Brazil 2014 will be poorer tournament without either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo Maybe, therefore, the widespread reaction is actually an overreaction. Maybe the mild disappointment, the raging apoplexy and the inevitable landslide of unfunny internet memes is undeserved. That Brazil 2014"s canvas will not be splashed upon by one of Ronaldo or Zlatan in their indomitable haphazard manner is frustrating, dissatisfying, but not a cause of extensive mourning. These things happen in football and, indeed, in life. Maybe not. Reason dictates that good players, even great ones, miss World Cups, but then these are not two players that conform to reason. Ibrahimovic scores scorpion kicks as if his first football coach was Mr Miyagi; he is a six-foot-five contortionist capable of overheads from 40 yards, and he also hates Pep Guardiola because, well, just because. Ronaldo, meanwhile, is one of the most vainglorious players in history, but is all the better for it; he rants, strops, emits visceral screams at misplaced passes and scores 100 goals a season. They are characters, but they are also amongst the top 10 players in the world. And besides: this is Brazil, the World Cup, the World Cup in Brazil. The World Cup is the staple of our childhoods, the tapestry on which our earliest memories are woven upon. Afternoons and evenings spent upright with eyes prised open, like Alexander DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange, with Gheorghe Hagi, Davor Sukur and Gabriel Batistuta dancing across the screen, soundtracked by Nessun Dorma on an endless loop. Both Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo should be there but are hamstrung by their fellow countrymen not being as good at football as they once were. Ronaldo rises, spine straight, neck tensed, but the cross from Vieirinha is not accurate enough; Zlatan traps the ball with his chest and nonchalantly flicks it behind him while looking the other way, but Ola Toivonen is not on the same page - he's not even reading the same book. There will be other players who belong to this select bracket of game-changers: the world's second-most expensive footballer Gareth Bale, playing for the world's biggest comparative website Wales (note: everything, absolutely everything, is the size of Wales) will not be there, while David Alaba's Austria could not usurp Germany or Sweden. Robert Lewandowski, one of the world's most complete strikers, saw his Poland finish two points ahead of Moldova. But Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic are different. They dominate games, both through their ability on the ball and their demeanour off it. They divide opinion and create debate as evidenced by the asinine question of whether the Swede could do it against a big club despite years as a champion. Make no mistake: Sweden playing four games at the World Cup would be an achievement, while Portugal would expect quarter-finals at most. Their stars would shine quickly, but how bright they would shine before fading. Ronaldo is now in his prime; Ibra, with a new-found maturity, would want to impact upon what is likely to be his last chance at this tournament. Both could have provided the moments that are replayed in our minds and on our screens, forever immortalised because they took place in Brazil, in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer and Pele, of Oscar Niemeyer and Socrates. Instead, one will be frustratingly watching from the other side of the screen. But these things happen in football and, indeed, in life. The 11 who definitely won't be there: Petr Cech (Chelsea & Czech Republic) David Alaba (Bayern Munich & Austria) Daniel Agger (Liverpool & Denmark) Christopher Samba (Dinamo Moscow & Congo) Roberto Rosales (FC Twente & Venezuela) Nemanja Matic (Benfica & Serbia) Selcuk Inan (Galatasaray & Turkey) Gareth Bale (Real Madrid & Wales) Marek Hamsik (Napoli & Slovakia) Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Dortmund & Armenia) Robert Lewandowski (Dortmund & Poland)