World Cup Headlines for 12/27 - Big Names Not Selected By Home Country

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We're halfway through the World Cup selection process with three of the tournament's six teams selecting their lineups. While most of the selections were fully deserving of their call-up, there are some high profile players who will end up missing out representing their country (although they still have a shot with Team Mercenaries). Let's look at each team's biggest exclusion: 

 

Scandinavia - Rami Jakobssen

 

The second round pick from the Season 40 Draft has had a solid career, putting up four 80+ point seasons in his six year career, and he was looking to make his third and final World Cup appearance with Team Scandinavia. However, the highly promising young winger class for Team Scandinavia have put in enough work to deem Jakobssen expendable. In truth, while he is a big name, this was an expected decision; regression has not been kind to Jakobssen and failing to turn up for training over the last two seasons has not helped in that regard either. 

 

Western Europe - LeAndre St. Pierre

 

The ninth overall pick from the Season 46 Draft was not able to make the Toronto Legion roster in his first season of VHL eligibility, so instead he decided to use what will be his final VHLM season as a statement of intent for his eventual call-up, scoring 78 goals (12 more than his nearest competitor) while also ranking third in assists. There was some speculation that this would be enough to convince the Western Europe GM to dump returning wingers E'Twaun Delicious or Jakub Rhinehart (who haven't practiced since Season 44 and Season 42 respectively, the latter also returning from Season 40 after missing the Season 43 tournament), but Mr. Power has elected to go mostly with those that took place in the Season 43 triumph. 

 

World - Arcturus Mengsk

 

The Seattle Bears franchise player may not have the TPA of some of the other big-name players from the Season 45 Draft Class, but the Ukrainian defensemen has been a diligent and consistent earner, although he didn't earn quite enough to find his way into the Team World roster for Season 46. Mengsk might be slightly disappointed to miss out to Sooryu Kaminogi, who only has 10 TPA more and has been playing for two more seasons, but he will have a terrific opportunity to shine for Team Mercenaries should he be selected and could be a good candidate for the Breakout Star Award. 

Edited December 28, 2015 by XaviYEAH! Woods