Bale blow for Dragons

01 June 2009 22:36
Tottenham defender Gareth Bale is out of Wales' World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on Saturday.[LNB] The 19-year-old is struggling with a cartilage injury and will not make the trip to Baku this weekend.[LNB]Confusion reigns as to how the youngster sustained the problem, with the Welsh FA adamant he reported no complaint following Wales' 1-0 victory over Estonia on Friday.[LNB]His absence for the tricky trip to Eastern Europe has come as a major blow to John Toshack, who has already seen his squad whittled down to the bare bones.[LNB]Craig Bellamy, James Collins, Simon Davies and Jason Koumas are all missing, while Ched Evans and Sam Ricketts have also been forced to pull out.[LNB]DoubtsManchester City striker Evans picked up a back injury against Estonia, while Ricketts has failed to shake off a similar injury of his own in time to face Azerbaijan.[LNB]Toshack also has doubts over West Ham midfielder Jack Collison, who limped out of the action on Friday.[LNB]The youngster has only recently recovered from a knee injury and has suffered a slight recurrence of that problem.[LNB]A decision on his fitness will be made on Tuesday morning, prior to the squad's departure for World Cup duty.[LNB]Meanwhile, Swansea winger Shaun MacDonald, who has 18 U21 caps to his name, has been called up to provide cover for the mounting absentees.[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports