World Cup Qualifying Injury Report: Jermaine Jones Ruled Out Of USA’s Tuesday Match Against Mexico
With the English Premier League on international break this week, many players have a much needed break heading into the final weeks of the season; but for others, there was no rest to be found as national teams took to the pitch for some crucial World Cup Qualifying matches. Unfortunately, injuries, as always, played a big role in this weekend’s matchups.
After sustaining a groin injury in practice on Thursday, Arsenal star Theo Walcott was ruled out of England’s weekend match against San Marino, which they won 8-0, and out of their Tuesday matchup with Montenegro. While England will miss Walcott’s speed, the real loser will be Arsenal if the winger is unable to recover quickly. Battling for a Champions League or Europa league spot, Arsenal needs Walcott to be healthy and buzzing if they want to stay ahead of surging Everton or have a prayer of catching Tottenham or Chelsea.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid left back Fabio Coentrao has been ruled out of Portugal’s Tuesday match against Azerbaijan with a foot injury. While this may not seem an important loss to a fully loaded team, Portugal will also be missing Cristiano Ronaldo (yellow card accumulation), and Nani, who has been sidelined for weeks with a hamstring injury.
While injuries play a role for most teams, maybe the unluckiest this week is the United States. For American fans, this week has been quite interesting as rumors surrounding Jurgen Klinsmann swirl and pressure over the team’s chances of qualifying increases. On top of that, after an amazing 1-0 win against Costa Rica on Friday in the blinding snow, center midfielder and enforcer Jermaine Jones has been ruled out for the team’s important Tuesday match against Mexico. Jones sustained an ankle sprain in the first half of Friday’s match and while he pushed through the injury for a while, the post game diagnosis has lead to him being left off the roster for Tuesday. The United States is already missing goalkeeper Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Fabian Johnson, and Timmy Chandler, and with captain Carlos Bocanegra having been recently removed from the squad, the US looks to be in serious trouble as they head into Mexico.
While the Injury Report is usually filled with bad news, this week has a rare twist as one superstar get’s set to return from a two-month spell on the sideline. Manchester City superstar center back and captain, Vincent Kompany, is set to return to the pitch in Belgium’s Tuesday matchup against Macedonia after being sidelined since January 26th with a calf injury. Kompany hasn’t played for club or country since the incident and if he takes the pitch Tuesday, it will spell good news for City, who has seen the team drop to 15 points behind Manchester United in the EPL standings since Kompany went down.
World Cup Qualifying is a fascinating time of the season with some of the best players in the world taking time off from club play in order to wear their country’s colors. Unfortunately, injuries can hurt the chances of many teams looking to qualify for the World Cup and every four years, injuries can break a team. The USA could have this problem in the upcoming months as they face their toughest tests with maybe their most incomplete roster in years. Heading into Tuesday’s match at the Azteca, the US needs a result, but with so many key players missing, it is going to be an uphill battle.
