In the buildup to the World Cup, news regarding roster decisions are often more about who doesn’t make the final team than whomever gets the call to go Germany.

This was never more evident than last week when Holland coach Marco Van Basten named the 33 players who will make up the pool from which the final 23 will be named on May 15. Notable on the absentee list were AC Milan’s Clarence Seedorf and Bayern Munich’s Roy Makaay. Their non-invitations were as much about the depth of the current Dutch Squad than the recent failings of the two players.

Despite Seedorf holding his place with the Champions League runners-up, he has not been called upon to take his place on recent Dutch squads, with Van Basten preferring Edgard Davids, Marc Von Bommel, Wesley Sneijder, and Middlesbrough’s George Boateng.

Makaay has had to fight for his place at Munich this season, with the Peruvian Paolo Geurrero often starting ahead of him or replacing him, including at halftime during Bayern’s recent Champions League loss to AC Milan. But recently Makaay has been in fine form, scoring 5 goals since March 19, including two this past Saturday, a few days after finding out he has no place on the Dutch squad.

But what strikes fear into their World Cup counterparts is the fact that it’s probable that the Dutch will not miss Makaay at all. In his place, Van Basten has called upon current Dutch league top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who is at Ajax. Also at his disposable up front are some fellows you may have heard of named Arjen Robben, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robin Van Persie, and the oft-rumoured Premiership target Dirk Kuijt. Make sure to mark Wednesday, June 21 on your calendar, as that’s the day Holland meets Argentina in the likely Group C decider. The loser will probably meet Group D winner Portugal, while the loser seems destined to see Mexico in the round of 16.

Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco has also been left off of his country’s World Cup squad. Though not as much of a surprise as the striker has never seen eye to eye with his coach, the Argentine Ricardo La Volpe, the decision has caused a bit of an uproar amongst the Mexican fans and media.

Potential World Cup goalkeepers had a tough week with the Australian, Italian, and Czech Republic stoppers all receiving injuries that will keep them on the sidelines for some time.

Middlesborough’s Mark Schwarzer received an elbow to the cheekbone from Dean Ashton during Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final that should keep him out for the rest of the Premiership season, which includes the second leg of the UEFA Cup semifinal. Schwarzer was the hero in Australia’s World Cup playoff, saving twice in the penalty shootout against Uruguay. His backup on the Australia team, 33 year old Zeljko Kalac, is on the books at AC Milan but has only played twice this season.

Italian and Juventus keeper Gianlugi Buffon pulled out of this weekends Serie A match against Lazio and there are concerns in the Italian media that he will not be fit for Germany. The world’s most expensive keeper (Juventus bought him for ?32m) missed the first five months of the season with ligament damage to his shoulder and recently has had problems with a recurring ankle injury. Italy is short in the keeper department with the only real alternatives being Lazio’s Angelo Peruzzi (who played extremely well against Juve) and Morgan De Sanctis who has not impressed this season at Udinese.

Chelsea’s Peter Cech missed out on this past Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final loss to Liverpool after getting a few studs in his shin courtesy of Everton’s James Beattie. He is still likely be healthy in time but just in case, he is backed up by Sparta Prague’s Jaromir Blazek and Antonin Kinsky who plays at Saturn Ramenskoye (I had to look it up also?its a Russian team).

This entry was posted on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 3:32 pm and is filed under World Cup 2006. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.