Paraguay international and Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Diego Gómez has revealed his initial panic after suffering a knee injury during a 2-2 draw with Tottenham on April 18, saying he thought the worst about his World Cup hopes. Speaking to DSports, Gómez explained that while he is not yet fully fit, his focus remains on representing his country at the tournament this summer.
“I thought the worst, but thankfully it was not a serious injury,” he said. “Now I’m recovering and thinking about being 100 percent fit for the World Cup. When the injury occurred, my first thought was the World Cup. I thought that I was going to miss it.”
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler confirmed two days after the match that a scan on Gómez’s knee showed the damage was less severe than feared. “We have to go week to week,” Hurzeler said at the time. “It’s not an injury that will take him out for months. It is something with his knee.”
Gómez told DSports that if he is fully recovered, he would like to play in Brighton’s final Premier League match against Manchester United on March 27, but he will not take unnecessary risks. “Honestly I feel really good right now,” he said. “Hopefully I can play and I’m thinking about that last game if I’m fully fit, but I’m not going to risk anything at this point. The goal is to play that game.”
The 23-year-old is expected to be one of Paraguay’s standout players this summer. As a box-to-box midfielder with a strong scoring instinct, he will be a key figure for his team in Group D, where opponents will need to plan around him. His fitness scare comes as several other nations in the group face injury concerns: the U.S. lost Atlético Madrid midfielder Johnny Cardoso to an ankle injury, while Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, and Tanner Tessmann have missed recent club matches. Turkey’s Arda Güler and Hakan Çalhanoğlu have been managing muscle issues, and Australia is worried about MLS-based midfielders Patrick Yazbek and Aiden O’Neill.
Paraguay will face the co-host U.S. in their opening match on June 12 at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles. Gómez believes his side is on par with other South American World Cup qualifiers like Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Uruguay. “We finished with the same points total as Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil,” he said, referencing Conmebol 2026 qualifying. “We were always right there.” However, he had high praise for the U.S. team. “(The U.S.) is a great team and that will be a huge first match for us. It’s against the tournament hosts. They’ll be at home. It’ll be a great game and it’s a great group, a difficult group that we’re in. We hope it works out for us in the best possible way. It’s an even group. All three teams could lose or win (against each other). All three games are going to be very difficult. We’re going to leave everything on the pitch. Our mentality is to go (to the World Cup) and make our country proud.”
In the 2025-26 season, Gómez scored 10 goals for Brighton across all competitions, becoming only the third Paraguayan to net five or more goals in a single Premier League season—following Roque Santa Cruz (19 goals in 2007-08 for Blackburn Rovers) and Miguel Almirón (11 goals in 2022-23 for Newcastle United).