WASHINGTON— A pair of injuries to A.J. DeLaGarza and Landon Donovan marred the LA Galaxy’s 2-2 draw with D.C. United, but while head coach Bruce Arena stated that the knocks are “not serious” during the Time Warner Sports Net telecast, the injuries could be a major talking point heading into the stretch run.
DeLaGarza’s elbow injury appears to be the most severe, but both Arena and Donovan were optimistic about the forward’s status heading into a week that will see LA take Isidro Metapán in the CONCACAF Champions League and league leading Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday at StubHub Center. Donovan’s ankle issue arose toward the end of the first half after getting tangled with D.C.’s Luis Silva, which forced him to come off at the start of the second half.
Following the match, Arena asserted that Donovan “should be okay” after suffering, what he described as a “light sprain” and the 31-year-old was just as optimistic that he can make a quick recovery.
“It got rolled on,” said Donovan, who tallied his eighth assist on Robbie Keane’s goal in the first half. “We got tangled up and [Silva] ended up landing on it. Hopefully it’s not too bad. …I’ll get it looked at [on Sunday] and we’ll see how it goes.”
And the Galaxy will certainly need Donovan healthy as they must defeat the Salvadorians to take charge of Group 8 in CCL play and then knock off high-flying Seattle, if they are to remain in the hunt for the Supporters’ Shield and the Western Conference’s number one record.
Regardless of if he plays or not in any of LA’s two matches, Donovan believes that the Galaxy will have their depth tested.
“It’s a big week for us, a really big week, and a lot of guys are going to have their number called,” said Donovan. “Fortunately, we’ve had a lot of reserve games in the last few weeks. We’ve had a Champions League game so multiple games to stay pretty fit and it’s going to be a week where we have to use quite a bit of players. The Metapán game we have to win—we win that game and we’re in good shape in the group. And if we want to have a chance of catching Seattle we’ll have to win on Saturday.”
