On Wednesday night, following Austin FC’s 1-1 draw to New York Red Bulls, head coach Josh Wolff hinted that designated player Sebastián Driussi might not quite be right.
He confirmed that on Friday at the team’s weekly media availability, but it’s still murky as to how bad the injury is or whether the team’s leading goalscorer will be part of a vital match Sunday night hosting the LA Galaxy.
“Nothing on the field today, so we're hopeful he'll be on the field tomorrow,” Wolff said of his practice status, “but we'll have to see. It’s his lower body, obviously with his leg; I'm not gonna get too much more into it than that.”
He then said, of teammate Gyasi Zardes, “very similar. He had a little bit of a hamstring. So we're gonna have to see about what that looks like.” Meanwhile, defenders Matt Hedges and Adam Lundkvist are still grappling with muscle injuries, while striker Will Bruin is just days into a concussion protocol following Sunday night’s gruesome head-to-head collision with a Timbers defender.
While Verde might indeed have a depleted corps of players as they look to end an eight-match winless streak and pick up essential points toward a playoff push, an arguably equally snakebitten and desperate-for-points Galaxy side looks more whole than they’ve been in a while.
Wednesday’s 4-3 comeback win over Minnesota relied on a hat trick from 37-year-old Billy Sharp — a summer free-agent pickup who is essentially the Crash Davis of the Championship, with more than 250 goals in over 600 pro appearances, most of them in England’s second-division.
But it also relied on another summer pickup, former Austin FC talisman Diego Fagundez, who scored the winning goal in that impressive turnaround — given that the Loons were up 3-1 at the hour mark. Fagundez now has one goal and three assists in 275 minutes played with the Gs.
