Injury News: World Cup Teams and Bloggers Hit Hard

Three days out from the start of the World Cup and the injury bug continues to rear its ugly head with some of the tournament’s big boys being hit the hardest, while others see their players recover. It has been tough in Germany for bloggers too, but more about that in a bit. First we start with Italy, which might be hiring guys off the street to play in its defense.

Italy has announced that defender Gianluca Zambrotta will miss their opener against Ghana because of a thigh injury. His mate in the backline Alessandro Nesta is also questionable. Suddenly that Ghana attack is starting to look a more menacing threat to score against the Azzurri defense, don’t you think?

The Dutch are also hobbling like crazy. Coach Marco Van Basten has called up midfielders Stijn Schaars and Nigel de Jong on standby in case the walking wounded in the Netherlands don’t heal in time for their opener against Serbia and Montenegro on June 10th. Wesley Sneijder (ankle), Phillip Cocu (thigh), Kew Jaliens (leg), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (calf), and Rafael van der Vaart (ankle) are giving the Dutch medical staff quite the workout.

Striker Jose Cardozo has been forced out of Paraguay’s World Cup squad through injury and has been replaced by Dante Lopez.

Serbia and Montenegro defender Dusan Petkovic is also out, suffering from the backlash of nepotism. His pops is the coach of the team and has been under fire for selecting him as a replacement for the injured Mirko Vucinic.

The news is better for Czech Republic playmaker Tomas Rosicky who is on course to play against the United States after hurting his thigh a few weeks back in a friendly.

Brazil’s Ronaldo is also good to go despite suffering from some blisters on his feet. Never a good idea to break in new boots this close to the World Cup. I’ve learned that the hard way with a few blisters of my own.

Germany captain Michael Ballack is also believed to be fine despite sitting out training with a sore calf. Ballack is arguably one of the more valuable players in the tournament so the Germans will make sure he is ready to go on June 9.

Ballack’s first game opponents Costa Rica are facing some injury questions with Paulo Wanchope, Gilberto Martinez, Alvaro Mesen and Michael Umana all not feeling up to snuff.

The news out of the England camp is that Wayne Rooney looked good in training today, but it will come down to a scan that will be performed on Wednesday. After that we will never, ever, ever, ever hear about his metatarsal again, right?

There was also a brief injury scare today at World Cup Blog headquarters in Berlin. I was trying to drown out Sean’s incessant singing and burping by wearing earplugs. When it came time to take out the one that was in my left ear I couldn’t. There was a brief period of time when I thought I was going to have to Van Gogh my ear off, but our crack medical expert/programmer Chris came to the rescue with a pair of tweezers. My pride is hurt but my ears are not. True story. Sean has it captured on video. I knew I shouldn’t have worn that Nigeria kit today. Bad juju.

Stay safe kids. Don’t stick anything in your ears except for you elbow.