The bone spurs in Ben Olsen’s left ankle have been giving him enough trouble that he needed to sit out D.C. United’s victory at Columbus last weekend.
It’s a problem Olsen has dealt with throughout the season — one that will require offseason surgery, he said — but it pales compared to teammate Josh Gros’ current status.
“Extremely worried,” said Olsen when asked about concerns over the concussion Gros suffered against the Crew. “It’s so scary. It seems in the last couple years there’s been so many more I don’t what the cause of that is. Maybe we’re just more aware of the injury now, and the science is better. It’s a scary thing, especially because Josh is such a great part of this team on and off the field.”
Gros, who has not practiced this week, has had more than a dozen concussions, the accumulation of which is starting to make people worry. This is his second head injury of the year. He got the first during United’s CONCACAF Champions’ Cup visit to CD Guadalajara.
“We’re going to be cautious with it,” said head coach Tom Seohn. “I think the tests so far showed extremely well, but you’re going to make sure that you’re cautious any time there’s a head injury.”
Double-A attack returns to RFK: With a combined four goals in last weekend’s thrilling 5-4 win over Los Angeles, New forwards Juan Pablo Angel (12 goals, 3 assists) and Jozy Altidore (7 goals, 4 assists) have become the league’s most formidable attacking duo.
“The key is going to be to make sure they don’t have time to play the ball back and make their runs,” said United defender Marc Burch. “They both make really good runs and are really athletic.”
Not everyone thinks Angel and Altidore deserve all the credit.
“You give any two forwards space like that, and they’re going to hurt you,” said Soehn of the Galaxy’s defense. “They were never contested on balls played in. I don’t think we’ll give them that much freedom.”
