Portugal's Ronaldo and England's Rooney both crashed out of the 2010 tournament in the first knockout phase, while Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast, Frenchman Franck Ribery and Italy's Fabio Cannavaro didn't even get past the group stage.
And as for Ronaldinho, he failed to even win selection into the Brazil squad.
These stars all feature in Nike's three-minute
"Write the future" advert, which was shot by Babel director Alejandro Inarritu.
Two of the seven Nike-sponsored teams are still in the mix, and one is certain progress to the semifinals: the two sides, Holland and Brazil, face off in the first quarter-final on Friday afternoon (the other teams were Portugal, USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea).
Perhaps writing history isn't as easy as getting it right.
>>Watch the advert here
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