5 Under-the-Radar World Football Teams You'd Be Sad to Miss out on

FOMO—fear of missing out. FOMO is a common way to describe a person feeling like an outcast for not participating in a social event. 

The term is rarely used in sports but can be applied in many ways including fans suffering from FOMO when they miss big plays or thrilling contests involving their favorite teams. Sometimes FOMO exists and we don't even realize it as fans. In other words, sometimes you're missing out and you don't even know it. 

Here are five world football teams you'll have FOMO for once you realize how much you've been missing. 

MLS' Sporting Kansas City

Major League Soccer, despite all its greatest enemies (anyone who refuses to watch it themselves to decide whether its a top-flight league), has several hidden gems. 

Sporting Kansas City tops this list just as they currently top the Eastern Conference. 

With a recent 1-0 win over the sputtering New York Red Bulls, KC is sprinting out of the blocks and into the summer as the favorites in the West. 

Need some proof of your future FOMO issues? US Men's star Graham Zusi bends it like Zusi to Aurelien Collin for an unstoppable header to put away New York for good in just the 12th minute. 

On top of Kansas City's offense, they 'sport' (couldn't resist) perhaps the two best center backs in the league in the aforementioned Collin and Matt Besler. Besler wiped the snow off Jurgen Klinsmann's face with a gutsy performance at the Azteca vs. a dangerous Mexican squad. 

Plus, Jimmy Nielsen is their keeper. He's put up respectable numbers in the midwest the last couple of seasons but he's absolutely on fire this year. Even Thierry Henry has an angry, confused version of FOMO for Sporting KC. 

Zusi, Collin, Claudio Bieler (leads the team in goals), Besler and Nielsen holding down this Midwest shift-show: don't miss out. 

La Liga's Malaga

Malaga took the champs league by storm this year by making it all the way to the quarterfinals and getting within minutes of advancing to the semifinals.  German spoilers Borussia Dortmund felt a bout of FOMO coming on themselves and quickly extinguished Malaga's UCL dreams with 2 goals in just 3 minutes. 

The sad tale of David rising from the ashes and conquering the mighty Goliath ended like a bad breakup: name-calling, outlandish claims of unfairness, and of course, nobody willing to take the blame.

So maybe you haven't been missing out on Malaga because they've been on FOX soccer every once in awhile the past couple of months.  However, it's likely you weren't really watching intently.  Who wanted Malaga to have to face Barcelona or Real Madrid in the semis? NOBODY. We all expected Dortmund's frightening fan display to cause a Malaga meltdown in the first few minutes of play.  Inconceivably, that choke-job occurred in extra-time.  An extra-time that will go down as one of the hardest pills to swallow in UCL history.  

A quick breakdown of what we're all missing in the semifinals: 

- 20-year-old Isco, who cooled transfer speculation in January by giving his contract a boost. Defenses, beware: Isco leads Malaga with 8 goals on the season as Malaga sit in 5th place in La Liga. (Or, as any sane person would argue, 3rd place. Barcelona and Real Madrid need to be promoted to the All-Universe Liga, which is Spanglish for "they're just way too good for everyone else.")

- Another player leaves a trail of fire behind him wherever he goes: Joaquin. Would you like to know why this YouTube video of lightning footballer Joaquin has less than 13,000 reads? It's because you don't know about your FOMO yet. Spread the word.

His feet are wizards! Go to 1:30 in the above video. And no, that isn't Neymar. 

- Roque Santa Cruz. Even though he's heading to Brazil and belongs to Man City, football fans will be sad to see him leave Malaga. Almost too sad. Speaking of almost, he's almost Paraguay's most prolific scorer.  Almost. 

Bundesliga's Schalke

Germany's Bundesliga holds two of Europe's most thrilling outfits in Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.  Bayern has won the title 23 times, more than twice as many as the next team.  They're essentially the Montreal Canadiens of World Football (if I haven't lost you into obscurity yet, there you go.) One more scary thought: Bayern and Dortmund have won the title in 16 of the last 20 seasons. At least in the EPL, it's close: Manchester United 19, Liverpool 18, Arsenal 13, etc. 

Schalke finishes 4th on the list of Bundesliga title winners (They're also the 12th most valuable soccer franchise in the world, according to Forbes.) This year, their top FOMO-inducing player is Klaas Jan Huntelaar.  His finishing touch is nasty and reminds me of Liverpool's mercurial (read: jerk) star Luis Suarez.  Plus, his face mask means he's 2013's original football Zorro (sorry, Fernando Torres). 

Other than the unbearable loss of Lewis Holtby to EPL-emerging Tottenham, Schalke has promise. After Turkish giants Galatasaray KO'd Schalke from the Champs League, the German middleweights look to make a late run for 3rd place in the Bundesliga.  

There are a few somewhat obvious trends emerging in this slideshow: 

1.) Teams with USMNT players (Jermaine Jones for Schalke) 

2.) Teams that recently got KO'd from the Champs League

This is what American soccer fans are exposed to.  Other than the UCL exposure these teams get, you really must go out of your way to seek out the teams in this slideshow.  ESPN won't do it for you and FOX Soccer only goes so far (literally). This is part of a larger discussion about world football coverage in America.  NBC Sports recently unveiled their comprehensive plan for EPL coverage. Next step: better coverage of Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands and, of course, Deutschland. 

Ligue 1's Marseille

Admittedly, my interest (and yours, ostensibly) is largely due to Joey Barton's crazy antics.

On the other hand, this squad also has game on the pitch and the cash to keep bringing in some of Europe's best talent. 

Paris Saint-Germain dominates Ligue 1 and is currently 11 pts clear of Marseille.  Early in the season, PSG star Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored two beautiful goals in a 2-2 draw vs. Marseille. Who scored Marseille's goals? 

André-Pierre Gignac.  It's one of the best names in football and his goal-scoring prowess (leads club with 11 on the season) has led him to stardom in France. 

Jordan and Andre Ayew, the sons of former Marseille striker Abedi Pele, are clipping Gignac's heels for most thrilling player. This video breaks down the source of your undoubtedly strong FOMO. They can both score from anywhere in front of the goal and in several different manners. 

No, Marseille aren't PSG with stars David Beckham, Ibrahimovic, Alex or Thiago Silva. That said, please don't try to argue with goal-scoring drama and one of the strongest midfields in France. 

Serie A's Napoli

All you need to know: Napoli are in second place in the Serie A table, which puts them ahead of Milan, Lazio, Roma AND Inter. They're also ranked #17 in the aforementioned Forbes' most valuable football clubs. 

I can see the FOMO emanating from your pores.

Edinson Cavani is clearly the star of this year's most exciting Serie A side. He's a five-tool striker: speed, finishing power, set-piece glory, an unreal sense of the last 1/3 of the pitch and air prowess. Check out 5 minutes of this and you might actually be crying FOMO tears of joy. He's got 22 goals in 32 games.  

It's almost impossible to watch Napoli play if you live in America so let YouTube be your haven. With midfielders like Marek Hamsik (leads the team in assists) and Josip Radosevic, Napoli are a sight to see and deserve as much attention as any Italian "Giant".  

Here are match highlights from a January draw with first-place Juventus. 

Did I miss anyone? Is my analysis off? Did I just give you a get out of jail free card? Feel free to comment below. 

Follow me @ericdrobny. Or download the Team Stream app and I'll send you football notifications for all these teams (and of course all the boring, most popular ones).