Tigres' Marcelo Flores grabs his knee after being injured during the CONCACAF Champions Cup final match against Toluca in Toluca, Mexico on Saturday.Fernando Llano/The Canadian Press
Canada’s Marcelo Flores will miss this summer’s World Cup after suffering a knee injury.
National team head coach Jesse Marsch says Flores ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup with his club team Tigres UNAL on Saturday.
The 22-year-old midfielder from Georgetown, Ont., went down in the 77th minute and left the field in tears as Tigres fell to Toluca in a shootout.
Flores was not at Canada’s training camp in Charlotte, N.C., last week, but was one of the 10 midfielders named to the country’s 26-player World Cup roster on Friday.
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Marsch says he spoke with Flores both on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and told him he is welcome to come be around the team at the tournament after he undergoes knee surgery.
The head coach says he has not yet made a decision on who will take the vacant roster spot, but will make a choice at least 24 hours before the country kicks off the tournament against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on June 12.