Players gripped by injury fear as World Cup draws near
The long-running saga of FIFA World Cup fever has reached a familiar and excruciatingly familiar climax as the 2018 tournament is tipped to be the most expensive event in football history.
In a final twist for the global elite, the final round of fixtures in Russia has been delayed after Vladimir Putin revealed he would be unable to attend. However, that has not dampened the joy of football fans around the world. Here we look at the biggest causes for concern as the tournament nears.
Suffering from jet lag
After the first round draw that saw the United States make its way into the last eight, many fans on social media expressed their surprise that they would face Costa Rica instead of the US team, led by stars such as Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Eddie Johnson.
Costa Rica, who won the World Cup in 1994, are back in the final after narrowly missing out on the play-offs in 2013, which they finished runners-up to Germany.
However, the Americans are more than capable of winning their third World Cup in six years and come into the tournament without key players such as Jermaine Jones, Graham Zusi, Jozy Altidore and Carlos Sanchez.
“The best thing about playing qualifiers is having the most physically fit team possible,” explained former USA striker Clarence Goodson.
“The other thing to remember is I remember playing the 2006 World Cup in Mexico against Germany, when Germany got a 0-0 draw.
“We won the game 5-0, including a hat-trick from Eddie Johnson.
“We were outplayed but we hung in there fighting back and coming back from 0-0 and 3-3, even after they took over the ball and ran the ball into a team who were well defending and were not losing much balls.
“It’s going to be an interesting final against Costa Rica this year.
“I think if we go out and perform like that, we should be successful. The first half against Costa Rica we were lucky we scored an