The impact of Molino’s injury on Crew’s season
Kevin Molino walked off the training field next to assistant athletic trainer Daniel Givens on Tuesday without help. Less than 48 hours later, the Crew announced their biggest offseason signing would miss the final 13 games of the regular season and likely close to half of the 2022 season after suffering his third torn ACL.
Crew coach Caleb Porter said the injury occurred on a non-contact play.
Molino is one of a number of key contributors for the Crew to miss a large chunk of the season. Molino, Gyasi Zardes, Artur, Milton Valenzuela and Josh Williams — five of the Crew's regular starters — have already collectively missed 63 games with injuries or international call-ups.
And sitting three points out of a playoff spot heading into Friday's nationally televised "Hell is Real” rivalry at Lower.com Field against FC Cincinnati (3-8-8, 17 pts), the Crew (6-9-6, 24 pts) doesn't have the luxury of dropping points until more players return.
“Now that you're missing a key player like Kevin, someone else is going to have to step up and we're all going to have to take on some of the responsibility of creating and scoring goals,” forward Bradley Wright-phillips said. “He's going to be missed for sure. ”
To put it bluntly, the first season for Molino in Columbus has been a nightmare similar to the Crew's current sixgame losing streak. He missed the first two months of the season after hurting his hamstring, then played parts of two months before this latest injury.
Molino scored once, recorded no assists and took just seven shots with two on target in 575 minutes. Compared to last season with Minnesota United, when he was one of the best wingers in Major League Soccer, Molino's expected goals (xg) per 90 minutes dipped from 0.41 to 0.27. His shots per 90 went down from 2.7 to 1.1, and his shots on target dropped nearly a whole point, 1.21 to 0.31.
“I know how well he wants to be here,” said Wright-phillips, one of Molino's closest friends on the team. “I'm gutted for him.”
Winger Derrick Etienne Jr., who is also close with Molino, echoed Wrightphillips in saying Molino is well-liked in the locker room. Given how much time Molino missed in preseason and start of the year, then almost immediately went to play in the Gold Cup, Etienne said he just never got in a rhythm.
“I think it was just a matter of time before Kevin started going,” Etienne said. “He's a very good player. Very intelligent.”
The rosters freeze on Sept. 15, which still gives the Crew time to find depth from a free agent if they want to. But any prospective player would likely need time to be ready to contribute.
There are also pressing concerns now with finding ways to get Etienne, Pedro Santos, Luis Diaz and Alex Matan to help the offense create more chances and score goals consistently.
"I think we're focused on winning the next game right now,” Porter said. “We got a good group of wingers that we have confidence in to win this game.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers