Arshavin, 28, and his Russian team-mates dazzled at Euro 2008, fighting for a place in the semifinals, but were ousted by Slovenia in a World Cup play-off tie.
"I cannot say that this is the deciding moment in my career - usually, people will realise it only years later. But, in any case, to stay out of the World Cup means to be on the sidelines of world football for a time," Arshavin said when elimination was already looming, after the first game in Moscow.
As a result, the Arsenal striker will not be in South Africa, and neither will Barcelona hit man Ibrahimovic, whose Sweden team was eliminated as well.
The exit prompted Ibrahimovic, 28, one of the world's best-paid footballers, to reconsider his national-team future.
Given his age, 32, Ukraine's Shevchenko will most likely never appear on the global stage again, because the next World Cup is in 2014.
The former ACMilan and Chelsea forward qualified for the 2006 World Cup, but Ukraine were eliminated by eventual champions Italy in the quarterfinals.
The Ukrainian defeat by Greece during 2010 qualifying also means that none of the Euro 2012 hosts will be playing in South Africa: Poland missed out in the group stage.
Also missing will be African champions Egypt, who were beaten in a play-off by north African rivals Algeria after the two finished their group equal on points, and also on goals scored and conceded.
Neither of the 2002 World Cup semifinalists, Turkey and Croatia, who also managed the same feat in 1998, will be in South Africa.
The history of the World Cup is full of prominent players and teams that have failed to qualify.
The best-known players are George Best, who starred for Manchester United but failed to lift Northern Ireland to a big event, and George Weah, who won just about everything in an illustrious club career, but had the bad luck to be born in Liberia.
Big teams like England and Italy have missed out in the past as well, and so did the Dutch, who were the most prominent no-show at the 2002 World Cup.
The possible 2009 World Player Lionel Messi was given a fright before his Argentina team squeezed through.
Loading...
Be the first to comment