The sports doctor Dmitry Bablyuk, known for his practice of diagnosing football players’ injuries from just one TV picture, commented on the injuries of two defenders of the Ukrainian national team — Yefim Konoplya and Oleksiy Sych, who got injured in the first match against Belgium (3:1) in the Nations League playoff for the right to compete in Division “A” of the tournament. Recall that both football players were forced to be substituted during this match.
Yefim Konoplya in the match against BelgiumYefim Konoplya
“Yefim Konoplya injured his ankle and will not help in the return match against Belgium.
The injury occurred during a fall of an opponent onto the rotated foot of the player. The fall happened on the turned-out foot, injuring the inner group of ligaments of the ankle. Therefore, we can predict an injury to the deltoid ligament of the ankle.
Traditionally, depending on the severity of the injury, recovery can take from 3 to 5 weeks. In the case of a syndesmotic rupture (high ankle sprain), it can be up to 2 months. However, there were no signs of injury to this structure.
Considering that the return match with Belgium is already on Sunday, it is highly unlikely that Yefim will be able to play in it. In any case, it's very unfortunate for the player, as the injury was contact-related and could not have been anticipated,” wrote Bablyuk on his telegram channel.
Oleksiy Sych
“Sych most likely injured the ligaments of his right knee.
A rather unclear mechanism, but it looks very much like an injury to the medial ligament of the knee, as the knee collapsed inward. It is quite a dangerous mechanism, as during it the “cruciate” ligaments and the medial meniscus are at risk.
Oleksiy attempted to return to the field, but immediately left it, limping. It looks very much like an injury to the inner lateral ligament of the knee. If this injury is confirmed, Sych may miss about a month.
The angle of the knee bend was not too large, so I hope we are not talking about the “cruciate” ligaments or meniscus, but with such a mechanism, these injuries cannot be ruled out.
P.S. I will be very surprised if Sych plays in the next match, so 99% this is another loss of a right defender for the return match against Belgium,” noted the doctor.
