The South Africa 2010 injury curse

This World Cup seems to be cursed. Weeks before kick-off, major players have been ruled out due to injury. And I mean major players.

Just last week England’s captain Rio Ferdinand was ruled out of the World Cup, after a nasty collision with team mate Emile Heskey left the defender with a severe cruciate ligament strain.

Then there was the tackle on star Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, during Cote d’Ivoire’s friendly against Japan, which resulted in emergency surgery on his broken forearm. Initial reports ruled Drogba out of the World Cup, but some still believe he will play.

There is much speculation that in just 8 days time, Drogba will make the team. Though, let’s be honest; this is still a long shot.

But wait, there’s more.

Nigeria lost their Chelsea star, John Obi Mikel after the midfielder raised concerns over his recovery (or lack of) from recent knee surgery.

Miroslav Karhan, the Slovakian midfielder, has also been ruled out. Karhan had been struggling with a troublesome hamstring which he was unable to recover from.

Marco Streller, Switzerland’s key striker was scrapped from his team’s line-up, with a thigh injury wreaking havoc during a training session.

Then there are the injuries a little more relevant to Australia’s Socceroos.

Group opponents Ghana lost their star player, Michael Essien after the striker failed a fitness session testing out a knee injury he suffered way back in January. The loss will take a lot of attack out of Ghana’s side, and should help the Socceroos get up.

And finally, who could forget those words of criticism by Michael Ballack against our very own Harry Kewell. Call it karma, call it luck, but just after those comments were made, Ballack was injured during Chelsea’s FA Cup win, and subsequently ruled out of the World Cup, much to the delight of Socceroos fans across the Australia.

Many teams have escaped this curse, the Socceroos being one of them, and let’s hope it stays that way.