid-fielders and attackers? Do they all depend of the GK? Italy is so well known for it’s defensive force… nobody there too? This is bad news for me.
By nick | April 30th, 2006 at 6:27 am For Australia, its Harry Kewell. He can come up with the spontaneous as well as tormenting most right backs which have played him when he’s in form (which is now). IF we lost him, our optimistic chances of making the 2nd round would decrease dramatically.
Posted from 
Australia
By Alastair | April 30th, 2006 at 6:29 am I think Peruzzi would do just fine in Buffon’s absence
By Knut Karnapp | April 30th, 2006 at 7:08 am Germany couldn´t afford to loose Michael Ballack.
He´s our one and only.
Posted from 
Germany
By Bense | April 30th, 2006 at 7:16 am 2 years ago, I would have said Ballack. But nowadays there are more players that might carry the team. A good Ballack is a big bonus, though. Deisler is injured (which really sucks).
Who knows, maybe Buffon is gonna try to grab a perfume flacon with his bare foot, doing the “Canizares”…
Posted from 
United States
By Trent | April 30th, 2006 at 8:26 am For Ecuador, I’d say Ivan Hurtado. He’s the captain, and the team will need all of the leadership and discipline it can get.
Posted from United States
By adam | April 30th, 2006 at 10:03 am i think that gerrard for liverpool but for international id say lampard or rooney
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By Razzle | April 30th, 2006 at 10:33 am USAs got three players that can carry the team - Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride and Landon Donovan.
Most of us would agree on Landon Donovan being the most important though.
We have excellent players but aside aside from the GK department we don’t have reliable backups for the majority of our positions.
Posted from United States
By spinachdip | April 30th, 2006 at 11:22 am Adam - not sure if Gerrard is indispensible for Liverpool. He scored some key goals, but they also won important games while he was out injured. On England, he and Lampard bring similar skill sets and shouldn’t be together on th field, IMO. Agreed on Rooney though.
For Japan, it has to be Shunsuke Nakamura. There’s decent depth in the midfield, but the attack loses its punch when Shunsuke isn’t on the field.
Posted from United States
By tomas | April 30th, 2006 at 12:00 pm SHEVCHENKO cannot het injured for ukraine, there is no one else on his team with his caliber…as far as ronaldino, well brazil still has kaka, ronaldo, robino, england still has owen, but ukraine without shevchenko is like france 2002 without zidane
Posted from United States
By swthrhs | April 30th, 2006 at 1:42 pm For the Czechs it might very well be Poborsky. Nedved or Koler are very important of course, but I just can’t imagine the Czechs doing without Poborsky
Posted from 
Greece
By jonathan | April 30th, 2006 at 2:24 pm For Argentina… probably Riquelme.
The team has so much talent, but Riquelme is the heart. Kill the heart, kill the team. 
Posted from United States
By D | April 30th, 2006 at 3:17 pm For the USA Claudio Reyna is the most important, far more important than Landon Donovan who would be missed but certainly replaced. Brian McBride would come second in my book as the US have no other forwards.
Posted from United States
By Which Player Can Team Melli least Afford to Lose to Injury? - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Iran World Cup Team Blog | April 30th, 2006 at 3:43 pm [...] I am in a very accommodating mood today, so I am going to answer another one of Bob’s big questions today! The answer is very simple, the way Coach Branko Ivankovic has NOT developed Team Melli bench these days any loss will be a big one for Iran. But if I had to name one single player it would Ali Karimi (already injured), Mehdi Mahdavikia, and Rahman Rezaei! [...]
Posted from United States
By Alan | April 30th, 2006 at 4:26 pm If Holland lost Arjen Robben.. we’d be screwed..
Have you ever seen a Holland game without Robben? It isnt pretty.. and games where he doesnt play well, its simple.. Holland lose. But the games where he plays great, such as against Germany..
he helps holland Own.
By Mike | April 30th, 2006 at 10:28 pm That’s a bold statement and I think I would disagree with what you say about the Dutch when they are missing him. I do however agree that he is vitally important to their chances.
But if he was missing I would suspect van Basten would push van der Vaart further forward into a more attacking role. I suggest him because of his playmaking ability much like Robben. Either that or van Basten could gamble and through on van Persie who has pace and good technical ability. Robben is important but not catastrophically so.
I would make my case for Edwin van der Sar. His calming influence and organization has helped Manchester United’s weak defence and he has an incredible amount of influence over the young and inexperienced defence. There is no clear world class replacement for him. Plain and simple.
Posted from United States
By Which player can’t we afford to lose? - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Netherlands World Cup Team Blog | April 30th, 2006 at 10:33 pm [...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave aReply [...]
Posted from United States
By DT | May 1st, 2006 at 5:30 am To Elliot: Viduka is not that important. He is a liability. Had he played better, we might have had beaten Uruguay 3-0, instead of through penalties.
Remember, Viduka is the only Socceroo who missed the spot kick that night.
Five years ago, Viduka was awesome. Nowadays, he’s mediocre at best.
Posted from Australia
By vlado | May 1st, 2006 at 9:18 am “… mediocre at best”?
I’m sure the players and fans of Bassel and Steaua Bucharest might disagree with you there after Viduka’s performance in Middlesbrough’s miracle win in the RECENT (i.e. not five years ago) UEFA Cup victories.
Posted from Australia
By soze | May 1st, 2006 at 1:27 pm I think that group B cannot afford to loose Beckham. If two of the others in the group…Paraguay, T&T and Sweden wish to come through, they better hope Becham is playing. He is the only player that can cause the whole team, and country, to run into dispair at the slightest hint of a mistake. He will make England loose…the fact that Terry, Rooney and Owen are hurt might help…but he will be the reason they are disqualified.
By rahela | May 1st, 2006 at 2:44 pm france without henry an england without rooney….what a loss an hope him a speed of recovery…..cum on wazza we need u !!!!!!
Posted from United Kingdom
By soze | May 1st, 2006 at 2:50 pm What’s a wazza??
By DT | May 2nd, 2006 at 3:06 am To Vlado,
With all the respect, Basel and Steua Bucharest aren’t in the same league as Brazil, Japan and Croatia national teams.
Five years ago, Viduka was arguably one of the top 10 strikers in Europe. Nowadays, he’s not even the best striker in Middlesbrough.
I’d be surprised if he manages to score more than 1 goal in the World Cup.
Posted from Australia
By Shevchenko Injured; Kehl is Cool - FIFA World Cup 2006 - World Cup 2006 Blog | May 8th, 2006 at 11:15 am [...] Remember last week when we asked which player on your team could least afford to lose to injury for the World Cup? If you are a Ukraine fan, the answer would surely be Andriy Shevchenko. That is why there are some nervous people in Ukraine today after the AC Milan striker suffered minor knee ligament damage during a match on Sunday. He will be out of action for 25 days, raising some questions as to how fit he will be for Ukraine’s opening match against Spain on June 14. [...]
Posted from United States
By Roy | May 8th, 2006 at 4:08 pm As a diehard of the Spanish squad, I think that losing Puyol would sink their ship far more quickly than losing any of their flashier stars.
Posted from United States
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