Last week was a busy one for the FC Dallas medical staff.
Heading into the season opener against Chivas USA, the Hoops lost the services of both 19-year-old forward Ricardinho, who sprained his right ankle and suffered a foot contusion in a 2-1 win against Clube Atletico Paranaense on March 22, and starting left wingback David Wagenfuhr. He awoke complaining of headaches and it was determined early in the week that he had suffered a concussion the week before during training.
However, before the 1-1 draw on Sunday there was good news from the training room. Center back Daulio Davino returned to practice after missing nearly two weeks with a deep bone bruise and played all 90 minutes of the draw with Chivas USA. He was joined by midfielder Juan Toja, who put the home side ahead with a nice goal in the 21st minute.
Yet coming out of the first game of the year, the Hoops were again beset by injuries. Starting midfielder Marcelo Saragosa strained his right groin and had to leave the field early in the second half. And in the reserve division game immediately after the match, FCD rookie goalkeeper Josh Lambo suffered a concussion while being struck in the face with a ball during the run of play and spent Sunday night in a local hospital for further evaluation.
"He (Saragosa) is going to have an ultrasound either [Monday] or first thing in the morning," FCD coach Steve Morrow said. "He's got a little groin tear. We're not sure how bad it is at the moment but the MRI will tell us more."
The news wasn't promising for Lambo either. "Josh is not good," Morrow said. "He's being assessed today. We'll get more results from the doctors today but at this point, it doesn't look great."
Two other injured Hoops are midfielder Dax McCarty, who is suffering from tightness in his back and defender Alex Yi, who has a tight hamstring. Neither trained on Friday and Yi worked inside on Saturday but his hamstring was still tight and he was left off the 18-man game roster. McCarty entered Sunday's match as a substitute in the 73rd minute.
But after Sunday's match, McCarty admitted that his back has been bothering him since the late stages of the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament, which he was named one of the Best XI in for the United States under-23 national team.
"After the semifinals against Canada, my back started getting tight and sore," McCarty said. "I worked with the trainers and rested but for the final, it didn't feel too good and I didn't play because of that."
Morrow gave McCarty several days off last week before he returned to the practice field on Thursday but the tightness was still there.
"I got a couple of days off and thought the muscles would loosen up a little bit and that the pain would kind of go away but these past couple of days have been pretty frustrating," McCarty said. "I have felt pretty good at times but other times, I will wake up and feel pain down there."
And McCarty admits these problems have been plaguing him for some time.
"My back has kind of been giving me problems for the past year," he said. "I've tried my best to play through it but I think it's just a matter of getting stronger back there. It felt better in the game today after I loosened it up but there's still a lot of soreness. I'm working to get it better."
Morrow admits that McCarty's back is a big concern for he and his staff.
"It is a concern right now," he said. "We were excited to have him back in the fold again. He's not 100 percent fit and we got 20 minutes out of him yesterday and he did reasonably well. It's something we want to make sure gets cleared up and doesn't drag on for the next few weeks.
"We want him fit, want him healthy and want to get him in the lineup. We're trying to work through things at the moment and rest him as much as possible in the early part of the week to see if that makes a difference. It's certainly something that we don't want to develop into a long-term problem."
As for Yi, further news on his hamstring will come later in the week. "He's going to have an ultrasound [Monday] to see how bad his hamstring is," Morrow said. "At this point, we don't know anything further."
But on a more positive note, Morrow is confident that Ricardinho could be available for FCD's game Sunday when they travel to Houston to face the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Dynamo at Robertson Stadium, a place where the Hoops have never won.
"I think he will be available," Morrow said. "He's recovered quicker than we thought and that's great news. He should be back in full training by Thursday."
The FCD coach admits that having so many injuries this early in the season is a downer but ultimately is beyond his control.
"It's frustrating but is part of the game," Morrow said. "It's nothing that anyone is doing wrong. It's unfortunate and bad luck. It's all just bad luck and we can't do anything about it. It's part of the game that we must deal with."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
