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'Animal' recovering Edmundo may be ready for Vasco's Brazil 2000 opener
Posted: Sunday January 02, 2000 03:09 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Vasco da Gama striker Edmundo is making a quicker-than-expected recovery from injury and may play in his team's World Club Championship opener on Thursday. Edmundo, who pulled a thigh muscle during a Brazilian match in December, had been expected to miss the game against Australia's South Melbourne and, possibly, the whole tournament because of a pulled thigh muscle. But team doctor Fernando Mattar said on Sunday: "He's been making a very quick recovery." Coach Antonio Lopes said Edmundo might even play for the last few minutes of a friendly against the Algeria national side on Monday. Edmundo sustained the injury in a match earlier in December, then aggravated it. Club director Eurico Miranda threatened to slash Edmundo's salary after blaming the aggravation on a night out but backed down when the player apologized and vowed that he was fully committed to getting fit for the competition. If Edmundo recovers in time for Thursday's match, he will line up alongside former World Cup star Romario to form an attacking pair that has not played together for Vasco in a competitive match. The pair has also had personal differences in the last year and commentators have wondered how the two flawed geniuses will fit into the same side. Romario gave Vasco fans a scare when he limped out of a training session on Friday but Lopes guaranteed that it was nothing serious. Vasco are taking the tournament so seriously that it has planned its entire season around it and signed former internationals Jorginho, Romario and Junior Baiano to reinforce a team that had a disappointing last season. The controversial tournament, organized by soccer's governing body FIFA, begins Wednesday in Sao Paulo with Corinthians of Brazil facing Morocco's Raja Casablanca and Spain's Real Madrid taking on Al-Nassr from Saudi Arabia.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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