While one of those country’s strikers was yesterday (Sunday) celebrating a goalscoring end to his season in England, across the globe in the United States another one was in agony over an injury which will put him on the sidelines for at least two weeks.
Stern John bagged his 11th goal of the season as Coventry stopped Cardiff City 3-1on Sunday with the T&T marksman opening the scoring after eight minutes. But on Saturday night, the same couldn’t be said for Cornell Glen as he was forced to leave the field on 40 minutes with a hamstring injury in LA Galaxy’s 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake.
An obviously distraught Glen was still optimistic of running again by next week but he is expected to now miss the friendly international against Peru on May 10.
“It’s nothing serious but I could be out for at least two weeks,” Glen told TTFF Media. By next week the doctors say I should be able to run on it again but I could miss the Peru match and that’s very disappointing for me. But it’s something I have to live with at the moment and I’m praying to God that this heals up quickly,” he added.
His strike mate meantime had a more positive story. John said he felt as good as ever as he finished his season with Coventry and will travel to Port of Spain this week ahead of the live in training camp on Sunday for the friendly international against Peru at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
“It’s good for me to end the season on a high note and most of all to not be injured. I had some thoughts about being injured before the Gold Cup in 2000 and with the biggest tournament of my life coming up I really wasn’t looking to go down that road again,” John said.
“The main part for me was staying fit and well the goals came with it. We saw what happened to Wayne Rooney and it’s unfortunate. We on the national team all have each others backs so we don’t want to see anyone with injury problems at this late hour. Luckily for me I am good at the moment and I think I can be pleased with the way my eleven goals came because I have worked hard since the qualification and I hope I can now take this into the games coming up and well the World Cup for sure,” John added.
Port Vale midfielder Chris Birchall was also forced to leave the pith with a head blow which required stitches after 20 minutes against Chesterfield. Luckily, Birchall’s blow wasn’t serious and he remains scheduled to travel to Trinidad this week to join the rest of the team. There were also concerns over the fitness of Russell Latapy after he sat out Falkirk’s 2-0 win over Dundee but the “Little Magician” is untroubled and remains set to arrive home for the Peru encounter.