Jesús “Tecatito” Corona is finally, officially, out of the World Cup.
The Mexican federation released a statement on Tuesday confirming Tecatito would not be fit for the tournament due to the broken fibula and rupture of his ankle ligaments he suffered in August.
Tecatito, the statement said, “will not be able to be integrated into the Mexico national team heading to the World Cup Qatar 2022,” which was “due to the fact that his recovery process has not been completed after the injury suffered in August of this year.”
The winger had been making faster-than-expected progress in his recovery from the injury, which initially saw him ruled out for 4-5 months.
Mexico still held out hope that a vital part of its attack would make a miraculous comeback for a tournament that was set to start three months after his injury. Head coach Tata Martino named Tecatito to his preliminary 31-man World Cup roster last month, as he aimed to give him as much time as possible to recover.
That move didn’t sit well with Sevilla head coach Jorge Sampaoli, who disputed the notion that Tecatito would have any chance of recovering in time for the World Cup.
Tecatito debuted for Mexico in 2014 and has earned 67 caps to date, scoring 10 goals. He was likely to start in Qatar, giving Martino a selection headache with just two weeks to go until the World Cup begins.
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