WILFRIED Zaha has endured a frustrating international break after he was forced to meet up with the Ivory Coast squad despite carrying an injury.
The Crystal Palace forward is expected to return to his club’s Beckenham training base on Tuesday after arriving back in England on Monday, where he will have his hamstring injury assessed.
Zaha sustained the injury in Palace’s 2-1 defeat to Watford in the FA Cup quarter-final on March 16, but he was flown 3,200 miles to the Ivory Coast four days later ahead of his country’s Africa Cup of Nations match against Rwanda.
The 26-year-old is a doubt for Palace’s Premier League fixture with Huddersfield at Selhurst Paark on Saturday, but manager Roy Hodgson is unlikely to be impressed with his player’s arduous and ultimately wasted journey.
Ivory Coast exercised their right to call up Zaha and assess the forward themselves, but he has returned to England having not played a minute of football.
Palace medical staff have been in constant communication with the national team and Zaha may feel it was not an entire waste of time, as he watched the Ivory Coast beat Rwanda 3-0 having already qualified for this summer’s tournament.
Meanwhile, Eric Bailly has dedicated his effort in Cote d’Ivoire’s 3-0 win over Rwanda to his eldest son who celebrated his birthday on Saturday.
The Manchester United centre-back joined Nicolas Pepe and Maxwel Cornet on the scoresheet as the Elephants rounded up their qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with a win in Abidjan.
Bailly doubled the lead for Ibrahim Kamara’s men in the 67th minute but was forced off towards the end of the encounter after suffering a head injury. – Eurosport
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