Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba’s participation in the World Cup is in serious doubt after he broke a bone close to his elbow.
The Chelsea striker, 32, picked up the injury 16 minutes into his side’s 2-0 friendly win over Japan after clashing with defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka.
But coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said there was still a chance the talismanic Drogba could feature in South Africa.
Watch the Highlights & Drogba’s Injury:
“He may have an operation, but he is not out,” he told BBC Radio 5 live.
“He got a bad injury, a bone close to the elbow is broken, but he is going to a specialist and we will take it from there.
“We will wait until tomorrow evening, we’ll see. The doctors they can’t say any more than that.”
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Ivory Coast kick off their World Cup campaign against Portugal on 15 June.
Drogba, the Premier League’s top goalscorer last season, helped open the scoring with a 13th-minute deflected free-kick and Ivory Coast went on to win the game 2-0 with Manchester City defender Kolo Toure also scoring.
Drogba, who has scored 44 goals in 69 appearances for his country, is key to Ivory Coast’s hopes in South Africa and Eriksson will anxiously await news of his injury.
