Liverpool and Egypt winger Mo Salah said earlier this week that he’s fully confident he will be fit in time to play in the World Cup. However, that was before Liverpool physiotherapist Ruben Pons went public with his assessment of the injured forward.
Salah, who suffered shoulder ligament damage during a collision with Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos in the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday, has been recovering well while undergoing treatment in Valencia, Spain, and he’s already out of the arm sling. Meanwhile the worldwide backlash against Ramos over the incident continues to gain strength.
However, it would take nothing short of a medical marvel to see the Egyptian magician on the pitch for the Pharaohs World Cup opener. Salah faces a very tight window in the race to be fully fit for the second match in group play as well, but it is doable given the approximate time frame. Being ready to go in time for the third match seems more optimistic, as Pons has set the recovery time table at 3-4 weeks.
“We knew that it was something serious as soon as [Salah] fell on the ground because he never complains, we were afraid of the worst,” Pons said in an interview with MARCA.
“We were in the field until the break, I was devastated, I tried to transmit calmness, I told him that nothing could be done and that he did not worry too much, it was time to look for solutions and not to regret because things did not work.”
“We were watching the game, we were looking at social networks and the security was telling us the result, Madrid has scored, we equalized. When we came back, the game was over, the whole team had changed and prepared for riding the team bus, we helped him change because he could not do it alone and we went to the airport.”
“Once we knew the injury we planned the treatment, he is sad about what happened but he is totally focused on recovery and seeing when he can be ready. He is going to mark the recovery times, in principle it will be from three to four weeks but we are going to try to reduce those deadlines, that’s the big goal.”
Egypt opening against Uruguay on June 15 and then battle host nation Russia on June 19. Their final Group A game is against Saudi Arabia on June 23. It’s really unfortunate that Egypt reside in Group A because those games come up earlier, and thus the Premier League POY, PFA POY and Golden Boot Award winner has much less time to heal and convalesce.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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