FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell will likely miss Thursday's match at the Portland Timbers after suffering a knee injury in the waning stages of the Revolution's 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
Farrell picked up the knock on a robust challenge by Union midfielder Michael Farfan in the final seconds of the victory at Gillette Stadium. Farfan's tackle incited a rather furious response from the Revs and left Farrell with a race to prove his fitness ahead of the trip to Portland.
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Revolution coach Jay Heaps dubbed the tackle “gruesome” on Tuesday morning and said the Revs may have to do without their rookie right back for the excursion to JELD-WEN Field.
“Right now, we're day-to-day with Farrell,” Heaps told MLSsoccer.com. “He's getting his treatment. We don't want to rule him out too early, but we want to make sure that we're cautious with a young player.”
If Farrell fails to recover in time to feature, then Heaps would face selection concerns on the right side of defense with his top two choices – including Kevin Alston (illness) – unavailable. He would then have to name the versatile Darrius Barnes in the starting XI or turn to another option such as Bilal Duckett (currently on loan with USL PRO side Rochester Rhinos) or Sainey Nyassi (a natural winger who has seen reps at right back recently) to fill the void.
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It isn't an ideal scenario by any means, but Heaps said he has faith in the potential replacements if Farrell isn't available.
“We're getting into the depth chart because we don't have Kevin,” Heaps said. “If Farrell is out, we're going to give some guys an opportunity who are itching, guys like Darrius who have been playing hard for us and will [want] the opportunity.”
