Soccer Women’s World Cup: The Great Players Who Will Miss the World Cup Event

This July 20 will begin the Women's Soccer World Cup that will be held in Australia and New Zealand until August 20. We will have a full month in which 32 teams will compete for the world title. The current champion is the United States National Team, a team that won the championship twice in a row and hopes to complete the third consecutive year this year. This is one of the pioneering teams in women's soccer, for this competition it will of course have its main figures such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe who have led this team for several years.

Great absentees

Likewise, some participating teams will not be able to count on important players within the team for this World Cup. This is due to different circumstances, below we will mention some of the most mentioned cases.

England

One of the big favorites to win the title this year is the England team. However, for this world championship they will have three considerable casualties: defense and captain Leah Williamson, forward Beth Mead. Both Arsenal Women's players were ruled out with a cruciate ligament injury. This injury is being very recurrent among women soccer players, more than in men, for which reason great experts began to study this situation.

You can also read: Infographic: Everything You Need To Know About The 2023 Women's World Cup

The other player who will miss the World Cup will be forward Fran Kirby, a Chelsea player. Her absence will be due to a knee injury, of which neither she nor the club detail her condition very well. Given this, it is commented that perhaps she will have to undergo surgery, for which she will have several weeks of disability. This outstanding athlete has not played since February of this year. As a consequence of this and as a precaution, there will be 2 players waiting to be called: Emily Ramsey (Everton) and Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United).

Netherlands

The next selection, which will not have one of its references either, is the selection of the Netherlands. Their most important casualty is that of Vivianne Miedema, star striker at Arsenal Women's. She had a cruciate ligament injury at the end of 2022, when she was playing in the Women's Champions League, she missed the rest of the season and had already anticipated her absence at this year's World Cup.

Spain

Spain is another team that will not be able to count on one of its top stars for this competition. The goalkeeper of FC Barcelona, Sandra Paños, will not be in this tournament due to a decision clearly made by the coaching staff. In her replacement, coach Jorge Vilda called the substitute goalkeeper for the Culé team, Cata Doll. This decision surprised all the fans, since Sandra had come with a very good football present for several months.

Colombia

In Colombia, the great absences were noted, even more than the 23 called, this because some of them are injured and others are still banned from the Colombian National Team due to disagreement with the management of Colombian women's soccer. However, the country is preparing to receive the Women's Copa Libertadores and the Women's Under-20 World Cup in 2024 soon.

Among the absences is the midfielder Liana Salazar, who has just been champion of the third star of Independiente Santa Fe team. Liana is experienced for the Colombian National Team, but due to a technical decision, she was left out. This is the same case of Viviana Acosta and Angie Castañeda, players who were not diminished for the same reason.

On the other hand, there are the injured, Gisela Robledo, a player who is still recovering from a cruciate ligament and meniscus injury, which she suffered in October 2022 in a practice session with the Colombian National Team. Currently, the "cafetera" plays as a midfielder for Granadilla Tenerife in Spain. Another confirmed casualty is striker Manuela Pavi, who currently plays for Atlético Mineiro in Brazil.

Banned for their statements

Players with great experience in the Colombian National Team and several teams, such as Yorely Rincón, Vanessa Córdoba and Natalia Gaitán, were not called up again due to the veto of the Colombian Football Federation headed by Ramón Jesurún.

With these absences, the Australia-New Zealand 2023 Women's World Cup will take place. Several teams are in Australia, while others prepare friendly matches before traveling and starting the tournament.