Sevilla winger Jesus ‘Tecatito’ Corona will not recover from his ankle injury in time to play for Mexico at the World Cup, the LaLiga club’s coach Jorge Sampaoli has said.
Corona, who has 71 caps for Mexico and has scored 10 goals, suffered a fracture on his left ankle while he was training with Sevilla in August and underwent surgery.
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The 29-year-old was named in Mexico coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s preliminary 31-man squad and the Argentine had been counting on his recovery before the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 tournament in Qatar.
“Tecatito is progressing day by day, his discharge date to return to training with the group is December 1 or 2,” Sampaoli told reporters.
“So I do not see him having that possibility [of playing at the World Cup] due to the medical report.
“His evolution is good, but he had a very serious injury, and bringing [his return] forward might be a risk. Here, the ones who determine whether he can be there or not are the medical staff.”
Mexico said they will finalise their 26-man squad by Nov. 14, three weeks before Corona is set to return to training.
Speaking last month, Martino said he was prepared to wait until the last moment to see if Corona, as well as injured Wolves striker Raul Jimenez, will be fit to make the squad.
Mexico play friendly matches against Iraq and Sweden before their World Cup campaign kicks off against Poland on Nov. 22. They also face Argentina and Saudi Arabia in Group C.