Even the best can miss out

The World Cup is almost upon us and, while club football overflows with awards and riches, being the best in the globe remains the ultimate prize.

Following on from Wednesday’s top 10 players who never played in the spectacle, we now pick out the leading players who never got to lift the famous trophy.

1. Eusebio (Portugal)

Eusebio scored 733 goals in 745 games, including 41 goals for Portugal, one on a penalty shot in the 1966 World Cup semifinal loss to eventual-champion England. Eusebio, who scored a tournament-high nine goals in 1966, broke down at the final whistle of that defeat and in Portugal the game is known as the ‘Game of Tears’.

2. Johan Cruyff (Netherlands)

Voted Europe’s top player of the 20th Century and second only to Pele for world player of the century, Cruyff scored 33 goals in 48 games for Holland, which never lost a game in which he scored. And though he was selected the player of the tournament in the 1974 World Cup, he didn’t score in the final, which West Germany won in an upset, 2-1. After leading the Netherlands through qualifying for the 1978 World Cup, Cruyff retired before that tournament and the Dutch went on to finish second again.

3. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) 

Puskas, who scored 84 times in 85 caps, was the top player of the 1954 tournament. But the Hungary team, which also featured high-scoring forward Sandor Kocsis and were unbeaten over five years and 32 games entering the tournament, were upset by West Germany in a final played in horrendous conditions. Puskas played the final with a hairline fracture of an ankle, yet still scored a goal and had what would have been the tying goal in the final minutes but it was waved off by an offside call.

4. Sir Stanley Matthews (England)

The only player to be knighted before retiring, Matthews played in England’s first division until age 50 and played his last competitive game when he was 70. World War II wiped out the World Cup during Matthews’ prime, although he did play in the tournament in 1950 and 1954, helping England to the quarterfinals in the latter case.

5. Lev Yashin (Soviet Union)

“The Black Spider” is considered by many to have been the greatest goalkeeper in history. His career with Moscow Dynamo and the Soviet national team spanned the Cold War and included four World Cups. The Soviets reached the quarterfinals three times and the semifinals once but never got further.

6. Zico (Brazil) 

The “White Pele” is the fourth-highest scorer in Brazilian history. But his decade with the national team coincided with the country’s longest title drought, so though Zico played in three World Cups he got to the semi-finals only once.

7. Lionel Messi (Argentina)

At 26, Messi’s career is far from done. Yet, he has already played more than 275 games for Barcelona, scoring 243 goals. The four-time world player of the year hasn’t had the same success with his national team, though. 

In two World Cups, he has failed to get Argentina past the quarterfinals, scoring one goal in the two tournaments combined.

8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Only 29, the reigning world player of the year has 110 international caps for his homeland. 

And he has played well on the sport’s biggest stage, scoring in his second game in the 2006 World Cup and earning man-of-the-match awards in all three of Portugal’s group-play games in 2010. 

But Portugal got as far as the semifinals once. Ronaldo is likely to get at least two more World Cup chances before he’s done.

9. Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)

Arguably Mexico’s most accomplished player, Sanchez averaged a goal every two games for the national team and won four consecutive Spanish scoring titles with Real Madrid. And though Mexico did not qualify for the 1982 World Cup and was banned in 1990 when Sanchez was in his prime, he did play in the tournament three times, helping his team to the quarterfinals in 1986.

10. David Beckham (England)

Beckham played a record 115 games for the national team he also captained. And though he played in three World Cups, England fell in the round of 16 the first time and in the quarterfinals in its next two tries.