I normally have a little whince when there is a horror injury in football, but I’m strong of stomach and watch on largely unflustered. However, that changed yesterday when I screamed like a girl when Antti Niemi fell on his neck and went all wrong-ways. Well, after being aghast at the whole thing, I was thrilled to hear that he’s been released from hospital after doctors cleared him of any spinal injuries.
The Finland international won’t be playing in the FA Cup third-round clash with Leicester on Saturday but may not be sidelined for half as long as it had originally been feared. All together now… PHEW! To find out more about the incident, read over.
Niemi fell on his head from a considerable height after trying to clear the ball from the edge of his own area with a header. After landing awkwardly (and that’s putting it mildly), the sickener halted
play for seven minutes during the goalless Watford.
Immidiately after impact, Niemi writhed in agony on the pitch with worried players stood over him. The ‘keepr was immediately taken for x-rays and a statement on the website,
fulhamfc.com, said: "The club can now announce that Antti Niemi, having
been reviewed at the ground by a spinal surgeon, was taken to hospital
where he was reviewed by the doctors there and was cleared of any
spinal cord or spinal column injury. Therefore, the injury sustained is believed to be related to the soft
tissue (the ligaments and muscles).
It continued "Antti has been released from hospital and is currently not in a neck
brace. But he is being reviewed by the Fulham medical team constantly
and will undergo further investigations over the next few days, after
which a full prognosis will be issued."
Fulham boss Chris Coleman said "We were very worried about Antti. It
didn’t look very good from the replay. He fell very awkwardly. He has got some damage to his neck but he can feel his arms and legs,
so that’s all right. It looks worse on the replay than it actually was but we don’t know
when he will be back. The most important thing is for him to get
better." [Mof Gimmers]