The Czech Republic breathed a sigh of relief on Monday night after an injury sustained by striker Jan Koller in their 3-0 Group E win over the US did not prove as bad as first feared.
"I can confirm that after tests at the hospital, there is no deformity in the hamstring," a team spokesman said. "We will see [how he reacts] tomorrow. We thought at first it was a serious injury. We don't think that any more."
It had been originally thought that Koller, who scored the first goal, had badly injured his thigh.
PHOTO: AP
The 33-year-old was stretchered off in the 43rd minute after being hurt in a race for the ball with a US defender.
Koller, his country's all-time record scorer, has only recently returned after suffering a bad knee injury in September.
Francesco Totti said before Italy's opener that he would have to take a big hit on his surgically repaired left leg "sooner or later."
PHOTO: EPA
The blow came 55 minutes into Monday's 2-0 win over Ghana, when Totti stuck out his leg for a tackle on John Painstil.
Totti writhed in pain until team physician Enrico Castellacci helped him up and coach Marcello Lippi immediately replaced him.
Totti said his leg weathered the blow, though.
"I'm OK, it's only a bruise under the knee. I was scared because I was in a lot of pain," he said.
Totti broke his leg nearly four months ago and had played only one entire match since -- a 1-1 draw with Switzerland on May 31.
Serbia and Montenegro's defender Nemanja Vidic was injured in training on Monday, and is in doubt for the match against Argentina, team officials said.
Vidic, of Manchester United, injured his left knee when he slid on grass during a training session as he was reaching for a ball. His left knee was bandaged with ice as he left the pitch in pain.
Team doctors said they would have to make further checks to determine the extent of the injury.
Vidic was expected to play against Argentina on Friday after missing Serbia and Montenegro's 1-0 loss against the Netherlands on Sunday. He sat out that game because of a one-match ban.
Paraguay keeper Justo Villar is out of the rest of the World Cup, according to the team doctor Osvaldo Pangrazio.
The keeper suffered bad bruising against England and will need four weeks' rest, according to the South Americans' medical team.
Villar came off after just seven minutes of Paraguay's opening game with England and has a "10cm bruise on his leg," according to Pangrazio.
Paraguay will also be without defender Delio Toledo in the must-win clash with Sweden tomorrow. Toledo has not recovered from a muscle strain picked up against England that forced him off ten minutes before the end of their 1-0 defeat.
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