World Cup rejection XI: 11 players axed from their national teams

Not every top player can go to the exalted stage that is the World Cup. Some are left at home because their national sides didn’t make it – Alexis Sanchez and Gianluigi Buffon to name a couple.

Others, however, have the patriotic elation of their country’s World Cup qualification brutally diluted when they learn they have been omitted from the squad.

Choosing just 23 players is probably the cruellest of tasks for an international manager, and this eleven-man side is compiled of some notable names who won’t be in Russia this summer.

I am fully aware times are changing and more contemporary structures are the 3-5-2 and 4-3-3, but the formation for this side is a traditional 4-4-2.

Goalkeeper – Joe Hart

Once an England mainstay between the sticks, Joe Hart’s fall from grace on both the international and club stage has been painful.

The shot-stopper made a surprise move to Torino to try and rediscover form, however has only plummeted further down and losing his place at West Ham is only the tip of the iceberg.

Youthful goalkeepers like Jack Butland and Jordan Pickford have impressed this term, only bringing Hart’s decline into sharper focus.

The former Manchester City great has surely had the plug unequivocally pulled on his England career, unless an unfeasible revival emerges after the World Cup.