HOUSTON – The Houston Dynamo are experiencing their first preseason injury issues of 2011 as Brian Ching and Brad Davis sat out Tuesday’s training and both are expected to miss time this week.
Ching left last week’s Disney Classic semifinal against Toronto FC early in the first half after feeling tightness in his hamstring. The issue turned out to be a minor strain in his right hamstring and it kept him out of Saturday’s finale.
To compound his hamstring problem, Ching injured his left thumb in the 4-0 defeat of FC Dallas on Feb. 5 but has played since then. The forward had minor surgery to repair a torn tendon on Monday.
“The surgery and the hamstring kind of worked out together to keep him out this week,” head coach Dominic Kinnear said after Tuesday's session.
In addition to Ching’s absence, Davis sat out Tuesday’s training with an infection in his left ankle. Davis has been a potent weapon for the Dynamo this preseason, delivering assists off of free kicks and corners. The good news is that the infection is not major and should not cost the veteran midfielder much time.
“I had a blister and it got infected,” said Davis. “I need 48 hours for the antibiotics to kick in and to flush out the infection and I should be able to go again.”
The team has scrimmages scheduled for Saturday against Southern Methodist University and March 7 vs. San Jacinto College. Ching will likely be out of the match Saturday and has targeted Monday for his return. Davis should be ready to go for both matches.
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com. Follow him on twitter at @Dynamoexaminer.
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