Risk of death to oldest man at World Cup - Scotland's walking miracle Gordon

From risk of death to the oldest man at World CupImage source, ReutersImage caption, Craig Gordon will become the second-oldest player in World Cup history if he makes an appearance at the 2026 tournamentPublished3 minutes agoByTom EnglishBBC Scotland's chief sports writer in CharlotteIn March this year Craig Gordon travelled to London to see a man called Usamah Jannoun, a spine doctor who didn't sugarcoat the risks involved in the treatment the 43-year-old needed to fix a neck injury."You've read the information leaflet," Jannoun tells the injured Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper."You could get paralysis, you could die…"From there to here - in Charlotte, North Carolina getting ready for a World Cup that must have seemed like an impossible dream only a few short months ago. The behind-the-scenes footage of Gordon talking to Jannoun features in Icons of Football, a BBC Scotland documentary on Gordon's life and times, available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday at 06:00 BST. It's by turns emotional, harrowing and inspirational.Gordon says his entire career has been a series of comebacks, a litany of fights against the odds.Through a succession of serious injuries - ankle issues, broken arms, broken leg, knee surgeries, neck and shoulder problems - he has missed an estimated 1,975 days of football or around 200 games. Way back in 2012 he suffered patellar tendonitis, a career-threatening condition that kept him out for two years.He visited experts in Sweden and Spain, had three surgeries and visited a psychologist because his club at the time - Sunderland - thought the pain that left him in major difficulty when trying to climb the stairs or walk down the street might have been all in his head. It was not.A surgeon advised Gordon to retire. He decided to carry on. From 2012-2014 he played no football. He was the forgotten man, cast into a recurring nightmare of rehab and hope."I suppose I try and hide it," he says of the...