Bender faces World Cup race (AFP) Sunday 23 February 2014 Germanys Sven Bender will miss Borussia Dortmunds UEFA Champions League last 16, first-leg clash at Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday with injury and faces a FIFA World Cup™ fitness race. The 24-year-old defensive midfielder has been diagnosed with an inflammation of the pubic bone and is expected to miss at least ten weeks with the World Cup to start on 12 June, in 15 weeks time. Germany begin their World Cup campaign in Group G against Portugal in Salvador on 16 June. Bender misses Tuesdays match at St Petersburgs Petrovsky Stadium, as well as the return leg in Dortmund on 19 March, and will also sit out Germanys friendly against Chile in Stuttgart on 5 March. Bender came off at half-time in Dortmunds shock 3-0 defeat at strugglers Hamburg on Saturday and team doctor Markus Braun has said Bender must take at least six weeks off with a further four weeks of rehabilitation training. The news is a blow to both Germany coach Joachim Low and Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp. Klopp is already without centre-back Neven Subotic and winger Jakub Blaszczykowski who both miss the rest of the season with torn knee ligaments. Dortmunds Germany defensive midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has not played since August after suffering from a back injury and virus. Dortmunds centre-back Mats Hummels did not train on Sunday and is struggling with an ankle injury. Likewise, Poland striker Robert Lewandowski missed training with illness, but will fly to Russia.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 19:04:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015