After battling to overcome lingering ankle and hamstring injuries, Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn said he thought he had done well to overcome his health issues before Saturday's game in Houston.
Now, Vaughn is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines, and he has his defensive mentality and Dwayne De Rosario to thank for that.
In the ninth minute of Saturday's match at Houston, Vaughn went up to try and clear a cross out of the penalty area. Instead, he met De Rosario's boot as the Dynamo's star midfielder slammed Vaughn's face with vicious force.
De Rosario broke Vaughn's nose -- "completely shattered" it, said Vaughn -- and the third-year right back has had two surgeries to correct the nose since and has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks.
"I really felt like I was starting to turn the corner leading up to the Houston game and I started to feel really good," Vaughn said. "Now I'm kind of bummed because I got another setback with this broken nose."
Unlike teammate Claudio Suarez, who broke his own nose on April 11, Vaughn did not have the option to postpone surgery and play with a broken nose. Initially, doctors told Vaughn that more tests would need to be done upon his return to Los Angeles. Once he saw a doctor, Vaughn was operated upon fairly quickly.
In fact, the injury will probably remain in his doctor's mind.
"He told me ... that there was not one piece of bone up there so it was completely shattered," Vaughn said. "What he told my girlfriend was that the impact was pretty intense. One of the worst ones he could remember was that of a man being kicked by a horse in the face. He said it was along that kind of impact."
On Thursday, he was operated for the second time after follow-up exams revealed the necessity for a second procedure.
Still, despite the initial shock of having broken his nose and the subsequent operations and being ruled out for at least a month, Vaughn is not exactly second-guessing his decision to clear the ball.
"For me as a defender, it's kind of like what do you do? Do you shy away and let them have a free look at goal and possibly a goal with a bike or do you put your head in there and just stop the play right away? I just wanted to stop the play right away. I didn't want to give him the chance to score," Vaughn said.
It's a defensive philosophy he said he picked up from playing with a pair of experienced central defenders.
"I've played with ... Claudio (Suarez) and Carlos Llamosa, who was another great defender, the past couple of years," Vaughn said. "The way they play is just do whatever you have to, use any part of your body to stop the other team from scoring. That's rubbed off on me for sure."
If any positives came from the incident, it's that Vaughn did not suffer a concussion. Vaughn said he remembers the play with vivid detail.
"It was coming down our left side and they had a cross in the box. I knew De Rosario was there. I don't know if he knew I was there," he recalled. "The ball was six feet in the air so I'm going up for a header to clear it, not expecting to meet a cleat six feet in the air."
De Rosario, who was booked for the play, landed a violent blow on Vaughn's nose. Not only did De Rosario shatter Vaughn's nose, he also tore open a gash that required 32 stitches to close.
Vaughn tried to keep his composure after the initial impact.
"I remember going up for the header. I remember hitting the ground and rolling over. I never blacked out at all," Vaughn said. "I remember looking down at my hand and seeing it was all red and going 'I broke my nose. I broke my nose.'"
With blood streaming down his face, Vaughn left the field and was immediately replaced by Chris Pozniak. Despite the severity of the injury, Vaughn said he was not in a lot of anguish.
"Surprisingly there wasn't much pain," he said. "It was just very uncomfortable because I couldn't breathe through my nose and I was freaking out about that. I was more freaked out than I had broken my nose than I was about the pain."
Typically, a broken nose might be treated by straightening the bone or cartilage in the nose. A doctor attempted that with Vaughn once in the locker room.
"It was kind of funny because he was telling me 'It's going to hurt for like three seconds after.' He reset it three times because I kept moving it. There wasn't really that much pain actually," Vaughn said.
Once Vaughn recovers from his nasal fracture, only time will reveal how long-lasting the injury is. Mentally, though, Vaughn figures he might have a small obstacle he said he would readily overcome. After all, he said he is not about to change his style of play.
"Psychologically I may want to wear a mask the first couple of games just to make sure but I don't think I'm going to be too scared to go for challenges, for headers or what not," Vaughn said. "I think I may wear a mask initially just for protection but I don't think I'm going to wear it for a long period of time, if it's up to me."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
