Brazil's Rafinha may miss Copa America with "muscle injury"
Rafinha's chance to play in the Copa America is seriously threatened. Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder has had muscular problems in Los Angeles this week, after playing in the Copa del Rey final, and has not been able to train with his team-mates.
Brazil coach Dunga sounded the alarms, saying the Barcelona man's medical state "is delicate" and on Monday it could be that the star is taken out of the squad.
"Rafinha cannot play the friendly against Panama in Denver on Sunday, nor will he train on Monday, his is a delicate situation, the player is under observation," said the coach. "We are making every effort possible so that he can play with us, but it will depend on how the injury evolves over the next few days."
The CBF have not gone into detail over the injury, saying that it's a "muscular" problem and that he's doing recovery work.
Rafinha, who will play at the Olympic Games too, has become one of a number of injury problems for Brazil.
Douglas Costa had to be replaced by Kaka, while Santos forward Ricardo Oliveira was taken out for Benfica's Jonas.
"Kaka has been called because he's professional, unfortunately others could have been here but were left out because they didn't have the documents (US visa), we ask players to be professional and organised," added the coach, without revealing who.
