China's female 'Rooney' may miss Olympics, China Daily reports

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

BEIJING (AFP) — Ma Xiaoxu, dubbed China's female "Wayne Rooney" because of her prodigious talent, may miss playing in next year's Olympics after seriously injuring her knee, a press report said Friday.

Ma is likely to be sidelined for at least six months with what team doctors fear may be a ruptured ligament in her right knee, after she fell awkwardly while playing against New Zealand on Wednesday, the China Daily reported.

Ma, the Asian Football Confederation's Player of the Year in 2006, was carried off the field on a stretcher and was taken from Guangzhou, in southern China where the game was played, to Beijing on Thursday for tests, the newspaper said.

The injury caps a disappointing year for the 19-year-old, who battled foot and ankle problems...