What have Juninho, Redondo, Zola, Casiraghi and Ginola got in common with the rest of us? They'll all be either spectators at the World Cup, or they'll be watching it on their televisions over the next five weeks. It must say something of the strength in depth of the pool of players available to the Brazilian, Argentinian, Italian and French coaches that they felt they could afford to leave out what sounds like half the line-up of the Ultimate Dream Team, but left them out they have. The five are amongst a long list of players who might have expected to make their countries' squads but, for a variety of reasons (injuries, rows with their coaches, kebab-eating sessions, or just being considered not good enough) have missed out on selection.
Emanuel Amunike (Nigeria): The Barcelona forward, who was one of his country's stars in the last World Cup, misses out after a season plagued by injuries.
Sonny Anderson (Brazil): The player Barcelona bought from Monaco last year to replace Ronaldo wasn't deemed good enough to join the World Player of the Year in the Brazilian squad.
Ibrahim Ba (France): After a disappointing season in a struggling AC Milan side the winger failed to get picked for Aime Jacquet's squad . . . much to the horror of Nike, whose latest television ad features him.
Pierluigi Casiraghi (Italy): The player Chelsea have just bought from Lazio was one of the surprise omissions from Cesare Maldini's squad - Casiraghi lost out to Fabrizio Ravanelli and Roberto Baggio.
Igor Cvitanovic (Croatia): The man who would have partnered Alen Boksic (now also out of the World Cup) in the Croatian attack was thrown out of the squad by coach Miroslav Blazevic after he complained about the demanding training programme set for the players.
Marc Vivien Foe (Cameroon): The midfielder with French champion Lens broke his leg in training at the end of May, ending his World Cup hopes and Manchester United's attempt to sign him.
Paul Gascoigne (England): Kebabs, fags, lager . . . the rest is history.
David Ginola (France): A French outcast since a sloppy 90th minute pass led to a Bulgarian goal that cost France a place in the 1994 World Cup finals. Ginola will spend the next five weeks working alongside Jimmy Hill for the BBC - "Serves him right," say the French.
John Harkes (USA): The former Sheffield Wednesday player was axed from the USA squad, which he captained, in April after coach Steve Sampson claimed he had disobeyed orders on the pitch and was a "focus of unrest" for the other players.
Juninho (Brazil): Broke his leg playing for Atletico Madrid against Celta Vigo in February and although he was back in action before the end of the season he did not make the squad.
Kazuyoshi Miura (Japan): The veteran striker's omission from the World Cup squad caused a Gazza-like uproar in Japan. The former Santos (Brazil) and Genoa player was something of a national hero after scoring 54 goals in 86 internationals.
Fernando Redondo (Argentina): The Real Madrid midfielder, regarded as one of the finest in the world, initially fell out with Argentinian coach Daniel Passarella over the length of his hair, but even after trimming his flowing locks he failed to regain his place in the squad.
Romario (Brazil): Injured his right calf in training last month and was omitted from the squad, with coach Mario Zagallo claiming he would not recover in time for the finals.
Gianfranca Zola (Italy): By his standards he had a disappointing season for Chelsea, but his exclusion from the squad, just a week after scoring the goal that won the European Cup Winners' Cup, still astonished most football fans.
