As the leagues around Europe raw to a close and the Championship races have been decided, focus is beginning to turn more and more to the World Cup as the national managers begin to finalise their line-ups.

Previous World Cups (and European Championships) have seen some of the best players either miss out through injury or not be at their best due to injuries sustained during the season and this World Cup is shaping up to be no different.

The focus here in England (before Theo Walcott was named to the squad) was all about Wayne Rooney who joined the metatarsal club when he broke the bone in his foot just a week before the end of the season. Although he has been named to the England squad, he is a certainty to miss the group games and may only be fit for the latter stages if at all, meaning he will not have trained for around a month.

For England, Arsenal duo Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole have suffered injuries this season and have only just returned to action whilst over in Italy, star man Francesco Totti has played just two games at the end of the season as he bids to get fit for the finals, but like Rooney he is expected to be named to Marcello Lippi's squad but fellow striker Christian Vieri has been ruled out through injury.

Harry Kewell of Australia also suffered an injury in last weekends FA Cup Final and is now undergoing treatment in a bid to make the finals, but perhaps the biggest blow (aside from Rooney) could be the damaged ligaments suffered by Andriy Shevchenko. Shevchenko - who last weekend announced he wished to leave AC Milan is expected to be out for around five weeks which (like Rooney) will probably rule him out of the early stages.

So once again, as the Worlds focus turns to the biggest tournament in World sport, much of the focus leading up to the opening kick off is concerned with who may not be there as opposed to who will be playing.