Wieghorst set to miss Euro 2000

Celtic FC midfielder Morten Wieghorst has all but given up hope of gaining fitness in time for EURO 2000™ this summer. The Danish international, who has made 18 appearances for the national team but was not a regular during the qualifying campaign, has stated that he is 99 per cent certain that he will not play for his country and claims only a miracle will make him recover in time. And without first team football for over a month, that seems unlikely.

Wieghorst has been troubled with a knee injury since January, and his comeback hopes were hit when he suffered a reaction to the injury in training last week. "I have to admit that the Danish squad will not include me, and I am very, very disappointed. It's incredibly frustrating to miss out on such an experience," Wieghorst told Danish daily ‘BT’.

National team coach informed
Twenty seven-year old Wieghorst, who scored in Denmark's crucial EURO 2000™ qualifying round 3-2 away victory against Italy, hasn't played for Celtic since 8 April, and he won't be ready to play the final league match against Dundee United FC on Sunday. "I can count on one hand how many times I've trained with the rest of the squad within the last five to six weeks. Most of the time I've spent in the weight-lifting room," he said. "I recently informed (Danish national team coach) Bo Johansson about my difficulties and about my problems, since I can't travel to EURO 2000™ without being fit, and on such a basis, "Bosse" couldn't justify selecting me for the squad," he said.

Assistant coach not yet ruling out Wieghorst
Assistant coach Flemming Serritslev, however, refused to completely rule out Wieghorst. "Morten is an important midfielder for us with his all-round skills and goal instinct, and it will be a great pity if we have to disregard him for the final squad. However, I haven't received a definite no from Wieghorst and I won't rule him out before I have a talk with Bo Johansson," he said. Wieghorst's problems started with a knee operation in January. The operation went well but apparently Wieghorst forced himself back in action too early. "I only took a two-week break before I played four games in ten days and that was probably too tough for the knee,” he said.