VANCOUVER, B.C. – It’s another speedbump for Vancouver Whitecaps winger Omar Salgado on the journey back from a fifth metatarsal injury.
The 19-year-old had targeted Saturday’s upcoming match against the Houston Dynamo (8:30 pm ET, MLS Live) for a potential return, but after 40 minutes in a friendly against the University of Victoria over the weekend he was forced to withdraw after experiencing foot pain once again.
Salgado missed training on Monday and on Tuesday did some work on his own before taking an early leave.
“I just felt a little thing in my foot,” Salgado said on Tuesday at the University of British Columbia in reference to Saturday’s game against the University of Victoria. “I just decided to pull off and wait it out I guess – I don’t want to push it – I don’t want things to go like last time.”
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After initially injuring his foot while on duty with the United States U-20 national team in June, he aggravated the injury just days after making his initial comeback in October against the Portland Timbers, this time during a training session.
Between the initial injury and the reoccurrence, he’s spent about nine months rehabbing, so he’s hoping this latest foot complaint doesn’t put off his return for an extended period.
“I don’t think this [sets me back much],” Salgado said, before stating he won’t be making the trip to Houston. “Hopefully that’s pretty much it. But it’s something I have to do to be cautious.”
Though he's looking forward to returning soon, the delays to his comeback have still been very trying on the youngster.
“It’s frustrating,” Salgado said. “It’s very disappointing for me, coming back, doing it again, coming back, doing it again – then maybe I’ll feel something here.
“I guess I broke the wrong bone.”
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Salgado could return to training as early as Thursday, and while awaiting final word from the medical team, head coach Martin Rennie seems optimistic the latest discomfort isn’t a major setback.
“He had an X-ray and it seems to be okay,” the Scottish tactician said. “We’re waiting final clearance on that, but he seems to be fine.”
Despite Salgado being out of action for so long, Rennie liked what he saw from his player this weekend before his early exit.
“The promising thing is that he played really well when he played on Saturday,” Rennie said. “His link up play was much better than it was before, he was holding it up, bringing players into the game, was attacking well and looked reasonably fit for his first game back.”
