World Cup Banter

[ColdCuts]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Anyone heard anything about the injuries to Portugal and if Pepe's red card will be more than a one game suspension?

This comes from the FIFA website. It's the best I could find regarding Portugal's injuries. It was, however, published on Monday...

Striker Hugo Almeida and defender Fábio Coentrão are major injury doubts for Portugal coach Paulo Bento in the wake of their 4-0 drubbing by Germany at the FIFA World Cup™.

Portuguese media report Real Madrid's Coentrão is out for a minimum of ten days with a leg injury despite managing to finish the Group G match. Almeida is also rated doubtful for Portugal's next clash against the USA on 22 June after pulling up with a muscle injury in the first-half against Germany.

"The outlook isn't the best, they are two muscular injuries and will take time to heal," said Bento. "We'll have to see how bad they are, but the signs are not encouraging."

Bento is definitely without centre-back Pepe for the USA game after his first-half dismissal against Germany for head-butting Thomas Müller, who claimed a hat-trick. "We have to come up with the best solutions to any absences now," said Bento.

"We have to fight for our objectives and goals. We'll be under a lot of pressure, regardless of the result of Ghana verses the USA. Our goal remains to qualify. We're not happy, starting a tournament with a result like this makes it complicated. Now we'll find out who we are and we'll see our capacity to fight for our goals."

Sunday USA vs POR is going to be epic.