Palace News

Palace’s Sole World Cup Representative Has Earned His Spot

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With the Russian World Cup edging nearing this summer, Crystal Palace will have a sole representative at the tournament, and after the season both we as a club had, and his own personal season, it’s no great surprise to see Luka Milivojevic make the trip.

Having been named initially in the provisional squad by gaffer Mladen Krstajic, the 27-year-old Serbian made the final 23 man cut for the competition.

With some friendlies to get out of the way, Chile last night and then Bolivia at the weekend, Milivojevic will be hoping to ensure his place in the starting XI for their opening group game against Costa Rica.

They also face Switzerland and Brazil in the group stage.

Hopefully, the injury concern that international football is always a gamble on won’t be an issue come pre-season.

Two men not making the trip to Russia are Christian Benteke and Chung-yong Lee.

Belgian manager Roberto Martinez opted against including the striker in his 23 man squad and given the season he had this year, it’s not exactly a great surprise. The disappointment for Palace is it may have been a way to play him back into some real form and confidence ahead of next year – whether the benefit for us was his game or a potential uplift in transfer fee.

Lee misses out on South Korea’s final squad choice after picking up a hip injury in their first warm-up game against Honduras and that injury saw him miss out on their defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the friendly phase. It does mean he misses out on his third straight World Cup appearance, with the 29-year-old representing his nation at the 2010 and 2014 finals.

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