Gyasi Zardes has broken bone in foot, dealing big blow to Galaxy and USMNT
Gyasi Zardes has a broken fifth metatarsal in his foot and will not play for the LA Galaxy again this regular season. The forward was injured in the Galaxy's 0-0 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday and the club released the details on Tuesday.
With Zardes out, Bruce Arena will have to do some re-jiggering of his team. Zardes has been a constant, either up top alongside Robbie Keane or on the wing. The Galaxy lean heavily on his defensive work, something especially important to a team that has several players who don't contribute a lot without the ball. With Keane, Giovani dos Santos and Steven Gerrard on the team, the priority for his replacement isn't so much on providing help in the attack as it is fitting in and making sure they are solid defensively. That's especially true with Nigel de Jong near a transfer to Galatasaray, further weakening the Galaxy's defense.
Sebastian Lletget could become a regular starter in Zardes' absence, as could Emmanuel Boateng. Both are dangerous on the ball — Lletget for his creativity and Boateng as the team's fastest player — but neither brings as much to the attack as Zardes, to go along with the defensive downgrade.
Zardes was not called up to the United States national team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago because of this injury. He will be out at least through October, which means he will miss the team's friendlies next month as well. It also puts his availability for the early November World Cup qualifiers — the first two matches of the final round of qualifying that could be against Mexico and Costa Rica — in doubt. Not only will Arena have to figure out how to work without Zardes, but Jurgen Klinsmann will also have to sort out a way forward without one of his most trusted players as they kick World Cup qualifying into high gear.
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