CARSON, CA (September 19, 2017) – The LA Galaxy’s 2017 season has been a disaster and things just went from bad to worse. The club announced today that Defender Daniel Steres will be out 6-8 weeks (essentially the rest of the season) due to a L2-4 transverse process fracture.
Walking Wounded: Defender Daniel Steres Out 6-8 Weeks For LA Galaxy
#LAGalaxy defender Daniel Steres to miss 6-8 weeks with stress fracture https://t.co/2jNlQ7aDzj pic.twitter.com/Gs03YwHo7r
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) September 19, 2017
Steres has played in 21 of 28 league games this season and leads defenders in goals (3) for the team. He’s worked his way up from LA Galaxy II to the first team over the past few years. He’s played nearly 4500 minutes in MLS over the past two seasons after signing with the first team in December 2015.
The 26-year-old suffered the stress fracture back on September 10th in a match against Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field. Steres was not in the lineup for their match over the weekend. The Galaxy have just six games remaining in the season, with the last one occurring on October 22nd. This injury effectively rules Steres out for the remainder of the MLS campaign.
What It Means:
The Galaxy’s playoff hopes were already all but mathematically over. This injury dents whatever is left in those hopes. Dave Romney has had some good moments at Centerback, but isn’t as experienced or consistent as Steres. Recently signed Michael Ciani is still getting fit, but had a poor MLS debut over the weekend against Toronto FC.
This will provide an opportunity for Ciani, Romney, and possibly Hugo Arrellano to get more minutes than they would have. They’ll get to do this in a low risk (read: the Galaxy have nothing left to play for) environment.
Steres will have plenty of time to rehab over the off-season. This shouldn’t prevent him from being ready for training camp, preseason, and the start of the MLS regular season. It does however add another psychological blow to the club and their supporters in what has been a poor season with almost everything going wrong.
