not comfortable taking penalty

It appears highly unlikely that Wigan’s Jason Koumas will be fit for Wednesday’s key match against Russia. While he originally appeared to be highly questionable for yesterdays match against Azerbaijan, given an ongoing ankle injury, he was a surprise late addition.

After the match he revealed:

“I needed three different injections before the Azerbaijan game and I’m definitely struggling for Russia.”

“I had an injection in my ankle 10 minutes before kick-off of the Azerbaijan to settle it down.

“I can’t have another three injections in my ankle again like I did this week as that would put me back weeks.”

He equally revealed that about his missed penalty:

“I just didn’t feel comfortable stepping up to take the penalty, whether it was because I could feel the ankle or whether it was because of a lack of training in the week.”

John Toshack will now face a brutally challenging match at Lokomotiv Stadium without the veteran play-maker. Aaron Ramsey will not be called up and is committed to the U-21 squads efforts.