World Cup: Injuries

Injuries to key players has been the biggest story the last couple of days. Here's the latest:

English team captain and seasoned (in other words, old) central defender Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out of the World Cup due to a knee injury. Some England football pundits are no doubt wondering if the remaining defenders can hold together the English backline without Ferdinand. The Guardian isn't sure and even namechecks 2 of the US's fleetest players:

Mainly this is a blow for England's central defence, not least the balance of personnel. John Terry, Matthew Upson and Jamie Carragher are not the type you'd back in a straight foot race with Arjen Robben or, come to mention it, Landon Donovan or Robbie Findley, allegedly the fastest man in the MLS. Ledley King is quick enough when he gets going, but is shorn of decisive acceleration.

I'm not sure this is such a big blow -- Ferdninand was old and coming off a season with Manchester United in which he was kept out of many games due to a bad back. And many of the comments on the BBC's web site echo my thoughts. Here's a sample:

Ferdinand was a shadow of his imperious self this season, he looked laboured and easily turned. But in international football experience is king, and his influence will be missed.

It's really too early to say whether this will be detrimental to England. You need a great defence to win a World Cup these days, but England's back ups are still good players.

Dawson and King have both had better seasons than Ferdinand, Upson or Carragher. I don't think Ferdinand is the worst player for England to lose at this stage.

So what does this mean for the US -- England's first opponent? Well, much of the our fortunes rest on the recently injured ankle of forward Josy Altidore. By all accounts, the injury seems minor, but it doesn't look like he'll play in the US's final warm up game on Saturday against Australia (ESPN2, 8:30 am EST). But every US fan will hope the Josy is healthy and match-fit by June 12. Even though he's only 20 years, old Josy is the US's most experienced option at forward -- he has more games played and more goals scored than the other 3 forwards (Gomez, Buddle and Findley) combined.

The other big injury news: Ivory Coast striker (and Vanity Fair cover model) Didier Drogba apparently broke his elbow in an exhibition game against Japan. Some reports suggest that he may be able to play in the WC anyway. But if he can't this is a huge blow to the Ivory Coast, one of the African teams many had thought had a chance to go deep into the tournament.

Drogba was the leading goal scorer in the English Preimier League in 2009-2010 and is considered one of the best and most intimidating strikers in the world. He is also a controversial figure. He has been credited to helping bring some measure of peace to his home country. But he is also viewed as an arrogant, petulant, ill-tempered glory hog.

Whatever your opinion of Drogba, the World Cup will be a little less interesting if he's not able to play.