A Nani One Bites The Dust: Portugal’s star winger ruled out of entire World Cup with collar bone injury

Portugal's Nani celebrates his goal during their friendly soccer match against Cameroon in Covilha June 1, 2010. The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante (PORTUGAL - Tags: SPORT SOCCER WORLD CUP)

By Eric Beard

Brazil must be absolutely loving the build-up to this World Cup. After all, Didier Drogba hurt his arm a few days ago and news is breaking that Portugal and Manchester United winger Nani has injured his collar bone in training while attempting an acrobatic kick and he will now be ruled out of the entire World Cup. Now this is the same Nani that dislocated his shoulder for Manchester United and then two days later declared himself fit to play for Portugal, so you know Carlos Quieroz’s key ‘non-Ronaldo’ attacker really messed himself up.

In a statement the Portuguese Football Federation said: “Following the injury to the left clavicle suffered by Nani, a daily assessment of the damage and the completion of medical tests, we have concluded he is unable to be competitive.

“In light of the report, the Portuguese Football Federation, taking into account the FIFA regulations for the 2010 World Cup, will call-up Ruben Amorim as a replacement.”

The Manchester United star was in his best form coming off an amazing Premier League campaign, and scoring against Cameroon in a friendly just last week. Nani has been a burst of young energy in a strong Portuguese side. The thing is, Portugal just got quite a bit weaker and a lot more pressure has fallen upon Cristiano Ronaldo. Will they step up against the Ivory Coast in their first Group of Death match on June 15th or have their dreams of reaching the knockout stages collapsed?

23 Notes/ Hide

  1. illuminegro answered: Portugal’s chance of winning the cup seems to be gettnig slimmer and slimmer.
  2. oddsoccer answered: What a brilliant berk. Silly baconface never learns.
  3. jabrown reblogged this from cheekychip
  4. cfcfan answered: aha the title of this article reeks of cheese… keep up the good work guys!
  5. notean reblogged this from afootballreport and added:
    celebration. Major fail!
  6. afootballreport reblogged this from cheekychip
  7. doces-sonhos reblogged this from cheekychip
  8. cheekychip posted this