With nine days between matches, Juan Carlos Osorio hoped the New York Red Bulls would have had ample time to lick their wounds and be fully healthy when they boarded a plane to Los Angeles Thursday for a match against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
But Juan Pablo Angel's injured back is still sore a full week after playing on the turf at BMO Field in Toronto, Claudio Reyna's left calf strain isn't completely healed, Jozy Altidore missed two days of training because of an allergic reaction, and then Seth Stammler suffered a lower back injury at training Wednesday afternoon. Like Reyna, he has been ruled out of Saturday's clash at The Home Depot Center.
How bad has it gotten for the Red Bulls? Playing the part of Pete Vagenas on the scout team Thursday at Montclair State University was assistant coach Richie Williams, while third-string goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell, goalkeeping gloves and all, was Alan Gordon for the day.
"When it rains, it pours," Osorio said.
Reyna picked up his knock against Toronto FC in a 1-1 draw last Thursday and left the match at halftime. The veteran midfielder didn't train all week and Mike Magee, who has had his share of injuries woes in recent years, will likely start in Reyna's place.
Stammler, Reyna's partner in central midfield, suffered his injury at training Wednesday. He saw a specialist on Wednesday and Thursday and had an MRI.
"He just turned, felt it and fell to the floor," Osorio said of Stammler, who led the Red Bulls in minutes played last year, starting 29 of 30 matches.
Rookie Luke Sassano should slide into Stammler's role of holding midfielder.
After missing two games with a nerve-related back injury, Angel played the entire 90 minutes at TFC, but the striker is still not completely healthy.
"It's been a very slow progress," Angel said. "I'm still feeling the hamstring. I guess the only way to get rid of those things is to keep playing and handle the pain as much as you can."
Angel received a cortisone shot to relieve swelling resulting from spondylosis, a degenerative inflammatory arthritis of the lower back. And while the Colombian was well enough to play against Toronto, he said it hasn't been smooth sailing.
"It's like up-and-down, it's been like a roller coaster," he said. "This week, especially after the Toronto game, it's been really sore. I just hope by the time we start the game in L.A. I'm going to feel better. I'm digging in there, trying to do everything the manager asks, and hopefully this thing will be sorted out soon."
Osorio contemplated leaving Altidore home, saying the 18-year-old is fatigued from being overworked because of his national team duties. But the Red Bulls received a measure of good news Thursday when Altidore returned to training and looked fresh.
"All I know from my six years of experience in Europe is when you have a young, talented player like he is, you have to be very careful," Osorio said. "You cannot neglect the training part. You cannot just go out and play and play games and not train at all. That's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to monitor his training and his recovery days."
Altidore said he felt much better Thursday and partnered with Angel in training.
"I guess it was something that got my allergies going, something in the grass," he said. "I had to step out a couple of days and take care of it, but I'm fine. It was something I breathed in. I was starting to get really puffy and I was hacking. I was fortunate enough I went to a good doctor and got it taken care of."
Another player who won't make the trip to the West Coast is Andrew Boyens, the club's newest signee. The former Toronto FC central defender from New Zealand is sitting out as he awaits his P-1 visa.
"It's very frustrating," Boyens said. "When things went through in terms of contract negotiations, I was really looking forward to this trip out to L.A. It's one of the bigger trips of the season and just getting onto the park and being able to contribute on the field as well as training."
While Osorio is confident his team can break down a Los Angeles defense that is tied for last in MLS with rival Chivas USA in goals conceded, he is wary of the Galaxy's offense prowess.
"One of the biggest threats they have is on set pieces in and around the box and certainly we have to prevent that from happening if we're going to have a good result," Osorio said.
The Galaxy is tied with Chicago atop MLS with 13 goals scored. And 11 of those goals were scored by MLS Player of the Month Landon Donovan (MLS-best eight goals) and David Beckham, whose brace led Los Angeles to a come-from-behind 2-2 draw at Real Salt Lake last week.
"I think Landon is their strongest threat right now, especially with the combination with Beckham," defender Kevin Goldthwaite said. "With Landon you just have to worry about his pace and make sure he doesn't get behind us."
The two teams played one of the most entertaining matches in MLS history last year when 66,237 fans watched the Red Bulls beat the Galaxy 5-4 at Giants Stadium.
"Nine goals in one game, as a spectator you can't expect anything more than that," Angel said. "From my point of view, we would like just to get it right defensively and then hopefully get a result."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
