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Jaqua suffers injury setback, undergoes surgery

NateJaqua (ISIphotos.com) 

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Seattle Sounders FC was dealt a blow Thursday with the announcement from the club that forward Nate Jaqua had surgery Wednesday in Philadelphia to repair what was termed as a lower abdominal fascia. 

That's a lower abdominal muscle that has been bothering Jaqua since at least the start of training camp in January. The Sounders placed Jaqua on the disabled list on March 25, meaning he would miss a minimum of six MLS games. Now the club says that Jaqua is expected to resume training with the team in four to six weeks, which means he is likely to be sidelined for longer.

Jaqua has often been the target of criticism from Sounders fans who sought more offense from the 6-foot-4 target forward last year. Nevertheless, Jaqua started 27 games and achieved career highs with nine goals and seven assists in 2009, and if nothing else, his presence alone in the box had to be accounted for.

The Sounders, apparently wary of their need to add more of a big and physical scoring threat in the offseason, signed Blaise Nkufo, but he won't be here from Europe until July. The next move was to add veteran Pat Noonan, who must be worked into the rotation quickly and will be asked to provide offense in the absence of Jaqua.

"If you look at last season, Nate scored almost all of our goals on set pieces because he's the big boy we can hit and we don't have that target right now," midfielder Freddie Ljungberg said. "It's hard when we don't have players like Nate or someone who's extremely good in the air."

No doubt the Sounders' braintrust knew Jaqua was not going to be ready for the season when it began and figured that surgery and rehabilitation, with the chance to get Jaqua back at some point this season, was the best thing to do. But now Seattle, which is coming off being shut out at home last week by the New York Red Bulls and goes to defending MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake this weekend, is in need of another scoring option, and sooner than later.

Scoring could be increasingly difficult for a team so proficient at earning corner kicks as the Sounders are, since Seattle doesn't at present have a big body like Jaqua on those set pieces. Seattle must rely on quick attacks and good ball movement in the run of play to put the ball in the back of the net, and that could be cause for concern for Sigi Schmid and company for some time.

Comments

  1. Sounders have excellent fans, however they are NOT a model of success, you become a model of success after you win a few cups.

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  2. I dislike the Sounders’ fans, but Flopping Freddie gets a pass here. The criminal case went nowhere. Fair is fair.

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  3. In 10 years when you are just another run of the mill team that is still hanging onto your own trophy & Freddie Lung Man is being wheeled out for old-timers day, we’ll see.

    You guys are even mre insufferable than Toronto fans. At least they are having fun & not acting like they are doing the world of soccer a favor by existing.

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  4. We don’t need or search out your cred stamp of approval.. and that is why you don’t like SSFC. Sounders fans have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone like you. We have set the bar and weekly show our loyalty to our club and laugh at all those who ramble on like envious children.

    the PNW is where it’s at.

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  5. Sounders will be a great addition when the talk is about their football and not their fans. Long way to go, but I hope they improve on the field. I have little interest in what the fans do.

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  6. Here’s the truth: When Seattle came on the scene, babies like Smith got their panties in a bunch because despite the fact we haven’t been in the league for 12 years, we were the first MLS city to do it RIGHT. Going to a Sounders game is the closest thing to the European experience you’re going to get in this country, and I’ve been to games in Europe. Smith’s comments reek of someone who wishes his team has what we have. Most teams in the league would kill for HALF the amount of fans the Sounders have.

    As to where we’ll be in a few years: Every team goes through ups and downs. I’m assuming your team is New York? In your case, your team has been so terrible for most of its existence that I can see why you’re so upset. Also, you might still be hurting from that beat down we put on your sorry team in our opener.

    So to the big baby Smith, Seattle and its fans will be here for a long time, and the league will be all the better because of it. Stop acting like a child.

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  7. Very true. There are sections at Rio Tinto that bring it every game, but to see every fan at the Quest Field decked out and standing throughout the entire match is a sight to behold. I’m still standing in the 10th minute and people start giving me dirty looks.

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  8. Who you calling genius mofo? 😉 I know all about Alonso coming to RFK in a Battery kit, and before SSFC played a single match I think I had already expressed the fact that I wished we’d snatched him up.
    Perhaps on GoalSeattle…:)

    On topic, I would like to see Emilio land somewhere and get some playing time. Not saying he’ll score any goals, but I’d rather see him in a western conference team, where it’ll be easier to still be a fan of his…Sounds like you guys need some help at striker like NOW.

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  9. Dude, Sounders fans are the loudest and most represented in the league, and they will be there for YEARS to come.

    I’m a die hard FCD fan and I went to the home opener this year. Only 8k fans (1k+ from Houston) … I would kill to have that kind of support at my stadium.

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  10. Try to comprehend what I wrote instead of twisting my words.
    you aren’t stuck up glory hunters for wanting your team to win.
    and you should know better, that I’m not talking about every Sounders fan.

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  11. Unless Kandji and Richards are Gen Ad players that trade is probably impossible. I would guess that puts Seattle over cap.

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  12. Why did they wait so long for Nate to get help? This injury has been plaguing him since the end of last season. We need Nate back and I wish him a speedy recovery! Thanks for another great article, Jose!!

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  13. I appreciate your comments. Your comment was sort of directed at me because I think the reason for the hate is jealousy. Period.

    You still have not really given me another reason as I haven’t seen an example of someone “needing to be recognized”.

    Maybe the Rave Green screams I need to be recognized, but I preferred the old muted green and light blue of the Sounders anyway.

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  14. Don’t hate you at all. Just find you & exhausting. You’ve been a round for a year. Get some history & then we’ll talk. As for your team, looks like we got the better of you last weak & if we’re as bad as all of you thought we were in the run up to the match, you must be pretty bad.

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  15. The truly amusing thing there, genius, is Alonso was yours for the taking. DC (and the rest of the league) blew it.

    As to Hurtado, believe it or not, the Sounders weren’t scouting him until Montero suggested him.

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  16. Stop worrying about what other people think of you. THAT is the annoying part. No one likes show offs. The perception continues that to the contrary, many think you all are, “Wee how great are we!?!?”.

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  17. Did you read my post? “the club is fine”, it’s the dorks who are constantly DEMANDING that everyone “recognize” and pat them on the back that we hate. That was irritating in high school, and that is even more irritating coming from grown men. In other words, my comment wasn’t directed at you.

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  18. “stuck up glory hunters”?

    are we stuck up glory hunters because we want our team to do well? I would think every fan wants their team to do well.

    are we stuck up glory hunters because we beat you on your own turf for the open cup last year or because we made it to the play offs in our first year? glory comes with wins and every team should be hunting for wins, there is nothing stuck up about it.

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  19. I love these responses to Sounders’ fans. “You’ve only been around a year” etc. Name me one other team that has sold 30,000 season tickets. Ever. In the history of the league.

    Just tell the truth. Sounder fans are so annoying because there are so many of us. Other fans want to be in this kind of atmosphere. Everyone stands – every game. Sounders gear is all over town. We’re soccer mad. But the attitude is not “Wee how great we are” – it’s “Why don’ other town love it this much too?”

    But don’t hate on it. Just know that its great for the league. We all want the league to do well.

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  20. Ditto.

    Smart move too. The excitement over MLS in Seattle is unmatched. People can NOT get enough.

    34 hours to kickoff…..

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  21. DadRyan,

    Did you read the posts ? At the drop of a hat ?

    –haughty, pretenious & think you invented the game

    –You guys are so full of yourselves

    Those comments get thrown out there all the time. What is your thoughts on why ? I am just sitting here counting the hours to kickoff in my team jersey like any other fan.

    Seriously, what is your thoughts on why all the hate ?

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  22. Why are so many of you Sounders fans like this? We’re all “rave green with envy”, right? The club is fine, but some of you shamelessly stuck up glory hunters are pathetic. At the drop of a hat you guys come out of the woodwork claiming everyone is jealous. I know it’s going to be hard to overcome decades of being overlooked by the pro sports world with our “east coast” bias and all, but you really would be much more likable if it wasn’t for this prima dona “you’re jealous of us” baloney.

    Maybe the Sounders can make a deal for Emilio! We’ll take Alonso or Hurtado, thanks! 😉

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  23. Seriously. I am not from the Pac NW nor am I a Seattle fan, but give it up! They do have great fans and last time I checked that is GOOD for the league. If it wasn’t in part for their successes, we wouldn’t be drawing a lot of the attentinon in MLS that we are today. Their front office actually has a clue and their fans love the team and show up. Nothing wrong with that.

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  24. the lack of a big forward has already cost them some pts, with all the corners in the NY game a useful big forward surley would have hit at least one of those into the net.

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  25. you sound angry and jealous of the seattle success, sorry if your team can’t draw fans but hating others because they can and making such outlandish claims is just childish. you sound like the little kid who lost his candy, “just wait, you just wait”

    blah, blah, blah…

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  26. That’s huge the Ives got Jose Romero to write for this site. Romero was one of the best in the business with the Seattle Times last year; a true professional covering the sport in perhaps one of only two markets that truly considers MLS a major league. All the best to Romero, and glad to see he’s still able to write about soccer.

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  27. No, because you are haughty, pretenious & think you invented the game in the US & that that league was nothing without you. It’s easy to claim you are the best fans in the league when you have been around 1 year & there’s still that newness to it all. 15 years from now, when you haven’t one anything, Montero is a fat old man and you are drawing 6,000 fans in the rain in a football stadium, if you are still the “best” in the league. You guys are so full of yourselves,it’s ridiculous. Let’s see where you are in a few years.

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  28. You’ve been around for one year. If your attendances are still this good twelve years on with only a USOC to your credit in the trophy case, then we can start talking about you being the best fans in the league.

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  29. if im seattle i’d make a move to get another forward in ASAP. I know Nkufo is comming in July but by then the lack of another useful forward will cost them some pts.

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  30. Great to have you writing SSFC again, Jose!

    I like Nate, he’s actually pretty quick, but doesn’t look it because he runs a bit like a wounded giraffe. His link-up play is pretty good for a big man, too.

    We definitely miss him.

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  31. This is very bad news for us. We have absolutely no height up front, and a significant portion of our attack fails because Montero is too short. Jaqua was going to be a key guy until Kufo got here, and we don’t really have any back up target man.

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  32. Get well, Nate!

    It was an erratic but ultimately successful campaign last year. I prefer he doesn’t start, but that big body is a great target on late set pieces. He’d also be a good starter for the USOC and CCL.

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  33. Nobody cried because he only rejoined the Dynamo because they agreed to expose him to Seattle in the expansion draft.

    We liked him.

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  34. Nate,get well soon. The sounder will miss or are missing his absent on the pitch. Whatever people might say about his play, he was a big target in 18 yard box.

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  35. Junk goals or not, putting 9 in the back of the net and having 7 assists is nothing to sneeze at. I really wish he was healthy.

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  36. He is 6’4 but plays like hes 5’1. He has scored alot of junk goals. He sucked when he was with Chicago and Houston no one cried when he left.

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  37. Too bad for Sounders. Personally, I don’t like watching this guy play soccer, but he has scores some goals over the years. The only reason I think he gets on the field is because of his size. Sometimes I have to wonder what his 40 time is? Having said that, I don’t wish injuries on anyone. Prove me wrong Jaq – speedy recovery

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