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Holden injured in Bolton’s loss to Manchester United

HoldenEvans (ISIPhotos.com) 

Stuart Holden has been enjoying a dream season for Bolton, which made his expected participation in the U.S. national team's upcoming friendlies a highly-anticipated storyline.

That storyline looks like it will have to wait now after Holden was injured in Bolton's 1-0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday.

Holden was taken off the field on a stretcher after a nasty tackle from Johnny Evans, who went in studs up on a 50-50 challenge that left Holden with a visible laceration and bruising on his left knee.

Here is video of the tackle:

The full extent of Holden's injuries is unknown at this time, but given the visible state of his knee, Holden looks highly unlikely to be available for the United States' friendly against Argentina on March 26th and Paraguay on March 29th.

We will pass along developments as they become available.

Comments

  1. News is Holden had to have 26 stitches in his knee…no broken bones or torn ligaments…he is out of the up coming USA matches as are Steve Cherundolo and Zak Whitbread.

    Confirmation here:

    Boston Hearld….as Ives doesn’t allow links you can google it to find the link…

    More from the article:

    Cherundolo (groin) and Whitbread (back) will rest nagging injuries. U.S. coach Bob Bradley added Leeds defender Eric Lichaj to the roster on Sunday.

    The USSF expects Holden was to be evaluated again on Sunday.

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  2. Agree. Bad tackle, but not dirty. Let’s save dirty for those players who really are trying to inflict damage on the other player – and there are some out there. This one does not look that way. And I have followed Holden from his start in Houston.

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  3. That’s gotta be a nasty cut, being from boot studs. Damn. I don’t remember hearing about anyone getting seriously slashed by studs…

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  4. I think everyone thought the laceration was a broken bone type laceration.

    thats the only thing i can think of when it comes to why everyone assumes the injury is so bad.

    he’ll be ok, i’m concerned about ligament damage since its around the knee

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  5. Again, sorry, noone’s buying and even Fergie isn’t defending Evans like a lot of see-no-evil manU fans: you cannot cause a gash requiring 28 stitches to close – by accident.

    Seriously.

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  6. Yeah 28 stitches were an honest mistake. Yeah right.

    Would be more plausible if we were talking about a knife fight.

    Meaning: accidental/incidental contact is one thing; 28 stitches – I believe we can agree – is at the least a red card and preferrably a multi-game suspension.

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  7. I wouldn’t jump the gun on the seriousness of this injury just yet, Ives. Let him be evaluated. I’m a physician, and have seen LOTS of lacerations that initially look pretty scary that end up healing very well and quickly once sutured.

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  8. Bolton might need to look for another striker then. Maybe someone else from the MLS with proven quality and finishing prowess.

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  9. I agree that it wasn’t dirty… and was just reckless, but “getting the ball” has nothing to do with that opinion.
    Nothing
    At
    All

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  10. Look at the picture. It’s definitely a bad tackle, but he went in with one. And I am not trying to defend him; I couldn’t care less about Manchester United or Johnny Evans. I honestly think there was no intent to hurt Holden in this tackle.

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  11. So…I don’t want to be the one to say it. But word on the street is Bog Bradley paid off Evans to injure Holden so he didn’t have to read the collective SBI meltdown when Michael goes 90 in both friendlies.

    Bummer for Holden, I was so pumped to see him in his natural position for the Nats. Lets hope it is just a laceration and nothing structural. That said, I’m sure glad we have all those midfield options at the end of the day!

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  12. There’s a fine line between dirty and reckless. It is a question of intent, I suppose, and in most cases we never know the answer to that. My main point, however, is that the dirty-reckless argument is moot. You just can’t do it. The guy that gets loaded and drives his car into somebody probably didn’t mean to hurt anybody. But the behavior is still unacceptable.

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  13. That tackle was a disgrace. Calling that 50/50 would be generous. Evans hardly looked at the ball, much less went for it.

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  14. I like the idea of reckless vs. dirty. I just swung my fist in the air. I didn’t mean to hit him.

    I was just jumping in the air with my studs pointed at his knee. I did not mean to hurt him. Well then you are an idiot.

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  15. 1.) so to people who say that illiteracy is not a problem, you could suck on this
    2.) one appropriate call does not in any way “even out” countless years of favoritism

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  16. No one is saying that it is okay. Just that many here are overreacting when they call it dirty. It was a reckless tackle, deserving of a red card. But it WASN’T dirty. He got the ball.

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  17. Bravo Evans you did what you needed to do to take possesion of the ball. And you got punish for it and no one complain. So to people that say refs favor united you Could suck on this.

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  18. “there was no intent there . . . studs up challenges happen.”

    the reason for the card is to prevent studs-up challenges from happening, because they can cause serious injury.

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  19. Sir Alex: “. . . it’s a little bit unfortunate, but if the foot is off the ground, you really don’t have 100% claim [or] complaint.” So, he’s not complaining about the sending off.

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  20. It wasn’t a dirty tackle… two players going for the ball and one ended up worse off.

    Coming from someone who can’t stand Man U.

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  21. I agree with you. I’m not defending his tackle. He went through the ball and took out the player which was clearly reckless and he deserved to be sent off.

    My issue comes with calling it a dirty play. Anytime there is a bad tackle everyone rushes to say what a dirty play it was. It’s like we have made ‘bad tackle’ and ‘dirty tackle’ mean the exact same thing….and they dont.

    Reply

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