CARSON, Calif. -- After failing to notch a single win in the month of August, as well as being eliminated in the U.S. Open Cup, September would appear to be a welcome sight for the LA Galaxy.
Except it appears matters might get worse before they get better. Gyasi Zardes, Jelle Van Damme, and Steven Gerrard are all suffering from injuries at the moment, and Robbie Keane is coming off an injury of his own, in addition to heading out on international duty with Ireland. Add in the presumptive transfer of Nigel de Jong to Galatasaray, and the Galaxy’s outlook looks rough for the month ahead.
Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena confirmed that Zardes is out for the regular season due to a stress fracture of his fifth metatarsal, and he’ll have surgery on Wednesday. Van Damme and Gerrard are both out “a couple of weeks” with an MCL strain and a hamstring injury, respectively.
Arena knows that injuries, transfers and national team duty are all part of going through a season. This season, with new signings and more star power, however, it’s been a struggle to get everyone on the field on the same time.
“That’s all part of it,” Arena told reporters after training on Tuesday. “It’s been an awkward year with all of that stuff. We haven’t really been able to wrestle to a point where we had the whole team on the field. We just haven’t been able to do it for a variety of reasons, so that’s life, but that’s also why you build a roster. You build a roster to be able to deal with adversity, injuries, whatever.”
Arena continued on, saying that the injury bug has been team-wide this season: “We’ve had Robbie Keane for 13 games this year. Nigel’s missed probably about seven or eight, probably the same with Gerrard now. You go right down the line, it’s happened to everyone.”
Van Damme’s injury could be one of the most costly, even at only a few weeks. He’s been a staple in the Galaxy’s backline as one of the most consistent players this season, starting in 23 of the team’s 26 matches, and garnering a few mentions as a possible MLS Defender of the Year candidate.
“Losing him for two or three games is certainly not going to be helpful,” Arena noted. “But we have guys that are ready to play as they demonstrated the other night. So, we’ll be ok, but Jelle’s been a great addition to the team. He’s a strong leader, a great personality, and we’re real pleased to have him here.”
As they move into September and October in that final push ahead of the playoffs, the Galaxy know that their depth will be key, and are counting on the fringe and younger players to step up.
“To have injuries is unfortunate,” said AJ DeLaGarza. “But as you see, we can rotate guys seamlessly. Guys like Seba [Lletget], Ema [Boateng], [Mike] Magee, [Alan Gordon], all these guys are now into that first team role, and they’re going to take advantage of it."
“Guys gotta start fighting,” Magee said. “It comes at a point where we need guys ramping it up anyway, but for so many guys not playing and on the fringes, it’s time to fight for your spot.”
