Wales winger Gareth Bale will miss his countries Euro 2012 qualifier with England on Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury.
Gareth Bale
The Football Association of Wales says in a statement the injury was suffered before Bale, the Tottenham Hotspur winger joined up with the Wales squad. The 21-year-old did not train on Wednesday.
“Due to a hamstring problem, Gareth Bale has had to withdraw from the Wales squad to face England,” a Football Association of Wales statement said.
“He felt tight last week during training with his club.
“After playing 90 minutes on Saturday he felt some muscle tightness. Initially, this was expected to be muscle soreness after playing his first game.
“On joining up with the Welsh squad he was kept off his feet in training for two days to recover.
“As he still felt tight in the warm-up on Tuesday, Gareth was pulled out of the session.
“He did not train at all on Wednesday and was sent for a scan – The scan revealed that Gareth Bale picked up his injury last week.”
The injury to Bale will be a massive blow to new Wales boss Gary Speed but a huge boost to England, who had seen the player as one of their opponents major threats.
