Footballer Miedema tears her cruciate ligament and is in doubt for the World Cup

Football star Vivianne Miedema is unlikely to play in the World Cup this summer. The striker for the Netherlands national team and Arsenal has torn her anterior crucial ligament (ACL).

Miedema suffered the injury last week during the Champions League match against Olympique Lyon. Medical tests have since proven the severity of the injury.

The attacker will soon have a knee operation and will be out for the foreseeable future. It is as-yet unclear how long the all-time Oranje top scorer will be out of action, but the World Cup in Australia and New Zeeland may come too soon for her to be able to participate. The tournament will be played from the 20 of July to the 20 of August. Missing Miedema would be a big blow to the team; she has scored 95 goals in 115 international matches.

Although Arsenal only wants to give indication about her recovery time after the operation has been completed, Miedema has seemingly ruled out the World Cup. “It was one of those moments, where I knew straight away,” she wrote on social media. “So many things going through your head: I won’t be able to help my team anymore this season, no World Cup, surgery and rehab for a long long time.”

Miedema, who missed a part of the European Championships in England due to testing positive for the coronavirus, knows she is in for a rough road to recovery. Her English partner and Arsenal teammate, Beth Mead, suffered the exact same injury at the end of last month.

“I won’t be telling you I’ll come back stronger or that I’m looking forward to spending the next however many months in the gym. It will be marked by plenty of difficult days (plenty of crying, which we’ve had a lot of already), but sadly enough it’s part of football. I’m lucky enough to have amazing teammates, friends and family around me and Beth, who can guide me through everything that’s coming while only being a couple of weeks ahead of me,” Miedema said.