Argentina U20 mainstay loses hope of attending World Cup due to injury

Argentina's coaching staff confirmed that after the injury in the friendly match against U22 Vietnam, Lautaro Martinez has lost hope of attending the World Cup in Korea.

Lautaro Martinez suffered a serious injury in a friendly match with U22 Vietnam.

On the morning of May 15, Lautaro Martinez was discharged from the hospital. This afternoon, May 16, the U20 Argentina striker will still fly to Korea with the whole team. However, the opportunity for him to participate in the World Cup is no longer available.

“Doctors have asked Lautaro Martinez not to practice for two weeks. Meanwhile, the World Cup starts in just five days,” a source from VnExpress who closely follows the Argentina U20 team shared.

In the middle of the second half of the match at My Dinh, Lautaro Martinez continuously had two very strong collisions with goalkeeper Minh Long and then central defender Dinh Khuong of U22 Vietnam in just two minutes 58 and 59.

Striker number 9 was then taken straight to the Vietnam-France Hospital for emergency treatment. Doctors concluded that he had a broken nose, tracheal injury and eye damage.

Lautaro Martinez's World Cup exit cast a gloomy shadow over Argentina's U20 squad. The No. 9 striker was considered the team's brightest star heading into the 2017 U20 World Cup.

At the 2017 South American U20 Championship - a tournament that also served as a qualifier for the U20 World Cup, the young striker from Racing Club was one of four co-top scorers, with five goals.

Lautaro Martinez's inability to play is a big loss for U20 Argentina. Photo: Dac Van

Previously, coach Claudio Ubeda and the Argentine Football Federation also had to spend a lot of effort to convince the home club to let Lautaro Martinez participate in the tournament in Korea.

In the contract for the U20 Argentina to play a friendly match in Vietnam, there is no clause on compensation for injured players. Therefore, the South American team must fully cover the treatment costs for the player who currently has the highest transfer value in the team - about three million dollars according to the valuation of Transfersmarkt (Germany).

At the U20 FIFA World Cup, Argentina is in Group A with England, Guinea and host South Korea.

According to VNE