25-year-old striker Patrick Agyemang from United States is ruled out of the World Cup after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury. His club Derby County from Championship, England's second tier, confirmed it on Tuesday.
Agyemang was stretchered out of the match on Monday, that ended with a 2-0 victory against Stoke City. The injury was confirmed today. "The club will provide Patrick with the highest level of medical care and rehabilitation throughout his recovery. As a result of this injury, Patrick will unfortunately miss this summer's FIFA World Cup. At this stage it would be wrong to put a timeline on his recovery."
Agyemang has scored six goals in 14 appearances for his country since his debut last year, including one during the friendlies last month. Both games ended as crushing defeats against Belgium (5-2) and Portugal (2-0), painting a gloomy image for the USA Soccer Team led by Mauricio Pochettino, who has until May 30 to decide a World Cup squad to face Paraguay, Australia and Turkey on Group D.
Last year, ESPN named Agyemang the third best in his position of center-forward in the United States, behind Folarin Balogun and Ricardo Pepi. Agyemang moved from Charlotte FC and is now the top goal scorer of Derby County with ten goals as the team sits eighth in the Championship.