World Cup: Belgium face Russia in Group H encounter in the Maracana Stadium
Vincent Kompany is an injury doubt for Belgium’s Group H clash with Russia in Rio de Janeiro.
The Manchester City defender suffered a groin strain during the
Red Devils’ 2-1 win over Algeria on Tuesday - a victory that propelled
his side to the top of their group.
Kompany missed Thursday and
Friday’s training sessions and his coach Marc Wilmots says they will
continue to nurse the injury in the hope that he will play some part at
the Maracana Stadium.
"Vincent felt something in the final few minutes and was not able to sprint 100 percent," Wilmots said.
"He hoped that resting it overnight would resolve the problem, but it
wasn't the case and on Wednesday morning he still had pain in the left
groin.
"We decided he would work alone from the rest of
the squad for two days with the physiotherapist Lieven Maesschalk and
the medical staff. All being well, he will be back training with the
rest of the squad on Saturday."
After initially trailing 1-0 to
Algeria, goalscoring substitutes Marouane Fellaini and Dries Mertens
gave Belgium a valuable three points - goals that could reward the duo
with a spot in Wilmots’ starting XI on Sunday.
Tottenham Hotspur’s
pair Nacer Chadli and Mousa Dembele could be dropped to the bench
following their poor performances in Belo Horizonte.
Russia
manager Fabio Capello will have to decide whether goalkeeper Igor
Akinfeev keeps his place following his blunder in their 1-1 draw with
South Korea.
The CSKA Moscow ‘keeper let a weak Lee Keun-ho shot
slip through his hands to give Korea the lead - an error that may force
Capello to play either Yury Lodygin or Sergey Ryzhikov in goal.
Akinfeev admits he was at fault for the goal but is confident that he will avoid any slip-ups in the future.
"I
want to apologise to everybody, it was a childish mistake on my part, a
ridiculous goal," he said on the Russian Football Union's official
website.
"The keeper of a national side should not let in such goals. It will not happen again."
Capello
may hand playmaker Alan Dzagoev a start following his impressive
performance off the bench in their draw with the Taeguk Warriors.
Paul Merson's prediction
I
couldn’t believe how bad Russia were against South Korea but after
their bad start, they got out of jail and deserved the draw in the end. I
can’t see anything but a Belgium win in this one because Russia were
very poor.
