Nani ruled out of Portugal's World Cup 2010 campaign

Posted Wednesday, June 09, 2010 by theguardian.com

The extensive list of high-profile players ruled out of the World Cup through injury claimed Nani as its latest victim today after the Portugal and Manchester United winger paid a heavy price for an overhead kick that went wrong.

Nani's love of the spectacular backfired when he misjudged his fall and landed heavily, damaging his left collarbone in the process. He has been unable to train since a practice session in Lisbon last Thursday and went for x-rays after being in persistent pain since arriving in Johannesburg with the rest of the Portuguese squad. The scans showed the damage is serious enough for him to abandon any hope of playing in South Africa.

The 23-year-old therefore joins a list of absentees headed by David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand of England, Lassana Diarra of France, plus a quartet of Chelsea players – Michael Essien of Ghana, Mikel John Obi of Nigeria, the Germany captain, Michael Ballack, and Nani's Portugal team-mate José Bosingwa.

At the same time, another Chelsea player, Didier Drogba, is in considerable doubt for the Ivory Coast after breaking his arm during a warm-up match against Japan last Friday. Arjen Robben of Holland has had similar worries because of a hamstring injury, while Andrea Pirlo will play no part in Italy's opening matches because of a calf strain.

Portugal are involved in the closest thing to a Group of Death in the opening stage, playing Brazil, Ivory Coast and North Korea in Group G, and Nani had emerged as one of their more dangerous players in a team that, for all of Cristiano Ronaldo's individual brilliance, had to go through the play-offs to qualify for the tournament. Without either player, Portugal defeated Mozambique 3-0 today in their last warm-up game.

Despite his discomfort, Nani had previously been optimistic of playing, saying on Monday he was confident he would be ready: "I feel better already. I really don't know, now we have to see. When we get there [Johannesburg] we'll have to check again."

Those tests have shown no break and Nani is expected to be fit for the start of the new Premier League season in August, but the damage is worse than initially anticipated.

"After tests we conclude he is unfit to participate in the World Cup," the Portuguese football federation said in a statement. "The medical file will now be presented to Manchester United."