COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The LA Galaxy may have picked up a valuable point on the road against the Colorado Rapids on Sunday, but may have lost the services of defender A.J. DeLaGarza in the process.
In the 30th minute of play, DeLaGarza suffered an apparent knee injury during a crushing collision with Colorado’s Omar Cummings that has been preliminarily diagnosed as a left knee sprain. The injury prevented DeLaGarza from placing any weight on his knee as he was helped into the locker room by the Galaxy training staff. With DeLaGarza sidelined, LA head coach Bruce Arena called upon rookie centerback Tommy Meyer who shined in 56 minutes of action.
DeLaGarza is expected to undergo a series of tests this week to determine the severity of the injury. Losing DeLaGarza could be a blow to LA’s postseason hopes as he has played a key role—starting 30 of 31 MLS games this season—in LA’s recent steady defensive play that has been the backbone to the club’s turnaround during the summer months.
Following the match, I caught up with DeLaGarza to discuss his condition...
(On the play leading to the injury…)
DELAGARZA: “I don’t even remember. I just tried to clear a ball and Cummings and I both challenged for it.”
(On what he felt after the collision…)
DELAGARZA: “Just Pain. That’s all I can say, I don’t know what’s wrong. They don’t me what they think is wrong, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
(On the preliminary diagnosis of the injury being a left knee sprain…)
DELAGARZA: “We’ll go with that for now, until we find out otherwise.”
(On making a late season return to action…)
DELAGARZA: “It’s late in the season. Hopefully, I’ll be back for the playoffs or a couple games before that hopefully to get my rhythm back, depending on how bad it is.”
(On the play of Tommy Meyer…)
DELAGARZA: “I have faith in him, David [Junior Lopes]. [Andrew] Boyens, [Bryan] Gaul. We have a deep squad. We’ll see who is going to be in there and how long we’re going to need them for.”
