England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out of action for between 10 days and three weeks.
If he can recover in time for 10 days, he may be ready for England’s second game of the 2014 World Cup. If he’ll be ruled out for 3 weeks, then it means that Oxlade-Chamberlain could be fit for the Round of 16 match in late June if England make it out of the tough group featuring Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica.
There’s no word from the England camp yet whether they’re considering taking Oxlade-Chamberlain to Brazil when the team leaves Miami for Rio on Sunday. It’s possible that England may replace the Arsenal midfielder with one of the standby footballers — either John Stones, Jon Flanagan, Tom Cleverley, Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick or Andy Carroll. Or the England trainers and coaches may decide to risk bringing the footballer to Brazil in the hopes that he’ll recover in time.
The Arsenal and England attacking midfielder suffered the knee injury during the second half of the 2-2 friendly against Ecuador when he got tangled with an opposition player. Oxlade-Chamberlain was substituted, and then limped off the pitch to receive medical attention inside the changing rooms at Sun Life Stadium.
For England’s chances to do well at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, a lot of pressure is on Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shoulders as he was one of the few bright sparks in England’s draw against Ecuador on Wednesday afternoon.
