With the Major League Soccer campaign in full swing, teams have played between six and nine games depending on continental competition commitments, this seems like a good time to take a glance over at the injured reserve. Which MLS sides are suffering with players spending extended periods on the sidelines and who can boast a full-strength squad?
Houston Dynamo are suffering the most with seven players out of action including Juan David Cabezas and six defenders including Philippe Senderos with a quad injury and George Malki with a knee sprain. A.J. DeLaGarza tore his ACL in October of last year and underwent successful knee surgery early in November. Tentative estimates have DeLaGarza returning in August.
With five injuries to contend with, Chicago Fire have two players of their own with torn ACL’s. Both Djordje Mihailovic (right) and Michael de Leeuw (left) remain unavailable while Matt Polster is recovering from an MCL sprain but should be back shortly having been missing since mid-March.
Several teams have four players out. FC Dallas are affected right across the pitch from Maynor Figueroa at the back, Brandon Servania and Paxton Pomykal in midfield, to Jesus Ferreira in attack having undergone core muscle repair surgery. Dallas also have Kellyn Acosta and goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez as doubts. Minnesota United have just acquired Eric Miller and it’s no surprise considering defender Tyrone Mears is sidelined. It’s another case of the spine of the team being affected as the Loons are missing Ethan Finley, Sam Cronin and Christian Ramirez with Kevin Molino slated to be absent for the season due to a torn ACL.
Montreal Impact are playing without defenders Zakaria Diallo and Kyle Fisher, while further forward Marco Donadel and David Choiniere are long-term absentees. Real Salt Lake’s problems are at the back with goalkeeper Alex Horwath enduring Achilles surgery, while three players have knee injuries including Tony Beltran and David Horst. RSL have several doubts also concerning manager Mike Petke with Taylor Peay, Shawn Barry, Demar Phillips, Marcelo Silva and Luis Silva questionable for Real Salt Lake’s next fixture.
MLS Cup Champions Toronto FC have had a start to the campaign to forget and their efforts to regain footing will be without Jozy Altidore (hamstring) and Drew Moor (quadricep). Nick Hagglund also has a hamstring complaint, in addition to Chris Mavinga, Justin Morrow and Eriq Zavaleta all doubts. Sporting Kansas City have three out, including ‘keeper Adrian Zendejas and midfielder Felipe Gutierrez with a sports hernia. Jonathon dos Santos is the big miss for LA Galaxy, he joins Rolf Feitscher and Bradford Jamieson IV in the treatment room. D.C. United’s Taylor Kemp, Junior Moreno and Russell Canouse are absentees for head coach Ben Olsen.
Atlanta United, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City, Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders have two players out of action but there are some big names in that group. Sounders’ Jordan Morris will be out for the whole season with a torn ACL, Jonathan Spector at Orlando City is suffering from concussion and LAFC’s Marco Ureña is due to have facial surgery an injury suffered against Seattle over the weekend.
The teams lucky to have only one player unavailable are Columbus Crew (Ben Lundgaard), New England Revolution (Isaac Angking), New York City FC (Ismael Tajouri-Shradi), San Jose Earthquakes (Tommy Thompson) and Philadelphia Union (Richie Marquez).
Vancouver Whitecaps possess the healthiest squad, only forward Kei Kamara is listed as doubtful with an abductor strain.
