U.S. Men’s National Team star Weston McKennie was forced out of Schalke’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday with a shoulder injury that required him to be stretchered off.
McKennie suffered what is being initially reported as a dislocated shoulder after landing hard following an aerial challenge with Eintracht Frankfurt striker Bas Dost.
Here’s the play Weston McKennie was injured on, looks to be a shoulder injury.
— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) December 15, 2019
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There is no official word at the moment on the severity of the injury, but early indications are the injury could be serious.
Update on the McKennie situation. It sounds like he has dislocated his shoulder. #USMNT #S04
— Manuel Veth (@ManuelVeth) December 15, 2019
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The injury came in McKennie’s latest runout as a central defender for Schalke. The USMNT midfielder has settled into a centerback role under Schalke manager and former USMNT midfielder David Wagner, a positional shift that has yielded solid results for a Schalke side that went into Sunday’s match in fifth place in the Bundesliga.
If the injury is as serious as it is being initially reported, McKennie would miss Schalke’s final two matches of 2019, against Wolfsburg and Freiburg, and could wind up missing 3-4 months, depending on the severity of the shoulder dislocation.
That worst-case-scenario timetable would sideline McKennie from the USMNT’s friendlies in March in Europe, against the Netherlands and a second opponent which has yet to be finalized.
McKennie recently finished in third place in the voting for U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year, finishing behind winner Christian Pulisic and second-place finisher Jordan Morris.
McKennie’s injury came in a match that also featured the return of American wingback Timmy Chandler to the Eintracht Frankfurt starting lineup. Chandler made his first Bundesliga start since October.
+1… Sad that he’s injured, but at least it wasn’t his legs…
Maybe, this will end this stupid experiment. McKennie @ CB is not helping his development. He didn’t play in the MLS, so the need to put him in front of goal, when your CBs are healthy is needless. Fernandinho is playing CB for Man City, but he is in his 30s, and not drinking age. Man City has 1 healthy CB. For anyone, who wants to make that comparison.
Sorry to hear the bad news. Speedy recovery, McKennie! Come back even stronger.
And the injury good fortune continues
While it’s never good to see our players get injured….injuries are part of the game.
Best that can be said about it is that it’s NOT an injury to his legs…so shouldn’t have any long term effect to his game.
Exactly. Most dislocated shoulders, based on my decades of following various sports, are taken care of in weeks. If it is bad enough to require surgery, then it can be several months. Still, much better than an ACL or other leg or joint injury. It could have been much worse because he practically flipped over and could have landed on his head or neck.