Romero blow for Argentina
Buenos Aires, May 23: Argentina’s World Cup preparations suffered a blow on Tuesday as goalkeeper Sergio Romero was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury, the Argentina Football Association said.
The Manchester United goalkeeper injured his right knee during training in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.
“Romero will be removed from the list of 23 players who will participate in the 2018 World Cup in Russia,” the AFA said in a statement.
Romero, 31, is the most capped goalkeeper in the history of the Argentina national team with 83 appearances and represented the country at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
The AFA said Romero had suffered a blockage in his right knee and was being evaluated surgically. A replacement will be announced “in the coming days,” the statement said. As well as his World Cup experience, Romero has represented Argentina in three Copa Americas and was also a member of the side that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Argentina, beaten finalists in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, open their Group D campaign in Russia against Iceland on June 16. Other first round opponents include Croatia and Nigeria. RABIOT REJECTS STANDBY SPOT Midfielder Adrien Rabiot has written to France manager Didier Deschamps saying he is not prepared to be a Cup standby player.
The 23- year- old Paris Saint- Germain player sent an email to Deschamps saying he would not “be able to follow the training programme” sent to the 11 standbys.
A source who had seen the message said on Wednesday it was short but filled with phrases that read as if they had been written by a lawyer.
French sports daily L’Equipe wrote that Rabiot “had decided to act himself without necessarily listening to the advice of those around him”.
Another newspaper, Le Parisien, suggested that it was “a thoughtful decision” that the French coaching staff “would have tried to change”.
When he announced the squad last Thursday, Deschamps said: “Adrien’s performances for the French team are not at all at the same level as with the PSG.”
Rabiot, who has six France caps, was not included in the 23- man squad but placed on standby in case one of the first- choice players was hurt before the final deadline for submitting the squad on June 4. New Delhi, May 23: The Indian women’s team bowed out of the Uber Cup, following a 0- 5 loss to five- time champions Japan in their group match in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Saina blew four match points to lose 19- 21, 21- 9, 20- 22 to world no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi in the opening Group A match. In doubles, Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost to 15- 21, 6- 21 to Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo while Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka went down to world champion Nozomi Okuhara 1021, 13- 21. In the fourth match, Vaishnavi Bhale and Meghana Jakkampudi were beaten 8- 21, 17- 21 by Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto while Aruna Prabhudesai lost 12- 21, 721 to Sayaka Takahashi.
Joining Japan in the quarters were China, who edged out Indonesia 3- 2 on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, India men crashed out of the Thomas Cup after losing 0- 5 to China.