France’s World Cup plans have received a huge setback with confirmation that their experienced playmaker, Franck Ribery, will play no part in the World Cup.
The Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has been struggling with a back picked up in training last week, and despite undergoing a personal rehabilitation programme in recent days, he has failed to recover in time to take up his place on the plane to Brazil.
“He is not capable of training for a few weeks, let alone play a game,” Deschamps told a news conference.
“He had to stop in training, the pain was too strong. We made checks in the beginning of the afternoon, checks that confirmed the situation has aggravated.”
Ribery misses out on the finals as does Lyon midfielder, Clement Grenier, who has been struggling with a thigh injury.
Montpellier’s Remy Cabella and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin will replace the duo.
Earlier today, Ribery returned to training and there was optimism within the French camp that he would be fit for the finals.
The assistant coach Guy Stéphan told the French radio station RTL: “His progress is going quite well, he’s doing a lot better but he still hasn’t trained with the team. All the most specific and specialised care possible has been taken and is still being taken. He is training with the team on Friday. If everything goes well, he will be there.
“We will get an idea of what he is capable of doing on the field and with the ball, whether he can keep going on Saturday, Sunday etc, etc. It is an important step.”
However, that optimism was clearly misplaced and Ribery, voted 3rd best player of the world in 2013. will now watch the tournament from the sidelines.
