A bit more info on this from Arena's post-game comments: Defenders Eddie Pope (sprained knee) and Steve Cherunoldo (sprained knee); midfielders Pablo Mastroeni (sprained ankle) and Steve Ralston (mild concussion); and forwards Conor Casey (torn anterior cruciate ligament) and Pat Noonan (sprained ankle) didn't dress. Pope is suspended for the Trinidad game and Arena said the others are all likely to miss the next qualifier along with forward Eddie Johnson (injured toe), who hasn't played since May. Arena thinks the injuries to Noonan and Ralston are serious enough for them to miss the next qualifer -- August 17, which is more than 3 weeks away. It certainly could just be conjecture or sensationalism on the part of Bruce or the journalist, but it still does not sound positive. I remember Noonan taking a knock to his ankle against Honduras. He also had some problems with it against Dallas. I don't recall an incident in which Ralston could've sustained that concussion, however. Perhaps it came during practice? We really need some fresh blood on this roster. Our depth up top and on the wings is going to continue to haunt us. We have the cap room, roster slots, and means of acquiring some players that can put us over the top. With the transfer window opening up soon, I feel like just about anyone who could contribute and even push our scrubs for minutes should be given a look.
Another possibility might be that he wasn't planning on calling them in anyway and this gives him an out
That thought crossed my mind, too, that maybe he's looking to give them some recovery time with their clubs and/or try out some others in advance of the sure to be much tougher Mexico match.
Well, at the risk of upsetting the conspiracy theorists out there, the New England Revolution are playing away to the Colorado Rapids on the night of the next World Cup Qualifier, August 17th.
I too am sad that both Noonan and Ralston picked up injuries that will probably keep them off the field for some time. It's also a double punishhment too. With Noonan and Ralson off, that means Rielly and Smith (the Terminator) on and I'm sick of watching those two. This tournament simply was not worth it for anybody. The number of serious injuries picked up by the US would make me question if we should send anybody BUT rising starts that are trying to make the player pool. The REVS have been in a hole for a month and now, it looks like it will go on even farther with the injuries we picked. CONCAF and the referees did not do enough to protect the players from the hacks and I question the wisdom of future US player involvement because of this.
I'm looking forward for a little more definitive info from our own sources. These comments by Da Bruce were more making a statement about the poor Refs and how difficult the roster selections were rather than a medical report. I do think we will be without Nooana and Ralston for Wednesday but you never know.
But if we have players that can't go because of injuries picked up with the Nats, that just isn't, well, fair. Expect to see a flurry of posts on the mls boards complaining that our games should be postponed until our players are in good health...
Saw that and it sucks for us. Dempsey also played big minutes Sunday so he might not be able to go 90. Let's hope the paper has it wrong. LETS FILL THOSE ROSTER SLOTS and while you're at it, make an additional one by canning Smith's butt. This tournament was not worth it for the Revs
But it might very well have been worth it for the US (see possible seed next year). I've said it before, and I stick by my opinions. The Revs made a huge mistake letting Cassio go at the point they did. To save what was left of his 50K salary, they got rid of him, leaving them one player short on the bench going into a stretch where they'd be missing a bunch of players. Now with Ralston gone for a while, Noonan out for another couple of weeks (hey, at least they'll be rested, but we're missing but for the Open Cup as well)... just great.
We saw Cassio play three games. And he was a bust. Vercollone, other than run around a lot, hasn't done much more than that, and he's played more. Look, if nothing else, we need the depth right now. And that isn't going to change over the next two weeks. Instead, we're saving money. Yay. It's not like we couldn't use a couple more players on this roster that would be able to contribute to the team.
I think Cassio could have helped us in our present situation more then our current bench or Rielly. I've only seen Vercollone once and I thought he looked pretty good. I think he should get more minutes. Face it fans, we're in a mess right now with no help in sight With the TnT qualifier coming up, I expect Arena will be calling Twellman. If EJ isn't available, I think he will for sure. I don't believe he'll go into that with McHead and Wolff.
After the game vs. LA, Steve sounded surprised when the topic was brought up saying that if he was called up, he would definitely be fit to play. He said by next week he would probably be feeling 100%.
Yup, we are sure a mess. We are in first place in the East, top of the table, have more points now than we had each of the last two seasons, none of our starters out with long term injuries, two open roster slots, lots of cap space, a good coach and a bunch of motivated players with good locker room dynamics. Yup, we are really in trouble. I wish we could be like_______ no, I like what we are right now.