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LEAD: Soccer: Injury casts shadow on Yanagisawa's World Cup prospects+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 26_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH NEW INFO, QUOTES IN FINAL 2 GRAFS) Japan international Atsushi Yanagisawa's chances of playing at this summer's World Cup were left hanging in the balance Sunday after tests revealed the Kashima Antlers striker has fractured a bone in his right foot. Yanagisawa sustained the injury in Kashima's 1-0 win away to JEF United Chiba on Saturday night and was told by doctors Sunday he will need two months to fully recover after undergoing tests at a Saitama hospital. "It's touch and go whether he will be okay for the World Cup," said Kashima team doctor Jun Seki. "However, it's a traumatic bone fracture and that usually takes less time to recover from than a stress fracture." Yanagisawa said, "I am hopeful. I want to play at the World Cup and will do my best" to get fit in time. The 28-year-old picked up the injury just a month after returning to Kashima on loan until the end of June from Messina, for whom he had not scored a single league goal since joining the Italian first-division club in the summer of 2004. Yanagisawa had been called up to the Japan squad that plays Ecuador in Oita on Thursday in a warm-up match for the World Cup finals kicking off in Germany on June 9. The Japan Football Association said it would not be calling up a replacement for Yanagisawa for Thursday's match and wished him a speedy recovery. "There is still a possibility that (Yanagisawa) will be fit in time for the World Cup and we hope he makes a speedy recovery," said JFA technical director Kozo Tashima said. |