Colorado Rapids Knee Injuries: Kortne Ford and Sebastian Anderson

Yesterday, Last Word on Soccer spoke with Rapids General Manager Padraig Smith about the two players and their injuries.

Kortne Ford’s been in rehab for almost two years now with ongoing knee issues, setbacks, and surgeries. Sebastian Anderson played sparingly in his first MLS season last year and injured his meniscus earlier this week. Both players have had surgery in the last week.

“[Anderson] had surgery yesterday. The surgery went well, so that’s a great start. It’s just to early to look. It’s just two wide a period to look at. He’ll begin rehabilitation right away under our medical team and we’ll get him back on the field as soon as we can. But it’s just too early,” Smith told Last Word.

Anderson is still a young player at 17-years-old and he’s been healthy as a Homegrown and youth player with the club. Smith joked that people will say 3-5 months for a recovery time but was adamant that there’s no timeline right now for his return. Some atheles have made a recovery in weeks rather than months. We’ll have to wait and see, but don’t count on the club risking him playing in USL games or the MLS Is Back tournament as of now.

Kortne Ford’s situation has more history and complications.

“It’s a really frustraiting situation. There’s moments of the course of preseason where he’s been back out and he was able to do some running and then he had another setback. A drain has been inserted into the knee which is helping to drain some of the fluid that’s [in his knee]. He’s been seen by specialists as the Mayo Clinic as well and we’re evaluating what options are open to him to try and do everything we can to help him get back out onto the field” said Smith.

Ford’s injuries go back to 2018 after his Rookie of the Year finalist season. He’s had ongoing knee issues and mid-rehabilitation injuries and surgeries. Ford’s quietly been the most ho-hum story of the Rapids this season. But the club still believes he can still come back.

“Anybody who knows Kortne knows how determinted he is and how far he’s willing to push it to make sure he gets the opportunity to play soccer again. We’re going to continue backing him, continue to provide the platform to solve the issues that he’s facing and get him back out onto the field,” Smith said, adding “he’s put a huge amount in over the last two years. We have every confident and faith in him.”

Consider Ford out indefinitely and given the history of these injuries, I wouldn’t count on him playing in 2020.