Argentina and River Plate striker Luciano Figueroa is going to miss this summer's World Cup Finals after he damaged ligaments in his left knee in River Plate's victory over Estudiantes in the Argentinian Championship.

The striker will be on the sidelines for six months, ruling him out of the rest of the Argentinian Clausura championship, and any chance of Figuroa making the Albiceleste squad for the World Cup.

25-year-old Figueroa, who had previously played with Spain's Villareal, Cruz Azul of Mexico and England's Birmingham City, had scored eight goals in 15 games for the Argentina national team, making him a prominent candidate for Jose Peckerman's squad for Germany.

Figueroa was also key to River's recent first-division successes. He has helped River to the top of the Argentine standings, scoring three goals in eight rounds of the Clausura championship.

"This is a real setback, coming just in the moment when things were starting to go so well," Figueroa told local reporters.

Figueroa was injured in the second-half of the match after losing his balance, and twisting his knee badly in River Plate’s 3-1 win in the Clausura. He was taken from the field on a stretcher

River Plate’s team doctor Luis Seveso said that a preliminary examination indicated Figueroa had suffered ligament damage near his left knee but were still studying the extent of the injury. He added that he expected Figueroa to be out at least six months.

Figueroa led Argentina's Clausura tournament in scoring in 2003 for Rosario Central. He then played briefly with Birmingham in England in 2004 before moving on to Cruz Azul and later Villareal. In 2004, he transferred from Villareal to River Plate for £1.3 million (€1.8m).

It was the second major blow for River Plate this year after Colombian striker Radamel Falcao Garcia injured ligaments in his right knee in January. He will also be out for the rest of the Argentinian first-division season.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati