MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay striker Luis Suarez had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Thursday but is expected to recover in time for the World Cup.

Jose Mourinho's exclusive World Cup analysis
The mother of the 27-year-old Liverpool striker told The Associated Press that Suarez had successful surgery to repair cartilage damage.

"The surgery is over and thank God everything went well. What Luis had wasn't as serious as we thought," Suarez's mother, Sandra Diaz, told the AP shortly after speaking to him on the phone.

She said he remains in the hospital but is in good spirits.

"He's very well. He's going to play the World Cup," said Diaz, who was taking care of the striker's children while he underwent surgery.

The Uruguayan football association released a statement later saying Suarez began feeling an uncomfortable pain in his left knee during his last Premier League game and he felt sharp pain again when he was training with the national team on Wednesday. He underwent a magnetic resonance scan that confirmed cartilage injury.

"This morning he underwent an arthroscopy to repair his meniscus ... No other injuries were found in his knee," the football association said. "His participation in the World Cup in Brazil is not ruled out."

The surgery was carried out at the Medica Uruguaya hospital in Montevideo.

"Take it easy because I'm going to make it (to the cup) and will work very hard these days to be at 100 percent and help out my teammates," Suarez later told local El Pais newspaper.

According to Suarez's sister, the striker is expected to be out for 2-3 weeks and could be released from the hospital later Monday. Uruguay plays its first match at the World Cup against Costa Rica on June 14. The team will then face England on June 19 and Italy on June 24.

"The problem is that these days he won't be able to play, and will only be able to do physiotherapy," Giovanna Suarez said.

Suarez trained with his teammates on Wednesday morning but he was absent from the field in the afternoon. The Uruguayan football association said at the time that he had been working out at the gym.

Suarez is expected to be Uruguay's main threat at the World Cup. He had his best season with Liverpool, scoring a league-leading 31 goals, and was voted player of the year in England by the player's association.

But he has had his troubles. He missed the start of this season, sitting out the remainder of a 10-game suspension for biting an opponent last season. He also served an eight-game ban for racially abusing a rival player in the Premier League.

Suarez scored three goals at the 2010 World Cup, and added four when Uruguay won the 2011 Copa America in Argentina. He was named player of the tournament.