In their regular-season finale, Chivas USA tried to close the season out strong and walk into the playoffs with a victory. Instead, the club added another player to the injury list.
Jesse Marsch collided with Real Salt Lake's Atiba Harris late in the first half. Marsch then hit the ground with enough force to possibly knock him out of Sunday's playoff opener.
Marsch suffered a mild concussion and was immediately taken out of the game. As of Wednesday afternoon, Marsch had not partaken in any physical activity.
"I had a few symptoms (Tuesday) night. (Doctors) want 24 hours between any symptoms and physical activity," Marsch said after the Chivas training session on Wednesday. "Hopefully tomorrow I'll come in and get on the bike and then train on Friday. That's what we're looking at."
While the rest of his team was going through drills and subsequent gym work, Marsch played the role of observer. First, he sat in the middle of the training field and watched the first team work through drills. Then, he watched from the sideline as the first team scrimmaged the reserves. All the while, Marsch wore sunglasses to block out sunlight on a warm southern California afternoon.
Marsch did not seem too concerned about the situation and said he did not want to rush back.
"It's better to take your time and then go and have to go backwards. If you have to go backwards then you're just losing a lot of time," Marsch said.
Chivas coach Bob Bradley said he wanted to give Marsch ample enough time to heal.
"Any time you have a mild concussion, you need to have time to just have your head clear," Bradley said. "He seems to feel better today than he did yesterday so we'll see when he's ready to go."
Bradley said there was really no timetable for Marsch's return but rather they would take it on a day-by-day approach.
"The way concussions work, you have to give a certain amount of time from the moment that the headaches clear... and every day that goes by that you're headache-free it's a good sign," Bradley said. "The last thing you want to do is to rush a guy back into training who is coming back from a concussion."
If Marsch is not available for Sunday's match, Chivas would lose a key part of its defensive midfield and the player with the bulk of the responsibility of marking Houston standout Dwayne De Rosario. The first-team central midfield pairing on Wednesday consisted of rookie Sacha Kljestan and second-year man Francisco Mendoza.
"We're still looking at different possibilities," Bradley said. "Those two have worked together before so that's one possibility."
Kljestan said slowing De Rosario would be difficult no matter who was on the field.
"It's a big task. He's probably one of the best attacking midfielders in the league if not one of the best players in the league," Kljestan said. "If I'm playing a more defensive-minded midfield role this weekend, it's going to be very tough to contain him but the main thing with him is you have to stay focused for 90 minutes and he's always ready to make the late run."
With the game still four days away, Marsch remains optimistic he'll take the field for the Red-and-White.
"Right now, we're just taking it day by day," Marsch said. "We're all pretty hopeful that everything will work out."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
