If there’s one team in Major League Soccer with no sympathy for the injuries that have plagued D.C. United, it’s Chivas USA.
Only six members of Chivas (10-10-6) have made 20 or more league appearances this season — even United (10-13-3) has nine players who’ve reached that threshold. On both teams, lengthy casualty lists have led to at least some misguided speculation that players themselves aren’t trying hard enough to get themselves back and healthy.
“It would be foolish to assume that somebody doesn’t want to be on the field,” said United goalkeeper Zach Wells. “We’ve all been injured, and we’ve all been [angry] that we’re not on the field.”
Chivas forward Alecko Eskandarian, who began his career with United, spent the first two-thirds of the season trying to play through a mystery adductor problem that was finally revealed and fixed thanks to exploratory surgery and a heavy dose of luck.
“With me, it was especially tough because nothing showed up on the MRIs,” said Eskandarian, who has three goals in his last four games. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hear whispers and things like that, people doubting the seriousness of your injury — why can’t you play through it — this and that. It’s very insulting, to be honest.”
