Araujo’s call-up to the Uruguayan national team is not the only one for a player arriving injured in the world’s premier national team competition.
Ronald Araujo was eventually called up to the Uruguayan squad for the World Cup in Qatar. The Barcelona centre-back, who suffered an avulsion of the long adductor tendon of his right thigh, an injury he underwent surgery on, has recovered in record time and will be part of the Sky Blue team again, although in principle he will not . be present at the first game.
Barcelona, as Xavi recently confirmed at a press conference, reached an agreement with the Uruguayan team for Araujo to attend the World Cup and recover there, under medical supervision from the club.
Araujo’s is not the only case of players who, although injured, have been called up for a World Cup, waiting for a full recovery to help their team.
Luis Suárez (World Cup in Brazil 2014)
His case was one of the most shocking. The striker, who came from Liverpool at the time, had a very strong tackle in the last Premier League game against Newcastle. Without too many problems, except for some discomfort, he went to the concentration with Uruguay. There, during one of the first workouts, he felt a sharp pain in his right knee. Tests were carried out which determined a meniscus tear and a major injury and just two weeks before the World Cup in Brazil.
He underwent surgery and 20 days later made his debut in a vital game against England as the losing team would face elimination from the World Cup. Suárez scored a double to become the national hero barely two weeks after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.
Fernando Torres (South Africa 2010 World Cup)
The ‘9’ of the Spanish national team suffered a knee injury in April 2010. The Madrid striker underwent an arthroscopy and saw the World Cup in South Africa in serious danger for him.
Finally, the footballer from Fuenlabrada arrived, between wadding, but he arrived and was the protagonist of the game in front of Iniesta’s goal. “I’m proud to be at the World Cup, having been on crutches a month before,” Torres said.
Xabi Alonso (South Africa 2010 World Cup)
His case is different from the previous three. The man from Tolosa arrived in perfect condition for the World Cup in South Africa, but suffered a rather inconvenient accident before the semi-final against Germany.
The hotel shower screen broke and one of the panes cut it very deep just above the knee. The team doctor urgently treated the wound, but the player hid this information from the coach, covering the stitches with a red bandage that camouflaged with his pants. “Doctor, by God, I want to play,” the midfielder told Cota, a doctor for the Spanish team at the time. “What shocked me was seeing my knee with a cut from side to side, showing the fat on the skin and muscle tissue. The only pain I felt was internal. Farewell to the semi-finals and the final, I couldn’t believe it.”
Leo Messi (Germany World Cup 2006)
The Argentinian star arrived physically very fit at the World Cup in Germany. That season with Barcelona, he suffered several injuries, some serious, such as the metatarsal fracture in his left foot, which kept him off the pitch for three months.
During that World Cup he was somewhat weakened, although he came to play all matches. The decisive quarter-finals came against Germany, the hosts. Messi didn’t play a minute in Argentina’s defeat, a strange thing given that, despite his youth, he was the team’s most unbalanced player.
14 years later, his teammate Leandro Cufré revealed that the Argentine was injured and therefore unable to help his team. The coach at the time, José Pekerman, never revealed this situation. “Pekerman, being a gentleman, never said that Leo Messi was in the thick of things with Germany. I could hardly run. He didn’t arrive in good shape due to his injury,” said Cufré in a recent interview with the Argentinian channel ‘Enganche’.
Source: La Verdad
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
