Preparations towards the 2014 World Cup are beginning to take their toll on teams as they gear up with warm-up matches.
Over the weekend, several key players suffered injuries which have effectively ruled them out of the mundial as they were left out of their teams’ final squad yesterday.
Italy’s Ricardo Montovolio, Mexico’s Luis Montes and Ghana’s Jerry Akaminko all suffered injuries in their friendlies.
Montolivo made seven appearances for the Azzurri during their World Cup qualifying campaign and was set to be a key member of Cesare Prandelli's side in Brazil. But the AC Milan midfielder suffered a broken leg early in the first half of the friendly at Fulham's Craven Cottage and will miss the World Cup.
To make matters worse for Prandelli, he also saw Fiorentina midfielder Alberto Aquilani, who had come on for Montolivo, forced off with an injury before half-time.
Montes also suffered a serious leg fracture during a 3-1 victory over Ecuador in a friendly last Saturday.
Midfielder Montes had just scored the goal that put Mexico in front two minutes earlier when he collided with Ecuador's Segundo Castillo during a race for a loose ball. Montes was carted off in obvious pain on a stretcher in front of the pro-Mexican crowd of almost 85,000 at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Israel Marquez, a spokesman for the Mexican Football Federation, said on his Twitter account that “it seems a fractured tibia and fibula.” It is a big blow for Mexico who are using this and other games over the next couple of weeks as a tune up for Brazil 2014. Mexico's next international friendly is tomorrow against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Chicago.
