Mexico City, July 6 (IANS) England midfielder Jordan Henderson suffered a “really bad” wrist injury while celebrating his side’s dramatic World Cup last-16 win over Mexico, Thomas Tuchel said on Monday.
Henderson, who didn’t play in the match, was stretchered off the field after he appeared to land awkwardly after falling from the advertising hoardings following England’s 3-2 victory.
“Jordan Henderson just fell over and injured his wrist. It looks really bad,” England manager Thomas Tuchel said on BBC One after his side’s win on Monday. “It’s a quite serious injury and it doesn’t fit to the evening that Jordan is now not with us. The doctor told me he is in hospital.”
Following the game, England head coach Tuchel was full of praise for his team, who were reduced to ten men in the 54th-minute after a red card for defender Jarell Quansah, but battled relentlessly to defend their lead.
“I am very proud,” he said. “We needed everything. It was super difficult. “In the moments we thought we could catch the momentum, we had setbacks. That is proper mentality. This team really mean it. When the going gets tough, they never give up, they never lose belief. It was one step more.”
“We need to take this in. This is Azteca, it’s Mexico, a crazy game. We left everything out there, every single one of us. We need to take this in, now it’s full steam ahead. If a team has heart and a team has belief on pure will. I have no words, an iconic match in an iconic stadium and we overcame so much adversity today,” he added.
In the quarterfinals, England will come up against the Norwegians, who overcame the Azteca altitude to beat co-hosts Mexico.
England have played Norway 12 times since their first meeting, all the way back in 1937. The first four games between the two nations were friendlies in 1937, 1938, 1949 and 1966, and England won them all by an aggregate score of 20-2.
–IANS
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