LA Galaxy midfielder, Baggio Husidic will be absent from the team for at least six weeks, as he’ll undergo surgery for a broken left fibula. Husidic, who was injured attempting to slide tackle the ball in the 5th minute of play during the Galaxy’s 2-1 victory over Minnesota United on Sunday.
Husidic was tracking United’s Ibson through the Galaxy’s attacking third when he slid on the artificial turf at TCF Bank Stadium – home to University of Minnesota’s Football team. His left foot caught in the turf and his momentum carried him over his own leg. There was no contact with the player during the slide. The only contact came from the turf.
Galaxy head coach, Curt Onalfo, was not pleased with the surface. “I don’t think the turf helped him and I think that stuff needs to be looked at closer. The surface doesn’t make for a great soccer game and we picked up a pretty nasty injury so we are pretty upset about it,” Onalfo said after the game.
Jelle Van Damme, Galaxy captain, also didn’t enjoy the artificial surface. “Honestly, with all respect, this is the worse field I ever played on- in this league. It can only cause you injuries. I think soccer needs to be played on grass.”
While the Galaxy are stating that Husidic will be out for at least six to eight weeks, that timeline could stretch out a bit. Husidic will undergo surgery to fix the break shortly. But this might extend the timeline to the further side of the window – eight weeks – and it would mean that Husidic would still need to regain his match fitness afterward.
The Galaxy will now need to rely on an already thin midfield to provide some depth in supporting just the latest injury there. Jermain Jones and Sebastian Lletget are both out with lengthy injuries, and Joao Pedro didn’t completely escape the turf either. He was subbed out late in the game with an apparent hamstring issue and was then confirmed as “day to day” by one Galaxy official. But he did train with the club on Wednesday, along with Van Damme who also picked up a knock in the game, ahead of their weekend rivalry clash with the San Jose Earthquakes.
Rafa Garcia is the likely replacement in the center of the park, and he did prove to be a serviceable replacement when he came on for Husidic. But beyond Garcia, the Galaxy may be looking at playing other players out of position to accommodate the latest injury.