Junior Firpo of Betis still awaits a medical verdict after a sudden strain forced him off ten minutes into the Dominican‑Haiti friendly. He’d already been nursing a niggle from the Trinidad and Tobago match, then felt a sharper pull and had to be substituted, he told his home press ahead of the Nicaragua game.
He’ll sit out Monday’s clash with Nicaragua and fly back to Seville on Tuesday for tests. In my view, Betis will struggle without his pace, and his chance to feature against Osasuna on October 11 looks virtually nil until doctors confirm his recovery timeline.
Firpo also slammed the new international‑break format, saying the schedule now packs four games into eleven days, whereas it used to be two matches in ten days – a far tougher rhythm for players.
The club now faces a brutal stretch of nine fixtures across LaLiga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in just 29 days. Can the team maintain momentum without him?