Koller will miss next two matches (AP) Updated: 2006-06-14 09:54
WESTERBURG, Germany _ The Czech Republic was training without its two
first-choice strikers Tuesday with Jan Koller and Milan Baros having injuries
examined in a hospital.
Team officials were uncertain when they would be available.
Koller injured his right thigh in the 43rd minute of Monday's opening World
Cup win over the United States in Gelsenkirchen. He was taken to a Dortmund
hospital next day to be examined by his former doctor from Bundesliga club
Borussia Dortmund, a Czech team physician said.
Koller played for Dortmund from 2001 before moving to Monaco this month.
Koller had "a strained hamstring with several fibers ruptured," Jiri Fousek
said. It was likely to force Koller out of his team's remaining group matches
against Ghana and Italy.
"To cure such an injury can take between 10 days and six weeks," Jiri Fousek
said. "I can rule out he could be available in the group stage."
Later Tuesday, team spokesman Lukas Tucek said that doctors revised an
original estimation of how much time Koller would need to recover.
"If everything goes well, then he might be available for the round of 16,"
Tucek said.
An examination in Dortmund on Tuesday confirmed Koller's original diagnosis.
Tucek said a one-millimeter (.04-inch) hameatoma was discovered in the muscle.
Koller was expected to rest five days. He will undergo rehabilitation and
will be treated with medicaments.
Before he was taken off on a stretcher, the towering 2.02-meter (6-foot-7)
striker headed the opening goal in the Czechs' 3-0 win. He is his country's all
time best scorer with 43 goals in 69 internationals.
Baros was still not fit enough to play with a foot injury he suffered in the
final warmup against Trinidad and Tobago on June 3.
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