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England to monitor Oxlade-Chamberlain injury

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain limped off in the second half against Ecuador © Getty Images

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is still hopeful of featuring for England at the World Cup despite the FA confirming he has suffered a medial knee ligament injury.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, 20, limped out of Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Ecuador and his participation in Brazil now appears to hang in the balance.

A statement on the FA's official website read: "The England medical team are continuing to monitor and treat the injury."

The Guardian report however that scans on Oxlade-Chamberlain's knee suggested he has sprained the ligaments rather than torn them and will only be ruled out for around two weeks.

That particular timescale would see Oxlade-Chamberlain miss England's World Cup opener against Italy in Manaus on June 14 and struggle to be fit to feature against Uruguay five days later.

Gutted to have picked up an injury yesterday. I'm staying positive and getting to work with the medical team on recovery..Fingers crossed!

— Alex Ox-Chamberlain (@Alex_OxChambo) June 5, 2014

England boss Roy Hodgson expressed his fears over Oxlade-Chamberlain after the warm-up match in Miami, saying: "Oxlade-Chamberlain is the one that bothers. His knee buckled under the challenge as the player turned into him."

Oxlade-Chamberlain now looks likely to miss the World Cup, having battled back from a mid-season injury to make Hodgson's 23-man squad.

Manchester United midfielders Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley are among the potential replacements England could call on, while Everton defender John Stones and Liverpool full-back Jon Flanagan were also on Hodgson's reserve list ahead of the tournament, along with strikers Andy Carroll and Jermain Defoe.

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