After a difficult first season at Atletico Madrid, Johnny Cardoso has been hit with a hammerblow at the end of it. The USMNT midfielder will miss the World Cup this summer on home soil for the United States, following an ankle injury that he suffered last week.
Cardoso, 24, limped out of training with an ankle injury last week, which was declared a sprain. Initially, it was set to rule him out of action for a month, which would have ended his club season with Atletico, who have little on the line, but meant he could return just in time to feature in the World Cup.
Nevertheless, it appears the sprain is more serious than first feared. Atletico Madrid announced that Cardoso would require ankle surgery imminently, with Diario AS explaining that his arteries were impacted. Marca go on to say that he will likely be back in time for preseason training with Atletico Madrid for next season, suggesting he will be out for around two months.
Cardoso has won 23 caps for the USMNT thus far, but has been in and out of the squad, in part due to injuries. He missed the knockout stages of their run to the Gold Cup final last summer, after featuring in the group stages. Mauricio Pochettino was considering calling him up for the World Cup this usmmer, and had used him in a friendly against Belgium in March. Prior to that, Cardoso had not featured since the previous June beforehand.
‼️ Diego Simeone: "Barça winning La Liga? We’ve been saying it all season, they are the best team in the world. They fully deserved it. Yesterday I was watching the match and the only thing I kept saying was: ‘We knocked this team out twice… my God!’"
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Having been in and out with injuries all season at Atletico Madrid, he finishes the year with a total of just 30 appearances in his debut campaign with Los Colchoneros. In March and April, he looked to be finding his best form, but has again been struck down by injuries.
