VANCOUVER, B.C. – Vancouver Whitecaps forward Omar Salgado has gone under the knife on his right foot for the second time.
The latest operation comes after he re-injured the fractured bone while away with the United States Under-20 national team. Now expected to miss “a couple of months” of action, this effectively rules out the El Paso, Texas, native’s chances of winning a spot to represent his country at this summer’s U-20 World Cup.
The player underwent the operation on Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif., and it’s the latest incident involving that foot since initially fracturing his fifth metatarsal in June 2012 and a subsequent setback in October.
READ: Salgado undergoes second surgery on right foot
SUPERDRAFT FLASHBACK: Salgado in 2011
“It’s frustrating he’s been out for as long as he has been out,” Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie told MLSsoccer.com after a training session at the University of British Columbia on Thursday. “Omar was the first-ever draft pick of the club [first overall pick in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft], and by now you’d really be expecting him to be one of the main stars of the team.
“That’s usually how it works – after a couple of years, the first pick is getting to that point, and I think he’s definitely got the ability to do that. He’s just been a bit unfortunate with this particular injury because he got himself into the first team, and he was playing and playing well when he picked that injury up and it’s just been something that’s not cleared up as we would have hoped.”
READ: Salgado a long shot to make US Under-20 national team
Rennie explained this latest problem seems to relate to the screw that was placed there during the initial surgery – it either didn’t set right with the fractured bone or was knocked out of place due to some sort of trauma, meaning this surgery was essentially a re-do, replacing the screw with a new one.
Now the hope for both player and club is that this time the surgery brings a positive outcome.
“With any injury and with any surgery there’s always a bit of worry and a bit of concern,” Rennie said. “But I think in this case any issue [doctors] have had with it, they seem to think they have solved it.”
Martin MacMahon covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com.
