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Radamel Falcao has been ruled out of the World Cup after the Colombian striker failed to recover from a knee injury in time to feature in Brazil.
It is a major blow for Colombia, who are available at34.00to win the World Cup outright and at3.75to be eliminated from the tournament at the quarter-final stage.
National coach Jose Pekerman named his 23-man World Cup squad on Monday in Buenos Aires but Falcao was not included.
He suffered a serious knee injury in January during Monaco's 2-0 victory in Toulouse and has not played since.
The 28-year-old former River Plate and FC Porto striker, who moved to Monaco from Atletico Madrid last summer in a 52million deal, will now concentrate on being fit enough for the start of the new French League season.
Pekerman said last week he would "wait for Falcao until the last day, the last minute" but a message on the national team's official Twitter account read: "Muriel, Perea and Falcao are not going to be at the World Cup, Jose Pekerman has announced."
Meanwhile, Falcao said: "I was very excited but now I'll have to support the team from afar and I wish them well, hoping they play a good World Cup."
After taking the decision, Pekerman called it "the saddest day I've had since becoming Colombia coach".
Colombia are available at6.50to beat Greece 2-0 in their first World Cup encounter on 14th January in Belo Horizonte.
World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers:David Ospina (Nice), Faryd Mondragon (Deportivo Cali), Camilo Vargas (Santa Fe).
Defenders:Camilo Zuniga (Napoli), Pablo Armero (Napoli), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Mario Yepes (Atalanta), Carlos Valdes (Philadelphia Union), Santiago Arias (PSV Eindhoven), Eder Alvarez-Balanta (River Plate).
Midfielders:James Rodriguez (Monaco), Abel Aguilar (Toulouse), Carlos Sanchez (Elche), Fredy Guarin (Inter Milan), Juan Fernando Quintero (Porto), Aldo Ramirez (Morelia), Alexander Mejia (Atletico Nacional), Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari), Juan Guillermo Cuadrado (Fiorentina).
Forwards:Jackson Martinez (Porto), Teofilo Gutierrez (River Plate), Carlos Bacca (Sevilla), Adrian Ramos (Borussia Dortmund).
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