SEATTLE — Frustration lined the face of Brad Evans as he dressed Saturday night after Seattle’s 1-1 draw at Qwest Field.
Cut down by yet another injury – this time a groin strain – Evans now finds himself in the all-too-familiar pages of the injury report.
After recovering from a quad strain in time to start against Portland, Evans went down late in the first half of the Cascadia contest. The play itself was innocuous enough: a simple cross. Evans, however, reported that he felt a twinge in the groin and was unable to continue.
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“I don’t know why [it happened],” Evans said. “For some reason I made a cross. I don’t know if I caught it too much on my toe but I felt a twinge in my groin. I tried to come back on, but my body said no.”
It’s still too early to determine the severity of the injury, but Evans said he hopes that it will only keep him out for “only a week or a week and a half, at most.”
The injury, which forced Evans out in the 42nd minute, weakened an already decimated attacking unit in Seattle. Against Portland, backup defensive midfielder Servando Carrasco was forced into action after an injury to Erik Friberg during Friday’s training session.
“Losing a player like Evans changes it and losing [Erik] Friberg as we prepare for the game certainly changes things as well for us,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said
Without Friberg and facing slick field conditions, the Sounders struggled in buildup play. Schmid noted that without Friberg, Carrasco and holding midfielder Osvaldo Alonso showed their natural tendencies and sat too far back in the midfield.
Losing Evans made it that much more difficult for Seattle to string passes together.
Evans has contributed three goals in the last two weeks as the team’s new right midfielder. Being unavailable yet again is tough on the 26-yearold, who battled knee injuries for most of 2010 after being one of the Sounders’ most influential players in 2009.
“I felt great before the game,” Evans said. “I didn’t feel the other quad or anything. Just a disappointment all around.”
The Sounders return to action on May 21 against Sporting Kansas City at Qwest Field.
Andrew Winner covers the Seattle Sounders for MLSsoccer.com. Follow him on Twitter @AndrewWinnerMLS
