World Cup 2014: Luis Suarez texts England players to tell them - 'I'll be fit for England v Uruguay'
The Liverpool striker is in a race to recover from knee surgery
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Your support makes all the difference.Roy Hodgson may yet need a plan to stop Luis Suarez after the Uruguay striker texted his Liverpool team-mates in the England camp to say he expects to be fit to play in the countries’ World Cup meeting in Sao Paulo on 19 June.
Suarez has been in contact with a number of England players since undergoing a minor operation on a meniscus problem in his left knee last Thursday – and the message is he is confident of taking on England in their second Group D assignment.
Uruguay’s team doctor, Alberto Pan, has already confirmed that Suarez is feeling no pain as he builds back to full fitness after surgery that took place precisely four weeks before the England game. While Pan said he would not put a date on Suarez’s recovery, he refused to rule him out of the England game and said the player was “very positive” and “better every day”.
Jordan Henderson, one of Suarez’s Liverpool colleagues in the England squad, said he would not be surprised to find his team-mate “ready and raring to go”. Henderson explained he had been in touch with Suarez, saying: “Everybody is obviously disappointed for Luis, people that know him – maybe not us [the England team] because he is a big player for Uruguay.
“I gave him a text to see if he is doing all right and wished him good luck with whatever he has got to have done. But knowing the type of person he is, he is a fighter and I am sure come maybe the first game or the second game in the World Cup, he will be ready and raring to go.”
Henderson was speaking yesterday at St George’s Park, where England began their preparations for Friday’s Wembley friendly against Peru. Phil Jones was fit to join in full training after a shoulder injury while the only absentees were James Milner (cold) and Leighton Baines, owing to a private family matter.
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