Santa Cruz battling to be fit for England game
First Published: May 30, 2006
Paraguay's star striker Roque Santa Cruz, seen here in October 2005, is nearing full fitness from a injured right knee but is still unable to play a full part in training, the team doctor has said.
Paraguay's star striker Roque Santa Cruz is nearing full fitness from a injured right knee but is still unable to play a full part in training, the team doctor has said.
The 24-year-old Bayern Munich player sustained a cruciate ligament injury to the joint in October last year and has been on the sidelines ever since.
He joined the Paraguay training camp at Flachau in Austria and team doctors told Paraguayan media that he was on the right track to play in his country's vital World Cup Group B opener against England in Frankfurt on June 10.
"After six days of physiotherapy his right knee is stable and the pain he was feeling has 90 percent disappeared," said head doctor Osvaldo Pangrazio.
"We will continue to treat the injury in the same way and make a new evaluation on Friday," he added.
The South Americans will also take on group rivals Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago.
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