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MLS Ticker: Bradley questionable; Miller and Armando carrying knocks; and more

Michael Bradley TFC (TorontFC.ca)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Michael Bradley’s status for this weekend’s match is up in the air.

Toronto FC head coach Ryan Nelsen told reporters Tuesday that Bradley is one of several players that could miss this Saturday’s home game against the Colorado Rapids due to injury. Nelsen did not specify what is bothering Bradley, but said that the veteran midfielder is recovering from “a couple of little strains.”

Bradley, who scored the winner in this past weekend’s 2-0 road win over the Columbus Crew, was one of a handful of players that skipped Tuesday’s practice. Other members of TFC who were absent from the training session were Jermain Defoe, Dwayne De Rosario, Alvaro Rey, Doneil Henry and Jonathan Osorio.

Bradley has started in every one of Toronto’s four games this season.

Here are more notes from around MLS:

RED BULLS MILLER AND ARMANDO CARRYING KNOCKS

The New York Red Bulls avoided losing any players to major injuries this past weekend, but that does not mean they will all be available for the upcoming match against D.C. United.

Head coach Mike Petke told reporters on his weekly conference call on Tuesday that Roy Miller and Armando are being listed as “day-to-day” ahead of Saturday’s road trip to the nation’s capital.

Miller suffered Achilles’ inflammation on the turf field at Olympic Stadium in last Saturday’s 2-2 draw against the Montreal Impact and had to be removed at halftime. Armando came off late in the game with a hamstring injury.

“Roy is okay. It wasn’t an injury, per se, it was more he felt something coming in his Achilles [which dates] back to the Chivas [USA] game last year when he initially hurt it and was out for a while,” said Petke. “He felt something strange and came out. He’s been doing treatment and I’ll get an update on his status tomorrow.

“Armando, I haven’t gotten the final word yet – I’m going to give [the medical staff] another day to really re-test him – but he has something going on in his hamstring. I don’t want to classify it as anything specific yet. It’s all premature, but I think that we’ll definitely have a good understanding of it tomorrow.”

UNION PART WAYS WITH T&T MIDFIELDER DANIEL

Just days after trading Jack McInerney, the Philadelphia Union parted ways with another player who had been with the club for some time.

The Union announced Tuesday that they have reached a contract termination by mutual consent with midfielder Keon Daniel. The Trinidad & Tobago international had been in Philadelphia since 2011.

“We think this move is the best decision for both Keon’s career and our club,” said Union head coach John Hackworth. “We wish him luck and thank him for his contributions to the Union.”

In his time at the club, Daniel scored two goals and assisted on four others in 64 league appearances. He had not received any minutes this season in a Union midfield that was bolstered by the likes of Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira this past winter.

FC DALLAS LOAN TOP TO ARIZONA UNITED

Jonathan Top is heading further west.

FC Dallas announced on Tuesday that Homegrown forward Jonathan Top has been sent on loan to USL Pro side Arizona United SC. The duration of the loan is for the entire 2014 season, but FC Dallas have the right to recall Top at any time.

The 21-year-old Top has made just four league appearances since signing as a Homegrown Player back in 2011.

SOUNDERS LOSE TWO TO INJURIES

The Seattle Sounders will have two less players to count on for the foreseeable future.

Damion Lowe and Kevin Parsemain will be on the shelves for some time due to respective injuries to the hip and anterior cruciate ligament. Lowe, a rookie defender, has had a successful operation on his left hip and is expected to be out up to four months. Parsemain, meanwhile, is projected to miss 6 to 7 months after suffering a torn ACL. The forward will have surgery in the near future.

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How do you see TFC faring if Bradley cannot play? Think Miller and Armando will be ready to go versus D.C. United?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If Bradley were not in a bit of pain after 3 games in 8 days in which he covered a lot of ground and was in more than a few pretty hard challenges, it would be a miracle. He is still young enough that he will bounce back pretty quickly.

    At this stage, I would worry more about mental/psychological fatigue since he really does seem take responsibility for the team on his shoulders and that can wear on a player as much or more than the physical stress. In that regard, just enough physical wear to demand a game off sometime before May would not be such a bad thing.

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  2. Love how Nelsen is laughing off all his injuries….that many muscle related issues fall squarely on the training methods, and looking bad and admitting you’d do things differently and doing things differently in the future don’t always go together. Hoping a trial and error approach by his manager and Bradley’s natural hardcore mentality don’t make this the first of a long line of nagging injuries at his new franchise. I was at the game, and he was toast around the 25-30 minute mark.

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    • Regular play on turf gives me serious concerns about MB’s health. I hope they aren’t training on that stuff as well.

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    • Relax, P. He played 3 games in 8 days, he’s going to have some strains. The fact that Nelson making it public and stating he might not play this weekend shows he’s taking it seriously.

      Nelson was very recently a player, playing on turf, no less. He’s not going to damage his (not to mention MLS’) best player out of carelessness.

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  3. Looks like Hackworth is cleaning house. He had mentioned that Keon was going to get axed in preseason, and I was surprised he was still on the roster on opening day. Looks like whatever goodwill he got with his promises to be a better player ran out.

    He’s a good player though and shouldn’t be out of a job for too long – he may have to spend some time in the lower leagues to build up his presence again.

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  4. In the name of whatever you call holy, offer sacrifices for the healing of Michael Bradley. Pray to the soccer god Pelemaradona. Our already thin hopes all hinge on Jr’s health.

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  5. Armando has been pretty awful so far. With Olave returning this weekend, there’s no need to rush back. Our center back rotation is 3 pretty old guys and an 18 year old. Going to be an interesting season with that crew. I’d love to see a center back DP come in after the world cup as long as it’s not Puyol.

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  6. Jurgen forgot to bubblewrap MB90. Oh dear. Saying rosaries now for a timely healing and no aggravated injuries for the next few weeks.

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