Dark cloud forming
Crew keeps winning, but injuries are mounting,
A 1-0 win over Atlanta on Tuesday was the Crew’s third victory in three group-stage games in the MLS is Back tournament, the exact results Crew coach Caleb Porter had hoped for.
But seeing his team crippled with injuries was a side effect that Porter desperately had hoped to avoid.
“We could win this tournament, come back and be injured and not make the playoffs,” Porter said, prophetically, before the tournament near Orlando, Florida. “That wouldn’t be viewed, in my opinion, as a successful season.”
The Crew has three starting-caliber players injured, two of whom likely will miss another game or two, and defender Vito Wormgoor likely is out for the remainder of the season.
The situation doesn’t reflect the dire straits Porter and the Crew were in last season with injuries, but the minor injuries and recovery of players who have stayed healthy are a concern. Meanwhile, Porter will continue to trust the team’s depth entering the knockout stage of the tournament.
“Nearly every single guy on the team has factored in at least for one minute or more in every game,” Porter said Tuesday. “That’s a great thing. You need that in MLS. We’re going to continue to need it.”
Wormgoor has been out since the tournament opener against FC Cincinnati, when he suffered an ankle injury game that required surgery and will sideline him for four to six months.
Meanwhile, starting goalkeeper Eloy Room injured his hamstring last Thursday against New York Red Bulls and will be out “the next several games, minimum,” Porter said. Against Atlanta, Room was replaced by Andrew Tarbell, who made six saves in the shutout.
Youness Mokhtar joined the injury list Tuesday when he exited during the first half with a muscle strain in his right leg that Porter said the club will evaluate this week. Mokhtar scored the game’s only goal in the 18th minute, his second goal of the tournament.
“It’s too bad. He’s done really well,” Porter said. “This is the best he’s been playing since he’s arrived. He’s looking like the player we envisioned.”
Porter also revealed that midfielder Lucas Zelarayan hasn’t been at 100% throughout the tournament, despite three goals and two assists in the first two games.
The Crew began the 2019 season in similar fashion. Through six games last year and already missing left back Milton Valenzuela due to a season-ending injury, the Crew was 4-1-1. But that was before right back Harrison Afful missed more than two months with a broken jaw and Federico Higuain suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Those injuries exposed the lack of depth on the Crew bench and the club sank to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. A flurry of acquisitions beginning last summer culminated with the offseason acquisitions of Wormgoor, Zelarayan and Darlington Nagbe.
In the tournament marking MLS’S return after a four-month break for the coronavirus pandemic, only Gyasi Zardes, Jonathan Mensah and Nagbe started all three group-stage games. Porter already has somewhat relied on new faces to get to this point.
The Crew, though, has a full week of recovery before its round-of-16 game in the knockout stage against either Minnesota United, Sporting Kansas City or Real Salt Lake. Just about every team in the tournament has dealt with injury issues.
The question becomes how many more injuries the Crew can handle before depth becomes an issue.
“We got some old guys, some young guys, it’s a good mix,” said Tarbell, who played the previous four seasons with San Jose. “Everyone’s ready to play, everyone’s a winner and we’ve proved that anyone can step on the field and play.”