Darren Bazeley, the head coach of New Zealand, has indicated that Chris Wood does not appear to have sustained a serious injury following the Nottingham Forest forward’s exit from their Europa League clash against Porto, where he limped off before half-time on Thursday.
The All Whites’ captain and top scorer is expected to play a pivotal role in the upcoming World Cup in North America, with their opening match against Iran scheduled for June 15.
The 34-year-old forward, who made his return to the pitch this month after an extended recovery period from knee surgery, was taken off in the first half due to a tough challenge from Porto defender Jan Bednarek, who received a straight red card for the incident.
Nottingham Forest secured a 1-0 victory in the second leg of their quarter-final, progressing with a 2-1 aggregate score.
“While we obviously never want to see our players get injured, the impact was on the opposite knee to the one he recently had surgery on,” Bazeley explained to the New Zealand press.
“He will be evaluated by Forest, but fortunately it doesn’t seem to be as serious as we initially feared.”
New Zealand is also set to compete against Egypt and Belgium in Group G, marking their return to the World Cup for the first time since their participation in the 2010 tournament held in South Africa.
Compiled by SportArena.au
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