\n
Injuries are part of the game, but their impact is even greater when they occur in the run-up to a major tournament like the World Cup. <\/p>\n
Throughout history, several soccer stars have arrived in top form, full of promise and excitement, only to be sidelined by injury. Fortunately, that’s not the case for these stars, who will arrive at the event “last minute.” <\/p>\n
The World Cup takes place off the field too<\/h2>\n
Between recent injuries, lack of match fitness and rushed returns, some players have already begun a race against time to arrive in top condition for this highly anticipated event.<\/p>\n
One of them is Cristian Romero, an important defender of the Argentina national team. ‘Kuti’ sustained a collateral ligament injury in his knee, and although he avoided surgery, his condition is in doubt. Having had to end his season at Tottenham early, he may enter without ideal match fitness for such a tough competition.<\/p>\n
Another case that has received widespread attention is that of Mikel Merino. The Arsenal and Spain midfielder suffered a bone injury, diagnosed as a stress fracture, in his right foot during training with the Premier League club. After undergoing surgery to insert screws in his heel in January, he had to use crutches and wear a cast. Due to his situation, the national team will have to monitor him closely to see if he can perform at the highest level, but he is expected to be back running within a few weeks and, barring a recurrence, in time for the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Lamine Yamal has joined this list of unlucky players in recent hours, having injured his left biceps femoris in the match against Celta de Vigo. The diagnosis will force the end of his season with Barcelona, \u200b\u200bbut he is expected to recover in time to participate in the tournament. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Brazilian defender Der Milit\u00e3o and Turkish midfielder Arda Goulart suffered the same injuries as Yamal (Gular in his right foot) and, like the young Spaniard, are expected to recover, although they will not be fit to play.<\/p>\n
Beyond talent, physical condition is also a determining factor. These five players are not excluded, but there are conditions attached to their participation. It will depend on their recovery and the match fitness they can build in the months leading up to the tournament.<\/p>\n
The 2026 World Cup will be held from June 11th to July 19th in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Injuries are part of the game, but their impact is even greater when they occur in the run-up to a major tournament like the World Cup. Throughout history, several soccer stars have arrived in top form, full of promise and excitement, only to be sidelined by injury. Fortunately, that’s not the case for these stars,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"\n
Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Injuries are part of the game, but their impact is even greater when they occur in the run-up to a major tournament like the World Cup. Throughout history, several soccer stars have arrived in top form, full of promise and excitement, only to be sidelined by injury. Fortunately, that’s not the case for these stars,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-24T03:36:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/\",\"name\":\"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-24T03:36:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","og_description":"Injuries are part of the game, but their impact is even greater when they occur in the run-up to a major tournament like the World Cup. Throughout history, several soccer stars have arrived in top form, full of promise and excitement, only to be sidelined by injury. Fortunately, that’s not the case for these stars,","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","article_published_time":"2026-04-24T03:36:24+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/","name":"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-24T03:36:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/17769759819630.jpg","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/five-star-players-in-a-race-against-time-for-the-2026-world-cup\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five star players in a race against time for the 2026 World Cup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News & Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}