FRISCO, Texas - On Tuesday night, FC Dallas were eliminated from SuperLiga after losing to the Los Angeles Galaxy 6-5. That match might have been played two nights ago, but several members of the Hoops continue to feel the effects from injuries suffered during SuperLiga and those ailments could impact the team that FCD head coach Steve Morrow will field on Saturday against Colorado.
The biggest injury from the Galaxy game was center back Clarence Goodson, who had suffered a sprained right MCL in Saturday's 1-1 draw with CF Pachuca. Goodson felt fine on Sunday and went through a full training session on Monday but woke up on Tuesday feeling pain in his knee. After a pre-game fitness test, he was left off the roster.
"Yes, it was one of those gametime decisions and he didn't feel that he could make it," Morrow said. "It was unfortunate for him and us. I don't think it's a major concern for us. It's more of a day-to-day thing. He feels a little bit better today. Hopefully we will try him tomorrow and see how he feels about getting ready for the weekend."
On Thursday, Goodson did some work with the FCD training staff and then joined the team for the last part of the session. Morrow said that he will be further evaluated after training on Friday.
Fellow center back Alex Yi also continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury that he suffered in a 1-0 win at Colorado on June 23. He did his first running on Wednesday, but Morrow said he is still at least a week away from returning to full training.
Midfielder Arturo Alvarez, who scored three goals during SuperLiga, including a pair against L.A., was also ailing after Tuesday's match. In the 58th, minute Galaxy defender Ante Jazic tackled him hard right outside the L.A. box and Alvarez came up holding his shoulder and had to be attended to by the FCD training staff.
"He's probably better than we first thought," Morrow said on Thursday. "He had a little strain on his AC joint in his shoulder, which sometimes can be very sore for a week. But he was better than expected, has made good progress and trained fully today. He's fine."
With Kenny Cooper on the shelf at least for the rest of this month with a broken leg, FCD still remain pretty thin at forward. That makes injuries to strikers Ricardinho and Carlos Ruiz even more concerning.
Ricardinho had to leave the Galaxy game in the 21st minute with a hamstring injury. He hasn't trained since then and Morrow labeled him as doubtful for the Rapids game on Saturday. Morrow also said that the 19-year-old Brazilian could be out for a few weeks.
As for Ruiz, he suffered a foot bruise on Tuesday after an L.A. player stepped on him. That injury didn't improve on Wednesday or Thursday, making Ruiz's status up in the air for this weekend's match.
"He's very sore," Morrow said. "He's got a nasty bruise right down the side of his foot. He can't even put a boot on at the moment. It's only been this morning where he has been able to start walking properly without a limp. We would have to hope that there is a lot more improvement by tomorrow."
But the most intriguing injury situation involves goalkeeper Dario Sala. The Argentine 'keeper missed FCD's SuperLiga opener against CD Guadalajara last Tuesday with a right MCL strain. He returned for Saturday's match with Pachuca and also played on Tuesday, but that's where things got interesting.
Morrow was asked on Wednesday whether or not Sala was at 100 percent on Tuesday and replied that if he wasn't, he wouldn't have played him. Then, on Thursday, Sala admitted that he wasn't completely match fit before the Galaxy game but that when Morrow and the FCD coaches asked him how he was, he stated that he felt fine and was ready to go.
"I wasn't at 100 percent on Tuesday," Sala said on Thursday. "I played at 100 percent on Saturday and did all the stuff I normally do in a game. But for Tuesday, I wasn't feeling at 100 percent but if the coach plays me, I will always say that I want to play."
On Thursday, the FCD coach cleared up any miscommunication between himself and Sala.
"There's definitely no miscommunication on my end," Morrow said. "Dario went into the game, in my eyes, ready to play. I asked him before the game if he was ready to play and he said he was. If I felt that Dario Sala wasn't 100 percent fit going into that game, I wouldn't have played him.
"It was only afterwards that he stated that he wasn't 100 percent fit," Morrow said. "That certainly wasn't the case going into the game. It was my belief that he was 100 percent fit because he told me so. He had a reaction after the game and was a bit sore the next day, which is to be expected when you have a slight sprain in your medial ligament."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
