Double injury blow for Portugal

World Cup in brief

* Injuries continue to disrupt Portugal's preparations as the midfielders Armando Petit and Paulo Sousa were both hurt in their 2-0 friendly win over China in Macao yesterday. Petit injured his spinal cord and Paulo Sousa suffered thigh muscle damage. Both players will be assessed today. Luis Figo, whose ligament and tendon ankle injuries have plagued him for three months, came on in the second half but is still not fully fit.

* The Belgium central defender Glen De Boeck suffered a right-foot injury during his side's 1-0 friendly victory over Costa Rica yesterday and will be out of action for a few days.

* The Germany coach, Rudi Völler, was in bullish mood after his team crushed a Japanese regional junior side 10-0 in their final warm-up game yesterday. "I am totally optimistic," he said. "I am convinced we will have a good World Cup."

* The Spain coach, Jose Antonio Camacho, has blamed his side's dismal warm-up performances – culminating in a scrambled 1-0 win over a Korean club side on Saturday – on a lack of acclimatisation. "My body hasn't adapted to being here until today, I'm sure its the same with the players," Camacho said, dismissing suggestions his team was in crisis. "I'm certain that when the championship starts we'll be perfectly acclimatised."

* Poland beat the South Korean club side Sungnam Ilhwa 2-1 yesterday with goals from Cezary Kucharski and Jacek Krzynowek.

* Russia's World Cup preparations were disturbed yesterday by news of an accident at the nuclear plant near to their Simidzu base. Around 20 litres of radioactive water escaped from a reactor, but the local authorities have assured the Russians that they have nothing to worry about.

* Nigeria's notoriously unreliable electricity company has appealed to the nation's public not to embark on "an orgy of destruction" if power failures interrupt televised World Cup games. The National Electric and Power Authority, whose acronym, NEPA, is referred to by Nigerians as "Never Enough Power Anywhere," placed full-page newspaper advertisements pleading: "Please don't take the law into your own hands... If you go on an orgy of destruction simply because there was a power failure during a match, you will not be helping matters."