FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution forward Diego Fagundez will miss Saturday's season finale at Toronto FC after sustaining a concussion in Saturday's 3-0 defeat to the Columbus Crew.
Fagundez picked up the injury in a clash of heads with Columbus defender Chad Marshall during the second half of the Crew's victory at Gillette Stadium. The 16-year-old Home Grown talent battled onwards after the blow for a brief spell, but he eventually left the field in the 80th minute
Revolution coach Steve Nicol said he did not plan to take any chances with Fagundez's health and will sit his promising starlet down for the trip to face the Reds.
“There are so many of these injuries cropping up now, we just have to be careful,” Nicol told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday morning. “It's not like 40 years ago when nobody bothered and you just shoved them back out. We can't do that. There are things further down line where you have to make sure somebody's OK.”
The circumstances surrounding the match make Nicol's decision considerably easier. While the Revs will hope to come away with three points and would prefer to have Fagundez available to help procure them, the game against TFC won't count for much in the standings with both teams out of playoff hunt.
Instead of pushing Fagundez to recover in time for the contest, the Revs will instead give him plenty of time to recuperate from the knock as they head into the offseason.
“As far as Diego is concerned, it's the last game of the season,” Nicol said. “If it was a cup final, would we be trying to get him out there? Probably, but we're going be smart and just leave him [to recover].”
Fagundez will finish his first Revolution campaign with two goals and one assist in six MLS appearances, including three starts.
