The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been significantly impacted by a wave of serious injuries in the final stretch of the club season, leaving several national teams without key stars.<\/p>\n
Brazil have suffered multiple setbacks ahead of the tournament:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Est\u00eav\u00e3o<\/b> \u00a0\u2013 Torn hamstring sustained against Manchester United in April. Initially expected to recover quickly, the young winger was left out of the preliminary squad.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Rodrygo<\/b> \u2013 Torn ACL and meniscus from a March match, ruling him out for the remainder of 2026. He was one of Brazil\u2019s top scorers in qualifying.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>\u00c9der Milit\u00e3o<\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Hamstring tear requiring surgery, further weakening the defensive options.<\/p>\n These absences have forced manager Carlo Ancelotti to call up 34-year-old Neymar as a replacement, highlighting sudden gaps in attacking depth.<\/p>\n The Dutch national team will miss important midfielders:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Xavi Simons <\/b>\u2013 Torn ACL in late April.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Jerdy Schouten<\/b> \u2013 Torn ACL suffered while playing for his club.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Matthijs de Ligt<\/b> \u2013 Long-standing back problem requiring additional surgery.<\/p>\n Japan\u2019s attacking options have been depleted:<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Kaoru Mitoma<\/b> \u2013 Torn hamstring. Coach Hajime Moriyasu confirmed he will miss the tournament, describing it as a huge loss.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Takumi Minamino<\/b> \u2013 Failed to recover from an ACL tear sustained in December.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Serge Gnabry (Germany) <\/b>\u2013 Torn adductor injury.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 (<\/b>France)<\/strong> \u2013 Torn Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez (Spain) <\/b>\u2013 Metatarsal fracture requiring surgery.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Patrick Agyemang (United States) <\/b>\u2013 Torn Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Lewis Miller (Australia) <\/b>\u2013 Torn Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 <\/span>Johnny Cardoso (United States) <\/b>\u2013 High-grade ankle sprain requiring surgery.<\/p>\n These high-profile injuries have reshuffled squads across the globe and opened doors for younger or fringe players to step up. Teams like Brazil, Netherlands, and Japan will now rely heavily on squad depth as they compete in what promises to be a highly competitive 2026 World Cup in North America.<\/p>\n The absences underscore the physical demands of modern football and add extra unpredictability to the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been significantly impacted by a wave of serious injuries in the final stretch of\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":52443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[4049,5299,4057],"class_list":["post-52442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-sports","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-injured","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52444,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52442\/revisions\/52444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Netherlands<\/h3>\n
Japan<\/h3>\n
Other Notable Absences<\/h3>\n