FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England striker José Moreno may miss the Revolution's trip to Toronto this weekend (10:30 pm ET, watch LIVE online) after spraining his left ankle during the first half of last Saturday's 0-0 draw against Columbus.
Moreno fought through through the injury until halftime, but he could not continue in the second half after his ankle swelled up during the interval.
“He took a pretty good knock,” Revolution head coach Jay Heaps told MLSsoccer.com. “I thought he was doing a good job for us winning balls back. Going back and watching the film, he worked hard after the ankle injury. At halftime, his ankle was just swollen and we had to take him out.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Revolution, Crew play to scoreless draw
Moreno did not train with the Revs on Tuesday morning and the club listed him as out on the injury report released on Tuesday afternoon. The early signs suggest the Colombian striker might not recover from the setback in time for the trip to BMO Field, but Heaps remained noncommittal about Moreno's status with a couple of days remaining before Friday's flight to Ontario.
“What his status is for Saturday, we don't know yet,” Heaps said. “Unfortunately, I thought we cut him down when he was just getting a feel for the game.”
The injury comes at an inopportune time for the 30-year-old striker. Although Moreno has scored just once in seven league appearances, his recent displays have indicated a higher comfort level with the demands placed upon him in the Revolution attack and prompted praise from Heaps regarding his toil off the ball.
“He's working hard,” Heaps said. “A lot of our attacking situations came from his pressure on the ball. He was able to force it into an area where we had numbers. That's instinctual. That's a player that understands from that forward position.”
Blake Brettschneider replaced Moreno for the second half against the Crew. If Moreno isn't fit enough to feature at the weekend, then Brettschneider could come into the reckoning for a starting berth against the Reds in the event Heaps decides to make a straight swap.
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