By IVES GALARCEP
Josh Gatt has endured a healthy share of injuries already in his young and promising career, but it appears he is now facing the toughest injury challenge to date.
His club, Molde, has revealed that Gatt is set to miss the remainder of the current Norwegian League season due to pending surgery to repair the knee injury that ultimately kept him out of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Gatt suffered the undisclosed knee injury during Molde’s 3-1 win vs. Sarpsborg on June 29th. The timing of the injury led to Gatt being replaced on the U.S. Gold Cup team by Brek Shea.
Details on the specifics of Gatt’s injury have yet to surface, but given the fact he is expected to be sidelined for more than three months at least, it sounds as though Gatt suffered some major structural damage to his knee.
The 21-year-old winger was in line to play a role in the Gold Cup, and potentially build on his two U.S. National Team caps, but now his latest injury setback threatens to keep him out of the USMNT mix until early 2014 at the earliest.
The timing of the injury also puts a dent into the possibility of a transfer move for the young midfielder, who had impressed since joining Molde and helping them win the Norwegian League title in 2011 and 2012.
Hope he recovers quickly and fully. However, he’s not getting anywhere near the national team until he improves his game considerably. All I’ve seen him do is basically dribble head down until he loses the ball. That may have worked in 1870 but the modern game requires a little more nuance.
How many times have you seen Gatt play?
I hope Josh Gatt isn’t another elite athlete whose potential and career are dismantled because of injuries. He is so young, but he has to get these injuries behind him. Good luck to him during his rehab.
Always injured at 21. Good luck with that
bummer, that sucks.
I know they are different injuries, but I hope he bounces back better than Charlie Davies did.
Pretty sure every American on the planet hopes he bounces back better than Charlie Davies
He should get with Stuart Holden and his re-hab team…then they can work out together and do some of Stu’s webisodes with a new “Holden On To What You Gatt”, “Gatt to be Holden On To Brazil”……etc…I will let them figure out the details…
yes, when I think of fast, successful rehabs, I think of Stu Holden…
Well he did have two, separate, horrific injuries. And i would call his recent exploits a success.
I think of Charlie Davies… BY THE WORLD CUP!
Or maybe rehab with Ken Griffey Jr. and Bo Jackson.
Tough break. This will basically rederail the hopes of him making the World Cup roster.
Derail*
He was never really in it.
No, but he had a great chance
There was never any chance, unless we were looking for a soccer-brainless speedster like Robbie Findley.
Agreed. As much as I appreciate Gatt’s speed and he has made headway in soccer IQ, the fact is simple running isn’t going to get him goals in anything but the Norwegian league.
The World Cup isn’t his problem. His problem is that now he’s going to be labeled injury prone and won’t make a transfer for at least another year.
Oh boy, not good at all. The guy has had some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad luck with injuries. Pretty much the only guy that made me not regret my trip to Houston to see the Canada game.
Actually, I’m not sure it’s all bad luck, he might just be too fast for his body. In any case, hope he keeps his head up and gets back healthy.
My daughter appreciated this post, Kev. I think you know why.
Healthy share of injuries. Good one, Ives. Face-palm. ;-). Loved the show today btw