The perils of pre-World Cup friendlies were realized by several countries on Saturday, but none worse than Mexico. With his teammates in tears, midfielder Luis Montes was stretchered off shortly before halftime after a collision with Ecuador's Segundo Castillo left him with a horrifying leg break that required medical staff to cut off his sock before stabilizing him and sending him off to the hospital.

Adding to the nightmare for Mexico, captain Rafa Marquez was also sent to the hospital with a foot injury minutes later. Ecuador's Castillo, who collided with Montes, was also sent for medical evaluation with a suspected torn ACL.

Mexico players react to Montes' injury

The match started off well for Mexico, though. Montes scored a brilliant goal in the 33rd minute. His replacement, Marco Fabian, scored in the 69th minute and Gio Dos Santos added a third in the 76th minute to win 3-1. That result, of course, is meaningless compared to the two losses suffered in the form of Montes and Marquez's injuries. Mexico had enough problems as it stood after qualifying for the tournament through the back door in the form of an inter-confederation playoff against New Zealand.

Elsewhere, Italy's Riccardo Montolivo also suffered a broken leg in his side's scoreless draw against Ireland.

The World Cup really can't start soon enough.