FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution defender Darrius Barnes will spend the next six weeks recovering after undergoing sports hernia surgery on Thursday. Barnes traveled to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to address a problem that cropped up on his right side during the last few games of the regular season.
Although he participated in postseason training with the team without feeling any sharp pains in the injured area, he decided to have the procedure done now in order to alleviate the concern before the turn of the year.
“It's just one of those nagging things,” Barnes said. “It's not anything that is prohibiting my body control or my explosion. I just want to make sure I'm full-bore come preseason, so I have to get that taken care of that now.”
The second-year defender started 20 matches for the Revs in 2010 as New England boss Steve Nicol rotated between Barnes, Cory Gibbs and Emmanuel Osei in central defense during the campaign. With roster changes on the horizon heading into 2011, Barnes said he wants to make sure he is ready for the opening day of training camp in order to state his claims for a starting berth next season.
“It's just about going in and getting it done now,” Barnes said. “It's just a minor operation, so I should be able to walk around and move around after the operation. … It'll be right in time for me to get back in the swing of things, start working out and getting ready for preseason.”
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