Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo suffered a broken leg following a clash during his side's 0-0 friendly draw with Republic of Ireland and could require surgery, meaning he will not make the finals in Brazil.
On the same day, Mexico's Luis Montes also suffered a fractured leg shortly after scoring for his side in a 3-1 win over Ecuador, dealing a blow to Miguel Herrera's plans for the tournament.
Croatia's Niko Kranjcar paid the price for his exertions in QPR's Championship play-off final victory over Derby as he picked up a hamstring injury which will leave him on the treatment table for much of the summer.
Netherlands have been hit the hardest of all the teams in Brazil, with Rafael van der Vaart ruled out with a calf injury and joining Paris Saint-Germain right-back Gregory van der Wiel and Roma's Kevin Strootman (both knee) on the sidelines.
Victor Valdes tore his anterior cruciate ligament in what proved to be his last game for Barcelona against Celta Vigo in March and Spain will also be without Thiago Alcantara after the Bayern Munich man underwent surgery on a knee ligament problem.
England have already been robbed of the services of Arsenal winger Theo Walcott. The fleet-footed wideman ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during an FA Cup clash with Tottenham in January, and will not be on the plane to South America.
Two other players who had high hopes of being named in Roy Hodgson's squad, Tottenham pair Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend, will spend the summer recovering from pelvic and ankle injuries respectively.
France have been spared injuries to their main men, but back-up goalkeeper Steve Mandanda suffered a crack in his first cervical verterbra (neck) during Marseille's clash with Guingamp, which rules him out.
No comments:
Post a Comment