Yanagisawa’s injury makes him a World Cup doubt

The World Cup tournament moves nearer by the day and every player expecting to be involved dreads nothing more than an injury that might rule them out of the biggest football tournament on earth.

Japan international Atsushi Yanagisawa’s fractured a bone in his right foot during his club Kashima Antlers game against JEF United Chiba on Saturday and was told on Sunday that he will need two months to fully recover after undergoing tests.

I take it that means its touch and go if he will make the showpiece tournament.

However the player himself was more optimistic about his chances of making the tournament and he said, “I am hopeful. I want to play at the World Cup and will do my best” to get fit in time.

The 28-year-old has hade an uneventful year having had to cut short his stay in Italy with Messina in order to play competitively and get selected for the World Cup.

Yanagisawa had been called up to the Japan squad that plays Ecuador in Oita on Thursday in a warm-up match for the World Cup finals

The Japan Football Association said it would not be calling up a replacement for Yanagisawa for Thursday’s match and wished him a speedy recovery.