The Top Five Players Who Won't Be Playing At The 2010 World Cup

There's no doubt there will be some incredible talent on show at South Africa 2010, but - as with every World Cup - there are some players who are going to miss out. And here are our top five, complete with the obligatory YouTube videos showing how fantastic they are.

5: Edin Dzeko

Because Bosnia lost their play-off match against Portugal, the 2010 World Cup will be without Europe's top striker. Dzeko knocked in an amazing 26 goals in 32 games and helped propel Wolfsburg to the Bundesliga title. He would have been my each way bet for the Golden Boot if Bosnia had made it. They didn't. And here's why it's a real shame:



4: Luka Modric

I may be a little biased as Modric plays for my team, Tottenham, but the Croatia playmaker is a stunning footballer : the ideal combination of skill and creativity. I don't think it's any coincidence that his absence from the Croatia national team due to a broken leg contributed to their failure to reach the finals. Here's a little snippet of Modric genius :



3: Frederic Kanoute

At Sevilla, Kanoute has shown what he always threatened during his injury plagued years at West Ham and Tottenham and that is: he is a consistently dangerous forward. 63 goals in 133 games for the Spanish side is a testament to this. Unfortunately, he decided to represent Mali rather the country of his birth, France. Had he made a different choice, he would almost certainly be at the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.



2: Andriy Arshavin

Russia and Arsenal playmaker Arshavin is currently one of the best players plying their trade in the English Premier League. He combines balance, pace and skill and has an eye for goal. And even better, you can spell his first name a different way every time you write it down. Which makes Andrei Arshavin's absence from the 2010 World Cup all the more disappointing.



1: Mohamed Aboutrika

Another guy whose name you can spell lots of different ways. For those who don't know, Aboutrika is Egypt's playmaker and is an unbelievably skillful footballer. Egypt's loss to Algeria in the play-offs means that, once again, the world won't get to see just how good this guy is. So just check out the YouTube video below and marvel :



Agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts.

Egypt Starting To Look Good

Yeah, I know I should have been working, but I couldn't help but watch the BBC website live coverage of the Confederations Cup match between Brazil and Egypt instead. As well, I mean.

Anyway, it finished 4-3 to Brazil and you can check out the highlights here.

Brazil just edged it, with a last minute Kaka penalty, but the most impressive thing about it was Egypt in the second half. They dominated possession, looked comfortable on the ball and midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika looked every inch the quality player that those in the know keep saying he is.

Egypt were particularly impressive, considering that the names best known to fans of the English Premier League - Mido and Amr Zaki - were both absent. Dortmund striker Mohamed Zidan was an able deputy, though.

Typically with African sides, there is always the potential for chaos just around the corner - egos, politics and personality clashes have long been a feature of Egyptian international football.

But this match showed they can really play and would be a great asset to the 2010 World Cup Finals. They need to get over their poor start to qualifying (a draw and a loss) and play more like they did against Brazil.