Giovani Dos Santos is considering quitting Mexico's World Cup squad following the omission of his younger brother, Jonathan, according to the players' father. Jonathan was left out of Javier Aguirre's final 23-man party on Monday, prompting a furious reaction from his father, Zizinho, who is a former professional and played for Brazil. And Zizinho hinted Giovani, the Tottenham midfielder, was now considering his future.
"Gio is very hurt and he wants to be at home with us," said Zizinho. "He is there now and he's not well. We don't know if he will play [at the World Cup] or not. We still don't know anything." Zizinho also said Jonathan will not make himself available for international selection again. "Jonathan told me that he is going to quit the Mexican team and I don't want him playing for them anymore anyway," he added.
Meanwhile, Everton have taken issue with Nigeria over the omission of Victor Anichebe from their World Cup squad, claiming the striker's injury is not serious. The English Premier League club say he has only a bruised shin, not a cracked chin as initially reported by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). Anichebe, 22, was one of the most notable omissions when Lars Lagerback, the Swedish manager, named his final 23-man party.
It was assumed Anichebe, who was part of the Nigeria team that reached the Olympic final in 2008, had simply been overlooked. However Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, the chairman of the technical committee at the NFF, reportedly told the Nigerian Tribune he was left out because of injury. Everton are furious at what they see as misinformation while Anichebe is devastated at not making it. He was selected as the man of the match in the friendly against Saudi Arabia but did not feature against Colombia on Sunday.
* PA