Hamstring injury may keep Costa out of World Cup
Print Edition
SPAIN’S Brazilian-born striker Diego Costa risks missing next month’s World Cup after doctors warned on Monday that a hamstring injury will force him to rest for two weeks.
Costa, 25, left the pitch after nine minutes of his club Atletico Madrid’s Champions League final against Real Madrid on Saturday in Portugal after having urgent treatment on the thigh-tear.
“He is not better. He is at best the same as before that match,” said Dr. Pedro Guillen, head of the Cemtro clinic where the Spain team sent the player for a scan of the injury.
“He still has a grade-one strain in his right hamstring and needs to rest for at least two weeks,” the doctor said.
European and world champion Spain plays its first World Cup group match against the Netherlands on June 13.
“He could be there, but it will depend on his progress,” Guillen said.
Spain manager Vicente del Bosque has put off naming his full squad to monitor the fitness of Costa and other key players from Atletico and Real after Saturday’s final.
Real won the clash in Lisbon 4-1 after extra time.
Del Bosque has named three forwards — David Silva, Fernando Torres and Pedro Rodriguez — in a 19-man squad for a friendly match against Bolivia on May 30.
He will finalize his World Cup squad after that match, potentially adding Costa and seven other Atletico and Real Madrid players to the long list before whittling it down to 23.
Spain faces Chile and Australia in World Cup Group B along with the Netherlands — its opponents in the 2010 World Cup final triumph.
Meanwhile, Uruguay’s star striker Luis Suarez is recuperating after undergoing surgery to repair knee meniscus damage in training and is “doing well” as he fights to get fit for the World Cup, team doctor Alberto Pan said.
The 27-year-old, who is set to clash with Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard as Uruguay has been drawn with England, Italy and Costa Rica, had the surgery late last week after injuring his knee in training on Wednesday.
Plenty of optimism
“It augurs well that things have gone very well following the operation and that he has plenty of optimism right now and a great desire to keep getting better,” Pan said.
“Today, there is no pain,” added Pan after the Liverpool hitman, a mainstay of the side which reached the semifinals at the 2010 finals, went under the knife for the injury to his left knee just 23 days before two-time champion Uruguay meets Costa Rica in its group opener ahead of its games with England and Italy.
Pan warned even so that “it is still premature to put an exact date on when he will return to normal activity and fitness.
“The first week entails observation, rest and weight training,” said Pan, adding that the medical team would assess things from there.
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