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Top 5 stars who are missing the 2018 World Cup

By Benjamin Barkworth

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - OCTOBER 10: Players of the Netherlands stand for a minutes silence for the Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan ahead of the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier between Netherlands and Sweden at the Amsterdam Arena on October 10, 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - OCTOBER 10: Players of the Netherlands stand for a minutes silence for the Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan ahead of the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier between Netherlands and Sweden at the Amsterdam Arena on October 10, 2017 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images.
Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images. /

Edin Džeko

Džeko might not be as big a star as the others on this list, but he is just as important. For both Roma and Bosnia and Herzegovina he is clinical when it comes to scoring. He was the top scorer in Serie A last season with 29 goals. His 52 goals for Bosnia make him their top scorer as well, so he brings goals wherever he goes.

At 31 years of age, he is unlikely to get another chance at making a World Cup with 2014 being his sole appearance to date. He did manage to score in a win against Iran in that tournament, but they failed to make their way out of the group due to a key loss against Nigeria.

An away loss to Cyprus and draws with Greece scuppered their chances of reaching the playoffs. Džeko scored five goals in the qualification campaign, so he certainly contributed, but it wasn’t enough. He will have to hope that Bosnia manage to qualify for Euro 2020, so he can have a fitting end to his prolific international career.

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