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Morning Ticker: More World Cup injury news, Vancouver’s new logo and more

MarquezReuters

By AVI CREDITOR

The World Cup infirmary has been getting more crowded by the day, but three nations have received good news on the injury front as the tournament approaches.

Mexico's Rafael Marquez, Serbia's Nemanja Vidic and Slovakia's Martin Skrtel all are on the comeback trail and seem likely to be ready for their respective World Cup openers.

Marquez, who injured his right leg in Mexico's friendly with Italy, returned to training Monday, the first time that El Tri has trained in South Africa with its entire 23-man roster present, according to the Associated Press.

Vidic, key to Serbia's central defense, is still not training while recovering from a virus, but manager Radomir Antic expressed his confidence in Vidic's ability to be ready for Serbia's opener against Ghana.

Skrtel received a clean bill of health on his ankle, after tests showed that there was no tissue or ligament damage. Initial fears were that he would have to miss the entire tournament, but he appears to be fit for Slovakia's opener against New Zealand.

WHITECAPS TO UNVEIL NEW CREST

The Vancouver Whitecaps will join Major League Soccer next season, and the next step in that process takes place at 11:30 a.m. when the team reveals its new crest.

Whitecaps diehards and anyone else interested in seeing MLS' newest team logo can view the ceremony live here.

ENGLAND INJURY UPDATES

James Milner sat out training for England on Tuesday as he recovers from an illness. He played in Monday's friendly against Platinum Stars, but reportedly had a temperature and missed practice. With Gareth Barry declaring himself out for Saturday's game against the United States, Milner would be a candidate for some playing time in England's World Cup opener.

Barry returned to full training for the Three Lions but is still expected to miss Saturday's match.

Goalkeeper David James is still dealing with a knee injury and trained lightly on Tuesday. He did not play in Monday's friendly, and Fabio Capello hasn't named a starter in goal for Saturday yet.

MANCHESTER CITY RELEASES A FEW

Manchester City is gearing up for the summer transfer period by releasing six players on Tuesday. Among those who won't be at Eastlands next season are Martin Petrov, Sylvinho and Benjani. The team figures to be a big player when the transfer market opens, and among the rumors swirling is a Robinho-for-Ibrahimovic swap with Barcelona.

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What do you make of all the injury news? Excited for Vancouver to join MLS? Who would you like to see start in goal for England? Could you see Robinho at Barcelona working out?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I love the fact that MLS is expanding and I think it will only benefit the league but what I hate about it is the geographics. Living here in the southeast in Mississippi, we have no real oppurtunities to see a game unless we go across the country. This is why I wish they would seriously look into bringing a team into this region of the country. I promise there is a market here.

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  2. White caps new crest is strong. Strength, legibility, fairly simple and a unique crest shape to boot. It’s not PSV, Arsenal, Fulham or Milan but it’s good.

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  3. Vancouver makes a great addition to the MLS, as does Montreal. Expanding into a fervent Canadian market makes a lot of sense, especially when the organizations are as established and well run as those two are.

    Now, St. Louis on the other hand…

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  4. With all of these obnoxious and bigoted mexican trolls on here, suddenly the facist new law in arizona looks more and more appealing..

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  5. so if you ran a club, what would you do? Just have an academy that produced 23 players that were just SICK every couple years? If that’s the case, need to get you down to Bradenton ASAP.

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  6. Doh! The troll’s comments have been deleted; now my sarcasm doens’t make sense. Sorry.

    On another note, anyone else going early to Dempsey’s in NY for the SBI party? I probably will watch the Nigeria-Argentina match there…

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  7. I normall don’t feed the trolls but…

    Consistantly better except in 2002 WC and 2007 Gold Cup and qualifying 2009 – did those things not matter?! hahaha. And consistant in its in ability to make it past the first knockout round. Consistantly mediorce – OPEN YOUR EYES!

    They are the poor man’s Spain and Netherlands. Have talent but CHOKE on the big stage.

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  8. Who was first in CONCACAF in 2009 again? Mexi…no, wait..U.S.A.
    Good luck to the Mexican diving team next year.

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  9. Benjani: Winner against Man UTD away, City’s top scorer in Europa league all those years ago who carried them into the quarters I believe. Probably wrong, but they did well. The three games he actually played this year he had 3 assists and a goal in the FA cup. Benjani>Robinho

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  10. Open your eyes that Vela and Dos Santos can’t even buy their ways onto any club’s starting XI. our players, aside from Gooch are all starters for decent teams. Most play abroad. Can’t wait for SA to hand down the pain to Mexico. Open your eyes to Mexico never winning away games as well

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  11. Well, since they’ve only played once in the WC (that 2-0 victory), you can’t really say that. Also, the past 3 world cup qualifiers, they’ve split with the US, while finishing…ready for it?….SECOND the past two years. So please…give us some hard evidence.

    Oh, and your caps lock is stuck on. Idiot.

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  12. What universe are you living in? Have you checked the head-to-head record over the past decade? Mexico has been the USA’s doormat for quite some time

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  13. It would be nice to see a football club not buy a title like they do overseas.

    It’s so funny how Europe condemns the US as a cowboy, capitalistic empire, but in their football they are worse than we are.

    No team in the EPL (yes, the EPL not the old 1st division) hasn’t bought their title. Even Blackburn did it.

    Reply

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