It really wouldn't surprise me!
Anyway, conspiracy theories aside, the official line is that the Everton 'keeper dislocated his finger during the USA's 2-4 defeat to Brazil on Sunday night.
Despite suffering the injury an hour into the game, Howard played on for the rest of the match and this, apparently, is giving the Everton medical staff hope that he will be fit to play on Saturday.
It just makes me worry that he's made it even worse by playing on!
And Howard's description of his damaged digit hardly inspires confidence as he said: "It was pretty sore. I just tried to play through it, and hoped that the adrenaline would get me through it. You know to be honest, you know how it is when you travel with injuries—right now it's swollen like a balloon, and I'm hoping that the flight doesn't take too much out of it. I'll see the doctors when I get back."
The good news is that he picked up some foam Mickey Mouse hands from the airport on the way home just in case the swelling doesn't go down.
But, in the unlikely event that even they won't fit his inflated phalange, then Stefan Wessels will step into the void left by the American.
More news on this tomorrow folks!