Sometimes fans forget: the World Cup is really just a big party where a few folks kick a ball. Thus, like all parties, the biggest question is: were you invited?

Jürgen Klinsmann has booked an invitation for the US national team, but several spots remain open on the 23-man roster he will take to Brazil next year. Will he favor impact subs or utility men? Veterans or young prospects? Nobody knows but if history is any guide, there will be major omissions and surprising late additions.

Here are a few memorable snubs and late invites from World Cups past:

The ire of Jeff Agoos

If you were an American player, you would have killed to be on the US team for the 1994 World Cup. Even though Peter Vermes told Simon Kuper, in Soccer Against the Enemy, that he wanted to win the tournament, few outside the US expected America to even advance out of their group. Still, the combined joy of participating in a World Cup and walking out of the stadium tunnels on American soil would be enough to make your heart thump. Coach Boris Multinovic had to make some difficult decisions.

He counted on Alexi Lalas, John Harkes and Eric Wynalda to form the team's spine. He also picked a few US players who were born abroad to GI dads, including Earnie Stewart. He did not, though, pick the defender Jeff Agoos.

Agoos played more than 100 times for the US. His omission is still a shocker. However, at the time of the 1994 World Cup he played for the Los Angeles Salsa in the recently inaugurated American Professional Soccer League, which would close in 1996. A poor competition. Not the best way to improve your form. Thus, Boris cut Agoos – and, in a fit of rage, the Swiss-born American burned his national-team jersey.

Through hard work and perseverance, however, Agoos had the last laugh. He made the US World Cup roster in 1998 and 2002. His 134 caps are second only to Cobi Jones, all-time. In 94 he was down, but he was definitely not out.

Mastroeni's master stroke

You can forgive US fans for blinking when they saw Pablo Mastroeni's name on Bruca Arena's 23-man roster for Japan and South Korea in 2002. The tenacious tackler had not participated in any qualifying games and had recently transferred from the Miami Fusion to the Colorado Rapids. Mastroeni himself probably didn't even know his best position – he frequently shuffled between central-defender and holding midfielder. "A jack of all trades, but master of none" – so the saying goes.

Pablo Mastroeni pursues Luis Figo of Portugal. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Arena saw things differently. With John O'Brien and Claudio Reyna offering cultured passing in the center of the park, he knew he needed a destroyer. Thus, he viewed Pablo as a utility man who got along well with the other players (he traveled to camps and games with his guitar in tow, allegedly). Mastroeni had performed well in friendlies and could be counted on to support the team from the bench or the stands. He made the roster and then, on the eve of the opening game, against Portugal, Claudio Reyna picked up an injury. Mastroeni slotted in alongside O'Brien and was embarrassed by Luis Figo a few times – who wasn't? – but he largely played well in a shock 3-2 win.

Reyna returned to fitness and got his starting place back, and even earned all-tournament honors. Still, Mastroeni later became a fixture on the team and he featured at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Who would have thought playing a guitar could do so much for a soccer career?

Disappointment Taylor-made

Brian McBride. Eric Wynalda. Peter Vermes. In the 90s and early 2000s the US fielded Robocops disguised as forwards. Their movement was mechanical, but they were at least powerful brutes who relished winning headers and hounding defenders off the ball. Thus, in 2006, many New England Revolution fans felt Taylor Twellman should be a given a shot at the World Cup in Germany. He seemed to fit the mold. He was also in form: that season he had won MLS MVP honors and the golden boot.

Sadly, though, the gulf between MLS and international level loomed large. Arena gave Twellman a few opportunities in friendlies and qualifiers, and aside from a hat-trick against Norway in a friendly, the St Louis native struggled. His greatest asset in MLS, a poacher's eye, failed to translate against faster-thinking international defenders.

Instead, Arena picked the cocky Texan Clint Dempsey. Sadly, the Revs nixed a move to England later that year – Taylor suffered a career-ending concussion a few years after that. On the bright side, he's since become an advocate for concussion education; he also has a podcast with some ginger.

Ching's sting

Brian Ching's career could have been a made-for-TV movie. Never a blue chip, the big man from Hawaii played in college for Gonzaga, and then plied his trade in the lower divisions for the Spokane Shadow and the then lower-division Seattle Sounders. In 2002, he scored 16 goals for the Sounders and earned an MLS contract with the San Jose Earthquakes. There he formed an electric striking partnership with a bleached blonde teenager named Landon Donovan. They won the MLS Cup and while Donovan left for LA, Ching relocated to Houston, along with the Earthquakes.

In terms of the national team, Ching faced stiff competition from the veteran Brian McBride. Both were big and strong, but many felt Ching didn't throw his weight around in the box as he could have. McBride played for Fulham in the Premier League and had scored a crucial opening goal against Mexico in the 2002 World Cup. Still, every time McBride got injured or was unavailable, Ching stepped in. He scored a crucial game-tying goal against Jamaica, early in qualifying for Germany 2006.

He made the roster, but didn't play. The next cycle arrived, full of promise. However, new coach Bob Bradley wasn't convinced by Ching, even though the US faced a paucity of striking options. With McBride retired, Jozy Altidore raw and Eddie Johnson mis-shooting, Ching got a fair a share of chances to lock down a starting spot. Instead, he lost his place at the last moment, to the surging Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez. And at an MLS game against the Galaxy, he suffered one of the harshest chants heard in North America. Every time Ching kicked a ball, fans screamed: "US reject!" He is due to retire at the end of the year.

The labours of Herculez

Herculez Gomez was a surprise selection in 2010. Photo: Jason Reed/Reuters

Herculez Gomez's rise to the national team coincided with Ching's decline, but the two share an unheralded early career. Gomez bounced around MLS clubs like a nomad. He also suffered a series of injuries that threatened to end his career. Like DeMarcus Beasley, he tapped bottom before resurrecting his career south of the border, in Mexico.

In January 2010, he signed for the Mexican club Puebla. Despite playing no role in US qualification for South Africa 2010, his electric form forced Bob Bradley to invite him into friendlies. He scored 10 goals in his club season, tying Chicharito Hernandez (then of Chivas) for the golden boot. In one of those friendlies for the US, he scored a fine header off a corner kick, against the Czech Republic. He also scored against Australia. Bradley had seen enough: he picked the hot hand, Gomez, instead of the trusted veteran, Ching. Gomez started the round-of-16 game against Ghana and has played a big role in Klinsmann's 2014 World Cup cycle.

So what's next?

So what surprises can fans expect between now and May? Klinsmann has been clear: he will be fielding a strong roster for the last two qualifiers in October. There will be no close looks at fringe players. However, an MLS January camp looms and so do friendlies at the start of 2014. Will we see a late arrival, like Mastroeni? An unexpected adios, like those that were bade to Agoos and Ching? Another Herculean rise? Probably. With 23 roster spots open, only about 11 or 12 are locked in. Even then, injuries happen. Players slump.

But for the guys who don't get that call in May, it will be a long day. Class is permanent and form is fleeting – but heartbreak is forever.

Elliott is the author of Real Madrid & Barcelona: the Making of a Rivalry. He blogs about soccer at Futfanatico.com