Argentina's Angel Di Maria Out For Remainder of World Cup

Argentina’s Angel Di Maria will miss the remainder of the 2014 World Cup due to a muscle tear in his right thigh sustained during their quarterfinals game against Belgium. Although the injury is not severe he’s expected to miss at least one week which would put him out of the side for the rest of the tournament. Di Maria was taken off the field during the first half and was replaced by Enzo Pérez.

Argentina manager, Alejandro Sabella, said that Di Maria would receive medical attention after the team returned to their base and told reporters “Angel has a problem in front of his right thigh and he is going to do an analysis tomorrow.”

Di Maria scored Argentina’s only goal against Switzerland and helped set-up Gonzalo Higuain’s goal against Belgium. He’s considered one of Argentina’s best attackers and will be missed when La Albiceleste take on the Netherlands in the semifinals on July 9th.

After joining the Argentine U-20 team in 2007, Di Maria was first capped for Argentina’s senior team in 2008 and has since appeared over 50 times. Making his World Cup debut in 2010 at the age of 22, he scored his first international goal in a friendly against Ireland later that year.

Currently starring for Real Madrid, Di Maria has been rumored as a possible transfer target for Manchester United after the World Cup finishes. Since joining Real in 2010 with a five year contract, Di Maria has scored 22 goals in 124 La Liga appearances. Recently, Di Maria was named “Man of the Match” during Real’s Championship League Final victory over Atletico Madrid.

Di Maria would be a huge asset to the rebuilding of Manchester United and United’s new manager, Louis van Gaal will miss an opportunity to see Di Maria in action as he will be missing Argentina’s Wednesday semifinal game against the Netherlands who van Gaal currently manages.