(Reuters) – Poland keeper Bartlomiej Dragowski will miss the World Cup in Qatar after suffering a serious ankle injury playing for his club Spezia in their 2-1 Serie A win at Hellas Verona on Sunday, a Polish FA spokesperson said.
Dragowski was taken off on a stretcher just before halftime following a tackle on Verona’s Kevin Lasagna, with his ankle seemingly dislocated.
Spezia have not confirmed the exact nature of the injury although their coach, Luca Gotti, said it was serious.
“We have no definite news on Dragowski, for sure it is a serious injury, it’s obviously sad because the lad will not be able to leave for the World Cup in Qatar,” he said.
The 25-year-old was one of three keepers selected for the Poland squad along with fellow Serie A players Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Skorupski. He will be replaced by FC Copenhagen keeper Kamil Grabara.
Poland, who were drawn in Group C, open their World Cup campaign against Mexico on Nov. 22 before matches against Saudi Arabia and Argentina.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus), Kamil Grabara (FC Copenhagen), Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Aston Villa), Kamil Glik (Benevento), Robert Gumny (FC Augsburg), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Jakub Kiwior (Spezia), Mateusz Wieteska (Clermont), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Nicola Zalewski (AS Roma)
Midfielders: Krystian Bielik (Birmingham City), Przemyslaw Frankowski (Lens), Kamil Grosicki (Pogon Szczecin), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Al-Shabab), Jakub Kaminski (VfL Wolfsburg), Michal Skoras (Lech Poznan), Damian Szymanski (AEK Athens), Sebastian Szymanski (Feyenoord), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli), Szymon Zurkowski (Fiorentina)
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus), Krzysztof Piatek (Salernitana), Karol Swiderski (Charlotte FC)
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
