Injury bug bites Reds’ Giovinco, Hagglund
Toronto FC’s all-time leading scorer to miss three weeks with quad strain
The Atomic Ant can’t stay healthy.
Toronto FC confirmed Monday morning a scan revealed Sebastian Giovinco suffered a quadriceps strain on Saturday in a 3-2 win over Minnesota United.
The club’s all-time leading scorer will miss another three weeks after missing the previous two fixtures with a bruised heel.
Giovinco, 30, exited last Saturday’s game minutes before halftime after feeling tightness in his thigh.
“He was feeling tight and it was precautionary to get him off to prevent anything that might be longer term,” coach Greg Vanney said after the game.
No doubt the Reds were hoping for better news given Giovinco’s recent injury history.
In addition to being sidelined last week with the aforementioned foot issue, the 2015 MVP missed a trip to Vancouver earlier this year due to a quad contusion.
Giovinco also missed multiple weeks last summer with strains to his quadriceps and adductor.
Suddenly, a player who started 32 of 34 matches in 2015 is finding it difficult to stay on the field.
The Reds also revealed Monday that Nick Hagglund will miss up to three months with a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL).
However, Hagglund’s injury brought a sigh of relief as TFC staff were concerned the fourth-year defender had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in what amounted to a freak incident.
The 24-year-old centre back suffered the knee injury when goalkeeper Alex Bono dove into his leg midway through the second half of Saturday’s match.
Hagglund attempted to play through the pain but ultimately fell to the ground in obvious discomfort after jumping to win a header inside his own penalty area.
“On top of being a real good friend of mine, (Nick) gives our group so much in terms of his competitiveness, his versatility to play different spots in the back,” TFC captain Michael Bradley said following Saturday’s match.
“He’s such a good teammate. When you talk about guys who know what it means to compete, guys who are winners, Nick checks every box.
“He’s still a relatively young player on a team with some other big players. He’s not the first one to get attention, but he doesn’t care.
“He comes in ready to train and work and compete. When he’s called on, he never let’s us down. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for him that things come out as good as possible.”
An ACL injury would have put Hagglund out for the season.
Instead, TFC’s top defender this year could return by the end of July — good news after word arrived Monday that Giovinco will miss at least three more games.
With defender Drew Moor still recovering from a minor heart procedure, coach Greg Vanney likely will turn to Eriq Zavaleta, Jason Hernandez and Chris Mavinga when the first-place Reds travel to New Jersey this weekend looking to extend their six-game winning streak.