National football teams are no strangers to untimely injuries dealing a huge blow to preparations for a showpiece event, but this time around, as the first ever winter World Cup is set to take center stage in Qatar in two weeks, it is the sheer volume of them that is giving coaches and physiotherapists the most painful type of headaches.

Defending champions France have lost Juventus talisman Paul Pogba and Chelsea's N'Golo Kante, who have been key figures in helping Les Bleus reach the summit in 2018. Pogba suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury, while Kante has undergone an operation on a hamstring problem.

Euro 2020 runners-up England are sweating over the availability of Reece James, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips, who are still recovering from their respective injuries. Ben Chilwell, who limped off during the closing stages of Chelsea's Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb in midweek, has sustained a ruptured tendon, which will rule him out for a few months.

Four-time World Cup winners Germany are deprived of their first-choice striker Timo Werner, who has been diagnosed with torn ligaments after suffering an ankle injury during RB Leipzig's victory against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal also received the sad news that their prolific forward Diogo Jota, who has scored 10 goals in just 29 appearances, will miss the plane to Qatar after suffering a calf injury during Liverpool's showdown with Manchester City last month.

Meanwhile, South Korean fans are nervously following the latest injury update on their captain Son Heung-Min. The Tottenham Hotspur star, who became the first Asian player ever to win the Premier League's Golden Boot last season, sustained a serious fracture around his left eye during his team's triumph over Marseille on Tuesday. 

Tottenham later confirmed that Son would require surgery, but provided no further information on the extent of his injury. Both the club and the South Korea Football Association are keeping tight-lipped about his chances of making the World Cup, but the Yonhap News Agency revealed that Son would need at least four weeks to recover.

The mounting injury lists have sparked fresh criticism, with more coaches slamming FIFA's decision to alter the timing of the tournament from its usual summer slot to mid-season. Tottenham boss Antonio Conte even suggested that football's governing bodies do not care about player welfare and are putting their health at risk.

"We knew it was crazy to put a World Cup during the league and the Champions League. This type of schedule is crazy," fumed Conte during a press briefing on Friday.

"Many times I hear about the welfare of the players but it is only a polite way to show that you are really interested in the welfare of the players, because they are not really worried about the welfare of the players if the schedule is this.

"In every moment you show that the most important thing is the show must go on and then please I don't want to hear in the future, to listen about people speaking about the welfare of the players because this is not true."

The stance was echoed by Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher. "I think it's an absolute disgrace that the World Cup is in the position it's in, for lots of reasons," he told CBS. "Players who spend their whole lives dreaming of playing in a World Cup and now could be out injured - as we've seen with Son and players all around the world."

"They campaigned on having it in the summer, it is impossible there to have a World Cup in the summer with the temperature, it gets moved to the situation where it is now in the middle of the season.

"An injury, a 10-day or two-week injury, is going to keep players out of a World Cup and it should not be happening."

Earlier this week, FIFA urged World Cup teams to focus on the football in Qatar despite a controversial build-up.

"We know football does not live in a vacuum and we are equally aware that there are many challenges and difficulties of a political nature all around the world," FIFA said in a letter.

"But please do not allow football to be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists."