Diogo Jota injury gives headache to potential Portugal punters

Diogo Jota and N'Golo Kante became the latest big names to be ruled out of the World Cup this week and they won't be the last given the lack of preparation time between the season pausing and the tournament beginning in just four weeks time.

Pretty soon any minor injury - the sort which means a couple of weeks on the sidelines - could be end a player's tournament before it has even started and virtually the whole of Wales will have their fingers crossed that Gareth Bale's problem which forced him to miss LAFC's MLS playoff game on Thursday was nothing more than a precaution.

Former Ireland defender Stephen Kelly and I had differing views on a radio show on Tuesday as to whether some players at smaller nations might start putting the World Cup first as we get closer to Qatar.

Kelly insisted a professional forgets that as soon as they cross the line after I had suggested otherwise given the proximity between the Premier League finishing on the November 13, a ridiculous seven days before the World Cup begins.

We shall see but preparation time won't be a problem for the Middle East teams.

Most of Qatar's international players have missed the domestic Stars League, entering a training camp from June, while Saudi Arabia are taking 32 players with them to Abu Dhabi on Monday. Compare that to Premier League clubs with European commitments who still have seven fixtures to play.

France will assume they have the midfield depth to be able to absorb Kante's latest injury setback but Jota could turn out to be a major problem for Portugal.

Jota, with ten goals in 29 internationals, was the second-top goalscorer in Portugal's latest squad behind you-know-who and there are question marks over virtually all of their forward options, including sulky talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.

With 117 goals, Ronaldo will believe he can carry the goalscoring burden but he is clearly not first choice at Manchester United and the 37-year-old just doesn't appear to be anything like the player he was.

At the other end of the age scale, Fernando Santos will be looking to Rafael Leao and Joao Felix to chip in. Leao is 11 international games into his Portugal career and is still searching for a first goal, while Felix's record of three in 23 hardly inspires confidence.

Felix, dropped recently by Atletico Madrid, last scored in early April and possible target man Andre Silva has notched against only one professional club this season when coming up trumps in Leipzig's Champions League success over Celtic.

Goncalo Guedes is struggling for starts at Wolves and the jury is out as to whether former Wanderers winger Trincao is up to the required standard.

The jury isn't out on the injured Pedro Neto but he is out of the World Cup and so too is the retired Rafa Silva. It could mean using Bruno Fernandes or Bernardo Silva further forward, but then you lose something from midfield.

Benfica's uncapped 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos has impressed in the Champions League and could be worth a try, but cautious coach Santos isn't known for taking risks.

"Keep it tight and pray Ronaldo delivers" is the Santos way. It's worked for Portugal previously but given his United woes the best you can say is at least Ronaldo will be fresh for the World Cup.

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