Palacios injury and heavy loss jeopardise Honduran hopes

Honduras’ World Cup hopes suffered a double setback as their midfield lynchpin Wilson Palacios was injured during a 3-0 defeat to Romania in their final warm-up match.

The Tottenham player is now a major doubt for the competition, having been rushed to hospital after sustaining a shin injury.

Palacios would be a huge loss for a Honduran side who have been drawn in Group H with Chile, Switzerland and World Cup favourites Spain.

And Palacios is also the latest in an ever-expanding list of Premier League stars who are in danger of missing the showpiece event in South Africa.

He joins England captain Rio Ferdinand, Germany skipper Michael Ballack and Ghana’s Michael Essien – among many others – on the treatment table, and Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda will be praying that Palacios will be able to play some part in the tournament.

Romania compiled Honduran misery on Saturday, as they condemned the Central Americans to a demoralising 3-0 defeat, courtesy of goals from Daniel Niculae, Gheorghe Florescu and Mirel Radoi.

Winless since January, Honduras have now gone five games without recording a victory, and they are an ominous 1/10 to be eliminated at the group stage.

Their next match is their World Cup opener against Chile on June the 16th, and should Palacios be absent for this fixture, a Chile win seems all the more likely at 4/7.

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