Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella is hopeful Angel Di Maria can recover from the thigh injury he picked up in the 1-0 victory over Belgium and still play a role in the World Cup.
The Real Madrid midfielder's chances of making the semi-final with the Netherlands on Wednesday have looked slim every since he pulled up after shooting in the first-half of the quarter-final victory.
Di Maria managed to struggle on until the 33rd minute when he had to be replaced by Enzo Perez and was in obvious discomfort.
The creative wideman was expected to undergo a medical test today at Argentina's base near Belo Horizonte to determine the extent of the injury to his right thigh muscle, with media in South America reporting he is set to miss the meeting with the Dutch.
The 26-year-old has been in sparkling form the Argentina during the tournament, linking up well with Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain.
And Sabella paid tribute to Di Maria after the game, praising his impact on the team.
"The Real Madrid midfielder will undergo tests Sunday," said Sabella. "We lost one player and hope it won't be too much in the case of Angel.
"He is vital to us, but the players played an excellent match from a tactical and strategic point of view: the idea of giving and not receiving in order to create a virtuous circle. We want more, but we lived up to the objective, which was to be a part of the final four of the best teams in the world."
Sabella has already seen one star forward miss out through injury after Sergio Aguero picked up a muscle problem that ruled him out of the 1-0 victory over Switzerland in the last 16.
Aguero is back in training and could be in line to replace Di Maria although Higuain, man of the match against Belgium, insisted the Real Madrid player would be missed were he forced to sit out the rest of the tournament.
"He's part of the starting 11 and is very helpful," Higuain said.
"I'm really sorry that he left, but we will join forces and hope he will be ready as soon as possible. We know what he represents for the team."
