EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The news wasn't the best, but it was good enough for injured LA Galaxy center back A.J. DeLaGarza.
DeLaGarza underwent a scan on Monday before the club's appearance at the Time Warner Cable Sports Net launch (more on this later this afternoon) and while DeLaGarza was reluctant to provide any specifics on the injury-- the team should issue a formal announcement sometime on Tuesday--, he stated that he is targeting a playoff return.
The 24-year-old picked up the injury, which was preliminarily diagnosed as a knee sprain--television analyst Marcelo Balboa described an medial collateral ligament issue during the match telecast -- in the 30th minute of LA's 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids when he suffered a hard collision with Jamaican forward Omar Cummings.
DeLaGarza caught up with reporters on the red carpet of the Time Warner event and offered his thoughts on the injury...
DELAGARZA: "I'll be out a little bit. [A playoff return] is my goal right now."
(On what he felt during the injury...)
DELAGARZA: "I never felt anything like that, I'm used to having bone bruises so I could tell that it wasn't a bone bruise. But we have the best medical staff so I think that I'll be fine."
(On whether he'll require surgery...)
DELAGARZA: "No, no surgery, but I'll miss a few games."
(On how he braced himself for learning the diagnosis...)
DELAGARZA: "I expected the worst, but hoped for the best. I'm glad that I'm not missing a couple months or I have to have surgery so it's positive, but at the same time, it's the end of the season and you want to be in there with the guys and especially in these last three games which are crucial."
(On whether the diagnosis was what he wanted to hear...)
DELAGARZA: “I knew I was hurt. I didn't know how bad. I didn't think it was something little, but I didn't think it was something major. I prayed that it wasn't something major. To miss a month or so, I'll take it. I think the playoffs start in early November. That's my goal for right now.”
(On what was running through DeLaGarza's head on Sunday evening...)
DELAGARZA: "Just the pain...I was just thinking about it the what if's...I was up at 4:30am tweeting and playing Words with Friends and Scrabble with Friends. Just waiting to go to the doctors."
(On his teammates reaction to the scan...)
DELAGARZA: "It was all positive. It could have been a lot worse, but it wasn't."
(On whether his absence will alter LA's defensive chemistry...)
DELAGARZA: "We have a lot of depth, we've got David [Junior Lopes], [Bryan] Gaul, Tommy [Meyer] and [Andrew] Boyens who are all experienced and have all played this year. And Boyens, he's a veteran in this league, David's a veteran, Gaul has got some minutes at centerback this year so I don't think we're going to have any letdowns. Especially the way that everyone is playing in front of us."
