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U.S. youth international Stanko tears ACL with SC Freiburg

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Soccer - International Soccer - FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 - Group stage - Group A - Ghana v USA

By CARL SETTERLUND

One of the rising U.S. Men’s National Team prospects has been dealt a setback.

Former Under-20 U.S. star Caleb Stanko signed his first professional deal back in May with German club SC Freiberg, but will need to wait a while longer to make his Bundesliga debut after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in training.

Stanko, a 21-year-old Michigan native, can play in midfield or at centerback. He had been a regular for Freiburg II in the Regionalliga, making 56 appearances for the reserve team dating back to August 2011. He had dressed for games with the first team before, but had not yet made an appearance.

After featuring for the U.S. at the 2013 U-20 World Cup in Turkey, Stanko had seen his profile rise as a potential future senior level national team player. It’s looking, however, like a lost season for him as recovering from ACL injuries often takes between six to nine months.

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What’s your reaction to the Stanko news? How do you see him factoring in with Freiburg in the future? How will this affect the youth international pool?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  3. Caleb should take his time and not rush back. 6 to 9 months then another 6 back full match/mental fitness. Write off the season and push for next August.

    Reply

    • I’d like to see a study done on cleats and ACL tears. 10 years ago you didn’t have a quarter of these injuries. It has to be something to do with the studs.

      Gutted for him.

      Reply

      • You’re not far off on concerns or reasoning for a spike in injuries but I’m more inclined to believe it’s from over-training that athletes are now faced with 12 month regiments.

        No matter how athletic our players become, physiologically some bodies can only take so much. That’s my none professional take on it.

      • Bone density, ligament and tendon elasticity have not changed. Increased mass pushes all three to the limit as seen with extremely large athletes in American football and basketball players. Better athletes and more quantitative training in futbol brings a higher rate of speed in greater repetitions. Some people just don’t have good genetics in their joints or suspect gates creating risk with kinetic activity.

      • Could be a variety of the things mentioned but if you ask a physical therapist who works with and evaluates soccer athletes they will tell you it is weak hip muscles. Soccer players rely too much on their leg muscles and as a result of that, and over training, you get ACL injuries due to muscle imbalance. However, any pro club should have their players doing the right exercises to prevent this imbalance so who knows.

      • HI! See? This is where comments about what you learned from your PT that makes them more qualified than orthopedists will go! Right here! OK?

      • Where are you getting that from? That is a complete fabrication, I’m in the medical field and there are no studies that show that.

      • From physical therapists who know this stuff better than anyone else in my experience with them and orthopedists.

      • That wasn’t to you. There is no increase in ACL tears over the past ten years reported in any journal I can find.

      • Oh and thanks for your complete fabrication that this was something I just completely fabricated rather than basing it on something professionals have said to me.

      • i have no idea either way, but is that actually true? or was information access in 2004 just not as readily available like it is today.

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