England star Foden misses game after appendix surgery

LONDON (AP) — England player Phil Foden was ruled out of the European Championship qualifier against Ukraine on Sunday after having his appendix removed hours before kickoff.

The Manchester City forward underwent surgery on Sunday morning, the Football Association said.

England went on to win 2-0, with Harry Kane scoring a record-extending 55th goal for his national team and Bukayo Saka adding another.

No estimate has been given on how long Foden is expected to be out while he recovers, but he is likely to miss City’s Premier League game against Liverpool next Saturday and could be a doubt for his team’s Champions League quarterfinal first-leg match against Bayern Munich on April 11.

“With Phil over the last 48 hours he was having symptoms and our doc (doctor) got a little bit more concerned yesterday afternoon as it started to become more apparent what it could be,” England coach Gareth Southgate said. “So thankfully he was in a good position to see a specialist and be operated on this morning.

“But obviously that’s a huge disappointment for him and for us because he’s had a few camps where he’s had injury or just things haven’t worked out ... he’s also been suffering with his foot injury and I think this hopefully could clear that up at the same time.”

England has made a perfect start to its bid to reach Euro 2024. It beat defending champion Italy 2-1 on Thursday.

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