That came as a shock to a lot of soccer fans, but really, it shouldn't have come as a surprise at all.

Not the same player

True, it was only four short years ago that Ronaldinho was the best player on the planet, and headed to the World Cup in Germany with a Champions League title and back-to-back FIFA world player of the year award in tow.

But it quickly went downhill for the buck-toothed, smiling Brazilian after that. A loss of form and poor work ethic and attitude forced FC Barcelona to sell him to AC Milan and a cut-rate price.

Dunga chose not to take him to South Africa for last year's Confederations Cup or use him during Brazil's final stretch of World Cup qualifying games, as he was unimpressed with his series of shoddy performances for the national team, including at the Beijing Olympics where he was clearly out of shape.

After an uneven first year in Serie A, Ronadinho began to live up to expectations this past season, but reports of his rebirth and rejuvenation with the Rossoneri were grossly exaggerated.

Dunga didn't seem too impressed, either: Ronaldinho was not included in the team roster for Brazil's exhibition match against Ireland in London on March 2.

So Ronaldinho's failure to crack Brazil's roster for next month's World Cup hardly comes as a surprise. Neither does the exclusion of Adriano (overtaken by Grafite in the depth chart), Diego (poor form at Juventus this season) and Pato (injury-plagued campaign with AC Milan).

Veterans don't make the cut

Likewise, people shouldn't bee too surprised that aging veterans such as Francesco Totti (Italy), Patrick Vieira (France) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (The Netherlands) won't be in South Africa. All three dealt with injury problems this past season, so it's understandable they each didn't make the cut.

There was a bit of an uproar from fans over Charlie Davies not being selected by U.S. coach Bob Bradley. Davies, you'll remember, is the promising American forward who was injured in a car crash last October and missed most of the French league season with Sochaux, before only recently returning to training.

While Davies' inclusion would have made for a great Disney-esque story, there was little chance he was going to go to South Africa due to his lengthy injury layoff. Good on Bob Bradley for not bowing to sentimentality and making the right decision.

As for surprises, Diego Maradona caught a lot of people off-guard by omitting Inter Milan midfielders Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti, and Lyon forward Lisandro Lopez.

Cambiasso and Zanetti have been mainstays with Argentina for years and are at the top of their respective games, while Lopez has emerged as one of the most-dangerous strikers in Europe. It boggles the mind as to why Maradona doesn't think these three can help them.

Equally baffling is French coach Raymond Domenech's decision to leave winger Samir Nasri and forward Karim Benzema at home. Granted, Benzema is coming off a less-than-impressive debut season with Real Madrid, but he is a legitimate scoring threat and has been strong for France in the past.

Nasri's exclusion is also a bit of a mystery. The French winger is a dangerous player with the ball at his feet, and makes things happen at Arsenal with his speed and mazy dribbling skills.