Stuck in the World Cup wilderness

THERE are just a little under seven months to go until the next Fifa World Cup, with the first match of the most-watched football tournament in the world set to kick off at the new 81,000-seater Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 14, 2018.

The final qualifying matches took place earlier this week, and all 32 slots for the month-long sporting extravaganza in Russia have now been filled.

The bookies' favourites include the defending champions Germany, five-time winners Brazil, the 2010 champions Spain, and a very strong France side that is looking to reclaim the trophy they last won back in 1998.

This World Cup will be remembered as the one where so many of the big boys didn't make the cut, as they simply …