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David Beckham - Source: Reuters -
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England's David Beckham is set to miss this year's World Cup in
South Africa after his surgeon gave his prognosis over a torn
Achilles tendon.
The 34-year-old suffered the injury in AC Milan's 1-0 win over
Chievo on Monday.
He is due to arrive in Finland on Tuesday for surgery.
"To start kicking and playing football (will take) about three
months. For maximal performances and maximum kicks and jumps, maybe
it takes one month more, 3-4 months before one is able to do light
playing," Dr. Sakari Orava said on Monday.
"It's a total tear of the Achilles tendon. If there is any weakness
then...a graft can be taken from the calf and put over the injury
site to make it stronger. This kind of procedure is planned."
The World Cup begins in less than three months on June 11.
Beckham, England's most capped outfield player with 115
appearances, had been bidding to play in a fourth World Cup.
He was getting ready to kick a ball unchallenged late in Sunday's
Serie A match when he suddenly pulled up and shouted to the Milan
bench "It's broken".
"Today we allow patients to do motion earlier than before. In this
case we try to get motion back as soon as possible. The operation
takes less than one hour," Orava added.
"(After the) the first month, there can gradually be more and more
motion and muscle contractions, and very gradually (shifting) from
light training to harder training in the second month.
"After that, one is usually able to walk and maybe start running
lightly after two months if everything goes fine. All this depends
on the type of tear," he added.
Beckham, on loan at Milan from Los Angeles Galaxy, will miss the
Serie A run-in with his side a point behind leaders Inter Milan
with 10 games left.
