Radamel Falcao's injured knee will keep him out of the World Cup. Despite a furious attempt to return from a torn ACL in time for this summer's tournament, Falcao is not fit enough to play yet and was left off of Colombia's final roster, which they have submitted to FIFA.
Radamel Falcao does not make Colombia World Cup team
A torn ACL will keep Radamel Falcao out of the World Cup.
Christof Koepsel
Falcao injured his knee on January 23 while playing for Monaco. A terrible tackle from the side bent his knee and torn his ACL. At the time, it looked like he would definitely miss the World Cup and even when he said that he would be back for the tournament, it seemed ludicrous. But as the weeks went by and more positive reports came out of the Falcao camp, it began to look like maybe he would make a remarkable recovery to play in the World Cup.
Despite not playing since January, Falcao joined up with Colombia for training camp, where he admitted that even if he made the team he wouldn’t be 100 percent for the tournament. Still, Jose Pekerman considered him for the squad, but decided that, in the end, he wasn’t fit enough to play in the World Cup.
With Falcao out, Teofilo Gutierrez will be counted upon to carry the load for Colombia. He’ll have the help of Jackson Martinez, Adrian Ramos and Carlos Bacca, one of whom will join him up top, while James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado will provide some firepower in the midfield, but Falcao was the heart of the team. He led them through qualifying and to the No. 5 ranking in the world.
With a fit Falcao, Colombia had a chance to win the World Cup. Now they're going to Brazil without him, and they can look back at January 23rd as the day their dreams were dashed.
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