MLS fans everywhere feared the worst for Darlington Nagbe on Sunday night, but it appears the severity of his injury is nowhere near as bad as it could have been.
X-rays on Nagbe’s left ankle have come back negative and the Portland Timbers are ‘cautiously optimistic’ that the 25-year-old winger will not be sidelined for too long, according to several reports. Nagbe was forced out of the Timbers’ 1-1 draw with the LA Galaxy on Sunday after being on the receiving end of a studs-up tackle from Nigel de Jong in the second half, and had to be rolled to the locker room in a wheelchair.
While Nagbe does not have a broken ankle, the Timbers are still awaiting the results of an MRI to determine if there is any other type of damage that could put him on the shelf for a prolonged period.
Nagbe has yet to publicly comment on the incident, but de Jong said in the aftermath of Sunday’s game that he was going for the ball and did not intend to injure the U.S. Men’s National Team player. The 31-year-old de Jong received a yellow card on the play.
It is widely expected that de Jong receives a retroactive suspension, and Sports Illustrated reported on Monday that that would be the case. It is currently unclear how many games de Jong could miss, however.
What do you think of this development? Relieved to hear Nagbe’s injury doesn’t sound serious? Think MLS will come down hard on de Jong?
Share your thoughts below.
This one’s not even close. It’s a straight red. It unquestionably endangers Nagbe’s safety. Intent here is irrelevant. For players like De Jong, it’s a matter of recklessness: it’s not that he means to injure somebody, it’s just that he doesn’t care if the opponent gets injured, and ignores obvious risks.
Intent aside it should be a straight red. However,…intent is an issue with de Jong. He is an animal and he intends on hurting players. I can’t believe MLS/ LA signed this guy.
I don’t necessarily disagree. I’m just saying that in some instances, like this one, defenses along the lines of “I wasn’t trying to hurt him” or “I thought I could get the ball” don’t hold any water. Lunging in with studs up and pounding down in the neighborhood of your opponent’s ankles is reckless and dangerous.
Wow,….I can’t believe there is even a debate about this. It was a vicious tackle with the intent to injure. Instead of trying to sweep the ball away,…de Jong clearly stamps down on Nagbe looking to bring his weight on him. He is very fortunate Nagbe’s leg didn’t break. De Jong is a disgrace.
If de Kong injures anyone,…it will be on BA’s head.
… in the judgement of the official “on the field”, the play warranted a yellow card, and I would stick with that judgement, though, I think in retrospect the official was dead wrong. I think it is setting bad president if the official’s judgement can, and will, be brought in to post game scrutiny via the “replay loop”. The tackle was, to say the lease, poor, but I would not entertain any retroactive punishment for Nigel
One of the first things that struck me was/is: With an injury proportedly suspected to be serious, the player, Nagbe, who I respect on/off the pitch- his health/well-being needs to be priority one so… what the capitol F was he doing sitting on the sidelines with a bag of ice on his leg propped up on a chair for the remainder of the game ??? How about getting him to a proper medical facility so proper diagnosis/treatment/immobilization/pain relief can get under way? Was a bad tackle, I’m sure it will be punished. But the way over the top hysteria in response to it, Nagbe’s treatment, the twitter exchange…. it all rings hyper bush league. IMHO- response to these things in respect to the perpetrator and the injured is best rapid, stoic, clinical and by the book. De Jong: Red card. Sit him. Evaluate additional games. Nagbe: Stretcher, splint, ice- to the hospital- rapid top of the line treatment. Nuff this drama- deal and get on with it.
It’s “over the top hysteria” because everyone saw something like this happening when he was signed to the league. And now it has.
As to sitting on the sideline. There aren’t medical facilities available at Stubhub (that I’m aware of) to get an X-ray right away. Most teams like to get that kind of stuff done by their own doctors at their own specific facilities.
All this talk about “well he didn’t injure him that badly”, and folks are saying he’s out a minimum of 4 weeks (which is huge), is really missing the point. It was a completely dangerous, reckless challenge. The fact that he didn’t break anything is inconsequential, as he easily could have.
This is a player with a long history of these kinds of dangerous challenges.
Sorry, I think De Jong is full of it. If you look at the replay in slow mo, (and there are several photos that also show this) the ball is already well behind De Jong and he is looking right at Nagbe’s leg at he’s bringing his foot down, he then followed through by shoving his leg into Nagbe before he released his foot. End of the day De Jong is dirty as hell, and IF Nagbe comes out of this relatively unharmed, it should be seen for the miracle it is. I’m not always a fan of the D.C. coming in and handing out punishment after the fact, but De Jong should be staring down the barrel of a 3-4 game suspension.
I watched the game, as ive watched every game this year, and I gotta say, it was tough tackle but in no way was it “Murderous”. I understand that there is more than just hard feelings that people have for nigel but you really need to take a look at the whole game to get a context of what was happening. The ref was letting A LOT of hard tackles on both sides go. On this particular play it looks like nagbe was just too fast for de jong and he got caught wrong footed. if you look at the replay you can see he gets caught wrong footed. Was it a bad tackle? absolutely. Was it malicious with an intent to hurt the player? nah i dont think so.
Having not seen the match, I can’t add much to this particular incident. But I can’t help but chime in in two ways. First, I’d like to see more consistent calls on fouls, cards, and suspensions by the refs in MLS. The league can’t afford to keep having its most skilled and entertaining players injured by defenders who know they can get away with hard tackles. Second, those skilled players need to learn a little caution at times. You can play with 100% effort without going all-in on every single 50-50 challenge. Donovan was a master at this. There were times when it may have appeared he gave up on a play, when actually he knew he was going to arrive too late and pulled up to save himself for the next play. I know some may find this unappealing, but observe how long and successful a career LD had as a very undersized player who competed at the highest levels, and also how long he was able to carry the USMNT.
Furthermore – to all who say that Nagbe was still “selling it” by leaving in a wheelchair, and say “Look!, the X-rays are negative.” etc. – negative x-rays don’t mean jack, and with the risk of a non-displaced fracture, or avulsion fracture (tendon ripping away from inserrtion, with a chunk of bone), it is a standard precaution to keep the player of their feet until you know more from imaging. Soft tissue damage, and non-displaced fractures won’t show on x-ray the day of the injury. The “hairline,” or non-displaced fractures don’t show up until 7-10 days after the injury, as the body’s repair mechanisms begins to calcify the break(s). We really have no idea how bad his injury is at this point – he could be out for the season, out for a couple of games – or just sit out a week.
Ok. Doc.
Merritt? Is that you?
A clear message must be sent to hacks like De Jong that this will not be tolerated. 5 or 6 games now,,, the rest of the season if it happens again, life if a third time. There is no place in soccer for this kind of hit and the league has to stand up ….. this time.
I’d like to see a series of clips of all of the lawnmower’s “best” work. I wonder if he winds up in a similar way when he hacks as opposed to when he’s actually playing soccer.
Also, it’s nice to see all the LA fans posting again. Didn’t see much from them last season.
I wonder if this gives pause to other coaches in mls who have crucial playmakers such as Mauro Diaz, Javi Morales and others who have ball control, injury prone and would come against Nigel de Jong repeatedly in a match.
It would be interesting to hear a coach say they’re sitting such a playmaker against LA because of Nigel de Jong and this latest uncontrolled play. Arena wouldn’t care but MLS needs to think twice before bringing a player like de Jong. He’s not a draw while players like Nagbe are. If a stars are being injured by a pariah than it becomes bad for business.
de Jong has a long history of ferocious, cynical, criminally offensive, murderous, ill intended, and grievously injurious tackles. He is a shameless hit-man with the heart of a cold blooded killer.
I despise the man – he is all about what is the worst that can happen on a soccer pitch. I believe that should have been a straight red. I hope he gets a hefty fine and several games suspension, at the very least.
Pray Nagbe is OK, and gets to play some more this season.
Murderous? Um, ok.
De Jong will probably get a justified suspension and we can all move on, including Nagbe, who is apparently ok. Character assassination is unnecessary, unless you enjoy torches and pitchforks. This incident should, and most likely will, be judged separately from any of De Jong’s past incidents, so to harp on them doesn’t make sense.
You must be joking!?
Whew.
Well if all Nagbe had was a bruised foot, then the wheelchair act was a bit too much and he should get a yellow for embellishment /jk
Seriously though, The foul was not a horror tackle. But is was awkward and if they feel the need to punish De Jong for his past deeds then just suspend him for a fortnight. If they want to punish him for a tackle that got someone a bruised foot, a yellow card would suffice. But This is the MLS and of course, punishment is the order of the day, so suspend De Jong for a game because the media has made a meal of it and the MLS need to capitalize off it.
Freudian slip, Franco?
I recognize your username, but I’m not familiar with your affiliation. Are you an LA Galaxy supporter?
Watched the replay quite a few times and also at slow motion. It was a horror tackle. Studs up. If he was trying to get the ball than what was he going for – flattening it? The ball was not bouncing around – it was cleanly on the ground. He took the opportunity to do what he does.
The worst of it is that he is an actor on top of it. Complaining like he got all ball. And then he goes over to apologize to Nagbe on the bench like a good guy.
He takes guys out and then acts innocent with refs and the player. Even tries to pick many up after they are cut down as if they are faking injury. Watch the replay on Holden. Tries to pick him up by the arm after and then goes to hug the ref.
I actually would say that the tackle vs. Holden could be argued as less horrid than Nagbe’s.
Holden’s was a 50/50 ball that Stu lost control of. Both stuck their leg in…..
De Jong is an old school destroyer. I am not going to say that he should be banned for half the season or forever, etc. But he is what he is and refs need to be on high alert.
Kind of like when Rodman was around in basketball.
Wrong on pretty much every point. It was a horror tackle – studs up and out, late, reckless. It was not a 50/50 ball, clearly DN had possession. You can be an enforcer without being a butcher. This guy has zero regards for the legs of his opponents.
Hugs and Kisses,
ben arfa
If all you watch is the replay of the injury, you are missing a lot. You need to see the whole play in real time. Nagbe cut left and ran right into de Jong who was standing there and as de Jong went for the ball Nagbe tried to go around him so that de Jong ;missed the ball and got Nagbe’s ankle.
Why do you keep posting this shit as if you and bottlcaps are the only ones who watched this in real time or have seen the replay since it took place?
There was absolutely no reason for de Jong to come in with this cleats so high in the air at an angle the way he did and isn’t exempt from utter negligence for role. I sincerely question the judgement of anyone that sees the footage and witnesses de Jong raise his studs, at least, a foot in the air striking down towards the area of ball and denies the absurdity of the action. There’s zero justification for someone as skillful, experienced and well traveled as de Jong.
Intent to injure is hard to prove but the play was absolutely reckless and deserving of the Brian Mullan 10-game suspension precedent. This type of player doesn’t belong in soccer, much less MLS.
I agree with Gary Page.
Not to be a cynic, but… Is it possible that Nagbe’s ok? That he’s walking about, pain free, breathing an enormous sigh of relief, along with the entire city of Portland? And is it possible that the reason the Timbers are being so slow to release this news is that they want to delay any good news long enough for the MLS DisCo to send down as severe a ruling as possible on De Jong? That regardless of the extent (or lack thereof) of Nagbe’s injury, the Timbers would love to see the Galaxy lose one of their chess pieces for a healthy chunk of time? Or worse, just out of spite? Nah… No one in soccer thinks like that.
+ 1
If your narrative is true, i’m fine with that. NDJ is a butcher, plain and simple.
Are you delusional or just a WWE supporter? Why would Nagbe and the Timbers organization embellish an injury with the hope of dramatics leads to a longer suspension?
Nagbe has lead the league for years for most fouled player with the exception of last year when he was second. Plus, Nagbe is not a diver and should go down more with the amount persistent infringement.
Was their intent, yes. Was the intent to injure, questionable. Is there a history of DeJong injuring players, yes.
The fact that Nagbe is the most fouled player should tell you something. He is very shifty and fakes out defenders a lot or he wouldn’t be fouled so much. This is what happened in this case–he faked out de Jong who missed while going for the ball. Before the MLS season began, on this site I pretty much ripped Bruce Arena for his signings, especially Nigel de Jong. I have never liked him and considered him to be a dirty player. However, I have seen most all of every Galaxy game and I haven’t yet see him make a dirty play. I remember I think it was two games ago, when a player was making a break away into the box and I thought, oh, here we go with a de Jong tackle and penalty. And he made the cleanest, nicest tackle, stopped the player cleanly and took away the ball. How many of the people dumping on him have actually seen him play for the Galaxy this year? He has greatly exceeded my expectations and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
You are being much too cynical. However, I still feel that the outrage is over blown. De Jong came down on Nagbe, but he didn’t dive or slide into him, he just missed the ball and put his weight on Nagbe’s ankle area. Watching the game, I was surprised to see Nagbe go down like he did until I saw the replay. It was about the same as if he had stepped on his foot. Being stepped on with cleats is very painful, but it’s not as dangerous as a studs up tackle or a slide that takes out a knee. I’m not surprised that the injury doesn’t appear serious.
I think it’s more than just stepping on his foot, if you look at it in a still shot it inverts his ankle which could and likely did, cause ligament damage. I usually give the player the benefit of the doubt here, but not with de jongs history of dirty play, he knew what he was doing, maybe not intending to hurt him, but he wanted to stop nagbe going forward by any means necessary.
Dejong lost my benefit of the doubt March 2010