The injuries that have reshaped the World Cup before a ball is kicked
The 2026 World Cup is here, but Brazil, the Netherlands, Japan and Germany all arrive without a player they had built plans around. A look at the absences that have quietly trimmed the contenders before kick-off.
Jun 9, 2026
The 2026 World Cup squads are in, the planes have landed in North America, and most coaches have the group they wanted. Not all of them. For a handful of contenders the final cut was made in a treatment room rather than a selection meeting, and the tournament that kicks off this week looks a little different because of it.
Injuries are part of every build-up. What stands out this time is where they have landed. Several of the sides expected to go deep arrive in the United States, Canada and Mexico without a player they had planned their summer around, and in one case without half a back line.
Brazil lost Rodrygo months ago
Brazil’s blow came early, and it has not got any easier to absorb. Rodrygo tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the lateral meniscus in his right knee back in March, during Getafe’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid, and was ruled out for around eight months. That ended his club season and his World Cup in the same afternoon.
Losing a forward of his range hurts more than the goal tally suggests. Rodrygo can play off either flank or through the middle, and he is the type who lets a coach change a game without changing the system. Brazil still have attacking options, but Rodrygo is gone and Neymar arrives carrying a calf injury that has left his place in the opening match against Morocco in doubt. That is a more uncertain front line than the one they pictured a year ago.
The Netherlands are holding a defence together with tape
If one squad has been hollowed out by this run of injuries, it is the Netherlands. Matthijs de Ligt, the Manchester United centre-back who was meant to anchor the back line, finally accepted surgery on a back problem that had dogged him since November and will not play again until next season. Jurrien Timber, another first-choice defender, was ruled out on the eve of the tournament with a groin injury. Add the earlier knee injury to midfielder Xavi Simons, and the spine of the side has been picked apart before the group stage even starts.
Replacements exist, and Dutch football rarely runs short of defenders, but there is a difference between cover and the players you build a tournament around. The Netherlands were a quietly fancied team. They arrive looking far more vulnerable than their qualifying form suggested.
Japan will miss Mitoma’s spark
Japan have arguably the most painful absence of the lot, because Kaoru Mitoma was fit enough to tease everyone before the door shut. The Brighton winger picked up a hamstring injury late in the club season and, after weeks of waiting on his fitness, was left out of Japan’s squad altogether. Coach Hajime Moriyasu did not dress it up, calling the decision a huge blow.
Mitoma is the player Japan turn to when a tight game needs forcing open, the one-on-one threat who can turn a draw into a win. Without him, a side that has been openly chasing a first run beyond the last 16 has lost its most direct route to goal. Takehiro Tomiyasu has been recalled, but that is defensive insurance, not a like-for-like swap.
Germany’s teenage gamble never got started
Germany’s loss is the cruellest in its timing. Lennart Karl, the 18-year-old Bayern Munich forward who had forced his way into Julian Nagelsmann’s plans, tore muscle fibres in his thigh in training after the squad had already flown out, and was sent home days before the opener. Assan Ouedraogo of RB Leipzig takes his place.
This one is less about a proven star and more about a what-if. Karl was the wildcard, the youngster who might have given Germany something opponents had not prepared for. Now Nagelsmann goes in with a more predictable hand.
What it actually changes
None of this turns a favourite into an also-ran on its own. Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands can all still win matches without the players they have lost, and tournaments are usually decided by who stays fit through July rather than who started fittest in June. But margins are tight at this level, and every one of these absences trims a squad’s ceiling by a fraction.
There is a neat, slightly cruel symmetry waiting on the opening weekend, too. The Netherlands and Japan, two of the hardest-hit sides, meet in their first group game on June 14. One has lost its defensive spine, the other its most dangerous attacker. Whoever copes better with what they are missing might tell us plenty about how far they can go.