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Jesus Corona head injury not serious

The head injury suffered by Mexico goalkeeper Jesus Corona during Wednesday night's friendly against Israel will not keep him out of the World Cup or the team's three remaining friendlies, the Mexico Football Federation said.

Corona was able to travel to Texas with El Tri on Thursday for their next match agaisnt Ecuador.

Corona sustained a bruise when his head collided with a leg of defender Maza Rodriguez during the second half of Mexico's 3-0 win Wednesday. Corona was carted off the field and taken to a hospital tests, then returned to the team hotel.

Mexico's soccer federation said on Thursday that "a major injury is ruled out."

Corona, who started six of Mexico's 12 World Cup qualifiers last year, arrived on Thursday morning at Mexico City's international airport wearing a neck brace.

"I feel fine. There's some pain, but I'm all right," Corona said. "At first, I thought that it could be something major, but thank God it wasn't."

Corona will miss practice the next two days, according to Hector Gonzalez Inarritu, the head of Mexican national teams.

Mexico coach Miguel Herrera said before the injury that Guillermo Ochoa or Alfredo Talavera will play against Ecuador. Ochoa started four qualifiers last year, and Moises Munoz was in goal for the two playoff games against New Zealand.

Mexico play Ecuador on Saturday in Arlington, Texas, faces Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday night in Chicago and closes its pre-World Cup schedule against Portugal on June 6 at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

El Tri play Cameroon in their World Cup opener on June 13, meet host Brazil four days later and complete the first round against Croatia on June 23.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.