ASN Injury Report
Two World Cup Candidates Battling Through Injuries
Brad Evans and Danny Williams both have their sights set on Brazil this summer, but both will have to overcome recent leg injuries that have hampered their progress.
BY
Nick Kariuki
Posted
April 02, 2014
12:30 PM
Brad Evans remains out with the calf contusion he picked up on March 15. The injury has forced Evans to miss the last two Sounders games and also the United States national team’s friendly against Mexico tonight. Sounders manager Sigi Schmid had this to say to the Seattle Times yesterday: “It was just a decision where (Jurgen Klinsmann) and I both felt it would be better for Brad to continue his rehab here. We just want to make sure that he’s able to get over this injury completely, so we’ve slowed it down a little bit. The question of whether he’ll be ready for Saturday is up in the air at this stage. We really wanted to back off at the beginning of the week and see how he responded.”
On Saturday Danny Williams made his return for the first 81 minutes of Reading’s 1-1 draw against Huddersfield Town. Williams was recovering from a swollen knee picked up in the U.S.’s friendly against Ukraine. Reading currently hold the Championship’s last playoff spot and next face 21st-place Charlton Athletic this Saturday.
Will Packwood’s absence from Birmingham City’s two league games last week was due to a hamstring injury. Packwood has been in great form since returning from a loan spell at Bristol Rovers, and was recently awarded the Football League’s Young Player of the Month Award for February. The award covers three divisions of the English League. So, yeah, pretty big deal.
Sheanon Williams put up this tweet yesterday, which speaks positively about his recovery from a preseason quad injury:
D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen appeared calm over the ankle injury that forced Luis Silva off 38 minutes into United’s 2-2 draw against Chicago. After the match Olsen told the Washington Post that he expects Silva back after a day or two.
Chris Pontius, however, is still missing from practice as he struggles to recover from his left hamstring problems. Pontius had post-season surgery in November and was expected to return for the start of the MLS season before setbacks involving pain near the scar tissue hampered his preseason recovery in February.
The D.C. - Chicago match also saw forward Chris Rolfe make his return from a bruised right foot, coming on as an 89th-minute substitute. Rolfe’s next chance to earn more minutes will come when the Fire host the Philadelphia Union this Saturday.
San Jose Earthquakes forward Steven Lenhart has been diagnosed with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Lenhart picked up the injury during his team’s 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution. The Quakes have a bye week coming up and team captain Chris Wondolowski commented on his teammate’s condition after the game: “He seems to be very optimistic about it, and I like that. I wouldn’t expect anything else from him.”
Kelyn Rowe was not in the Rev’s squad for the match because of his hamstring strain. Speaking with press yesterday, head coach Jay Heaps said this about Rowe: "he's coming along and making very good progress." New England next host Houston.
Sporting KC’s C.J. Sapong played no part in the team’s 3-2 win against Colorado because of a neck and back strain. The injury is likely from last season’s title-winning campaign. Sporting manager Peter Vermes spoke with MLSsoccer yesterday and had this to say about Sapong’s recovery: “We're going to shut him down just a little bit for the next couple of days, let them work on him, and see where his progress is. I'm not going to push him to get back until that's all sorted out.”
Zach Loyd subbed on in the 87th minute for FC Dallas’ 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers. This was Loyd’s first MLS game this season. Up next for Dallas is a Texas Derby tie at the Houston Dynamo.
Nick Kariuki writes his ASN Injury Report every week. Follow him on Twitter.
