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Rosales out 2-4 weeks with MCL tear

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Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

Seattle Sounders playmaker Mauro Rosales will miss the next 2-to-4 weeks with a slight tear in his right MCL, the club announced late Monday night.

Rosales was injured at the end of Seattle's 3-0 win over D.C. United on Saturday, a game in which he assisted on two goals and helped create the third. An MRI revealed no damage beyond the slight tear, and it's possible that he could return for the U.S. Open Cup final against the Chicago Fire on Oct. 4, when the Sounders go for their third consecutive title.

Should the timetable hold and Rosales misses four weeks, he would still be ready for the start of the playoffs. Seattle can clinch a place in the postseason with a result against Vancouver this weekend. 

What do you think of this development? Where do you see the Sounders finishing in the Western Conference with Rosales out of action? Relieved it's not more serious?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. 2-4 weeks seems like an awfully short recovery time for a ligament tear.

    Also, is this the second week in a row that the player of the week has been seriously injured? First Pontius and now Rosales….

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  2. narnar: Since judging intent requires the ability to read anothers mind, I can’t say if Woolard intended to injure anyone. That said, it was a completely unnecessary rash challenge in the middle of the pitch in the 90th minute of a match in which the result was no longer in doubt. Whether he had a chance at the ball was no longer relevant.

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  3. is there a video of this somewhere? I can’t find it on the highlights. I would like to see whether Woolard had any chance at the ball or if it really was an intent to injure.

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  4. They might not be acceptable anywhere, but they happen everywhere, so the argument that they are keeping this cache of talent from joining the league simply does not ring true.

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  5. “If there are playmakers out there who are turning down MLS because it is too physical for them I say f*&k ’em.”

    I think the point here is that it doesn’t have to be a league of hacks. Professional fouls happen.. Stupid -possibly- season ending hatchet jobs are not acceptable ANYWHERE.

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  6. I was at the game. Woolard is a punk and had already kicked Mauro on a couple of occasions. Most notably in the first half as Mauro guarded the ball out for a goal kick. It’s unfortunate that mls ref don’t know how to protect play makers because this happens regularly to Mauro and the rest.

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  7. The notion that 2011 MLS is somehow way too physical is a mystery to me. Compared to what? Mauro is Argentinian. Most Boca/River matches that I have watched have looked, at least at times, like MMA bouts. The notion that that South American leagues are not physical is a myth, save perhaps the Brazilian League. (And Brazilians don’t even like watching the Brazilian League)

    Again, the MLS is too physical compared to what? Certainly not the EPL. Ask Stuart Holden. The Bundesliga? You know the Germans and their gentle ways. Ligue 1? Nope. As a Hellas Verona fan I can assure you that Serie A and B are full of mid/bottom table teams that have their fair share of thugs.

    I feel like those who complain about the physical nature of the league are simply frustrated that every MLS team doesn’t look like Barcelona. News flash. NOBODY LOOKS LIKE BARCELONA. Do MLS players need better skill on the ball? Absolutely. Has the technical and tactical skill of the average 18 man roster in the MLS improved dramatically over the past 5 years. The consensus of any pro writer on the subject has been yes, in large part because teams are doing a better job attracting young, skilled, foreign nationals.

    If there are playmakers out there who are turning down MLS because it is too physical for them I say f*&k ’em. If they are turning us down they are also turning down work in England and Germany and France and Argentina and Italy and frankly if they can get a gig playing in La Liga they aren’t signing with us anyway.

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  8. so one of DC’s fringe players makes a late tackle…….and then all of a sudden DC united is known as DC “thugs”???? Who would have thought that DeRo, Najar, Simms and Pontius cant win with skill so they resort to hacking down players. Who would have thought……………..especially Najar cuz he ill eat your ankle if the ref isnt looking!

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  9. It’s not like seattle doesn’t have thugs of their own, I’ve seen them throw out their fair share of cheap shots to the opposition’s most creative players. They’re not immune to it and why should they, when refs in MLS are just not ready.

    What do you expect from refs who have cut their teeth in the NCAA college soccer scene. Where, because they ignore basic FIFA rules (unlimited subs), the game resembles English football from the dark ages than say, a modern form of it.

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  10. I wish the MLS would protect its playmakers. Good international players will be turned away by a thug league. MLS is way too physical. More artists, less thugs.

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  11. Wow! This SUCKS for Seattle!

    That said, I’m hoping he takes his time recovering – no need to rush back by, say, October 4th. Sigi’s going to need him fit and healthy for the playoffs.

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  12. another example of what is wrong with MLS, if a team can’t win with skill they injure the other teams best players. first the colorado hacks take out zack and then the dc thugs take out rosales. they can’t beat seattle so they’ll just keep injuring players until there aren’t enough players to field a team. now with the best players injured we have nothing but a pathetic league with pathetic unskilled players.

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  13. You’re totally right. Grass would have prevented Woolard’s late, dangerous challenge. Grass will also cure cancer, heal the blind, balance the budget and turn water into wine.

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  14. Wait. Other teams mugging our best players has NOTHING to do with the surface they play on. And furthermore, Zakuani got hurt on the road. And O’Brian White’s blood clot wasn’t even from a game.

    Or what DID you mean by “injury parade”?

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  15. shame on sounders owners for not finding a solution that will allow them to have grass up there yet. Until they do they will have to endure their injury parade.

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  16. It’s a shame that MLS unnecessarily loses yet another exciting player in Mauro Rosales for a period of time.
    Should Sigi have subbed him out earlier? Maybe.
    The more important question, for me, is what was Woolard thinking going into a tackle in such a clumsy and irresponsible manner in the 90th minute of a match that had long since been decided?
    Get well soon Mauro!!

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