CottagRev has it exactly right. I assume if were a stress fracture, it would have shown up on the imaging test, and they would have said so. If it is not, then they are saying he has something like shin splints, but they are not sure what. I would have had no problem with that. I just object to meaningless jargon. FWIW, there are tried and true physical therapy approaches to this problem. He should get better reasonably quickly.
It's all a ruse to fool Houston into thinking they won't have to deal with him... Just a bit of gamesmanship (I hope).
Imbongo suspended 2 matches for his red card in the final preseason match. My favorite comment I've seen so far, "At least he's suspended so he can't pick up a red during the match against Houston."
Geez, given all the confirmed absences (Imbongo, Farrell, Nguyen), we might be seeing a lot of Neumann and Mullins straight off the bat. Beyond those two, bench forward depth is just CD9 (I really doubt Sene plays this game - maybe the home opener).
Here's my guess at the lineup. ------------Knighton Alston--Barnes--Soares--Smith --------------Caldwell Mullins--Rowe--Kobayashi--Fagundez --------BOOOONBOOORY Shuttleworth, Tierney, Sundly, Davies, Bengtson, Neumann, Woodbine Assuming the Injured: Farrell, Goncalves, Nguyen, Dorman
You think Tierney won't start? Also, somehow, McCarthy's ailment has eluded me. Where's he at? Also, I freaking hope Goncalves starts.
I think Tierney is still dinged up with whatever was wrong last preseason match, his hamstring, maybe? He was questionable on the injury report I think. McCarthy is probably healthy enough to make the bench now. No clue why he missed most of preseason. And Goncalves, who knows.
Imbongo is suspended for MLS matches after an ejection in a non MLS competition? That's the lamest thing I've heard this week. What the hell?
Same thing happened to De Rosario last season. MLS made a point to warn teams that violent conduct would be punished even in preseason.
At the STH Welcome event last night, Coach Heaps revealed that the starting keeper's name would begin with the letter B. Apart from that, Mullins and Neumann will make the 18. Sene probably will, too. There were hints that Goncalves would be available. No other tidbits about the roster for this game that I remember. He was coy about pinning numbers on the formations. They flux depending on the personnel and situations. As for the rookies, Mullins can play the forward and two wing positions. He sees Neumann as underneath the striker.
As it should be IMO. It's a negative part of Imbongo's game. Hopefully with enough suspensions, he'll learn.
Heaps carefully addressed Imbongo's propensity to get red carded with phrases like "We need him on the field", and "We can't afford to be playing with 10 men" (points are too valuable), and "We are working with him on this aspect of his game", and "He's an important player to us".
Because it was a meaningless exhibition/pre-season match? Yellow cards don't carry over from MLS preseason matches to the regular season, so why should a red? IMO only extenuating circumstances should carry over like serious violent conduct, racial/homophobic slurs, etc.
We agree often on these boards, but not on this case. There has to still be a punishment for a red card. Otherwise the players fighting for those last spots have nothing to fear by going out and taking out a player or two, "serious violent conduct" or not. If this is inexcusable during the season, it's also the same in the pre-season. This doesn't give you the right to go hack someone.
My guess would be that it's not the red card that is being carried over, it's the additional punishment from the Disciplinary Committee. If he had gotten two yellow cards for taking off his jersey (for example), that red would not have carried over.
I agree to an extent, I guess I take issue with all the other rules that seem to be broken during this pre-season games. There's no limits to substitutions (I think), and I belive that after the red cards, teams have simply substituted the player off instead of playing down a man. I understand why they've done those things and why they've insisted on carrying red cards over into the regular season, I guess I just take issue with all the inconsistencies.
I think intentionally stomping on a player is serious violent conduct. Same as DeRo's headbutt last season. I guarantee there wouldn't be a suspension for a couple yellow cards or a late dangerous tackle (Alonso).
Maybe I just look at pre-season matches in a different way. I'm used to thinking of pre-season matches being scrimmages. I started following the Bundesliga before MLS, so I'm grew up looking at soccer within that context. For me, pre-season matches are just like practice sessions. You wouldn't suspend a player for a red card offence during a practice session. You'd talk to him, calm him down.
I really don't like Imbongo's response to his red cards. I don't think he gets it. "The red cards from last year, some red cards I got you can't say were fair," said Imbongo. "[It's different in Europe]. And I'm the striker, I need to use my elbow on the defender behind me. It's not easy. But the red card I got in preseason...was really stupid from me. I'm really sorry about that." http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/blog/2014/03/imbongo.html
But it is heavily promoted by MLS and MLSsoccer.com was streaming it. I understand it isn't a sanctioned competition. Maybe it isn't an officially sanctioned event, but it is pretty darn close by implication. It is MLS players, representing MLS teams in a public stadium and being broadcast under the MLS banner. Also, it is violence perpetrated by one company employee upon another. I think they have every right to suspend him, if his conduct merited it. They seem to be applying this uniformly the past few years, and only for violent conduct, not all red cards. They suspended Stoichkov in 2003 when he broke that kid's leg in a scrimmage. Did you have a problem with that?