Big Question: Which Player Can your Team least Afford to Lose to Injury?

Look I know there not my team but I can’t imagine what would happen to Germany if they lost Ballack

To Brazil it’s obvious: Ronaldinho. Not only because of his skills, but the morale of the team could fade.

I support Australia and I believe the greatest loss for Australia would be Harry Kewell followed by Marco Bresciano

most Italy fans will tell you Totti, but I’m more worried about the cover available in the centre of defence if Nesta or Cannavaro get injured

For Australia it’s Harry Kewell. While there isn’t a ’superstar’ in the Australian team, he and Viduka to a lesser extent, elevate the team to something approaching World Cup standard.

for italy, it is without a doubt Buffon. if we lost him we have no real backup. wed be totally done.

Ballack for Germany. Without him, I don’t know from where the goals, inspirations and goalscoring chances will come from for the host nation. Simply indispensible

Jumbieno ;s

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.

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.

I think Peruzzi would do just fine in Buffon’s absence

Germany couldn´t afford to loose Michael Ballack.

He´s our one and only.

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”…

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.

i think that gerrard for liverpool but for international id say lampard or rooney

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.

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.

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

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

For Argentina… probably Riquelme.

The team has so much talent, but Riquelme is the heart. Kill the heart, kill the team. :(

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.

[...] 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! [...]

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.

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.

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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.

“… 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.

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.

france without henry an england without rooney….what a loss an hope him a speed of recovery…..cum on wazza we need u !!!!!!

What’s a wazza??

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.

[...] 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. [...]

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.