Gilberto set to miss World Cup

BBC - Angola's Gilberto looks set to miss the World Cup finals in Germany in June according to officials from the country's football association.

The winger, who plays for Ahly in Egypt, suffered an Achilles tendon injury on the eve of the African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt in January and was taken to Germany for an operation.

The Federation vice president, Jose Luis Prata, said Gilberto's recovery had been slow and doctors had told the Angolans that there was little chance he would recover in time for the World Cup, where Angola will play Portugal, Mexico and Iran.

The 23-year-old, who help Ahly win the African Champions League last November, was one of Angola's key players in their surprise qualification, where they edged out favourites Nigeria to book a place at their first World Cup finals.

Angola have already lost stalwart left back Yamba Asha, the only player to have competed in all 12 of their qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup finals.

In January, Fifa banned Asha for a drugs offence and he cannot play again until August, he also missed out on the African Nations Cup finals because of the ban.