Didier Drogba suffered a broken elbow in a friendly against Japan earlier today and has been ruled out of the World Cup (UPDATE: apparently he hasn’t been officially ruled out and could potentially play against Portugal June 15). The guy’s a prima donna, but he’s also rather amazing at soccer. It sucks that he got hurt this close to the competition and that one of Africa’s best players won’t get to play in the continent’s showcase event. His injury also puts a major dent in Ivory Coast’s hopes of advancing out of the “group of death” (Brazil, Portugal, North Korea).
Injuries like this are why friendlies can be so stressful. It’s a seemingly harmless tune-up game and then, WHAM, star player down. Drogs is the latest in a list of big name players that are missing out on the World Cup due to injury. The others include David Beckham, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack.
UPDATE: Fabio Capello confirmed that Rio Ferdinand will miss the World Cup with a knee injury. He’ll be out of commission for four to six weeks. Michael Dawson will take his place on the squad. Steven Gerrard will now take over as captain.
The Soccer Wall 