By BRIAN LEWIS
With Dave van den Bergh not expecting to return from hernia surgery until Oct. 9 (vs. Real Salt Lake) and the Red Bulls’ midfield already thin on the left side, Danleigh Borman rolling his ankle today at practice was not a welcome sight. But both the South African rookie and trainer Rick Guter seem to think he’ll be fine for Saturday vs. Colorado.
“I was just running and I took a wrong step. The ground is a little bit soft over there and I rolled my ankle. We’ll see tomorrow, or the day after,” Borman said. “The ankle’s not that serious. Obviously (I’ll have) treatment, ice it again tonight and we’ll see tomorrow.”
The Red Bulls can only hope he’s fit to play Saturday, already thin at that spot after the loss of arguably their most reliable player.
“(It’s unfortunately) for the team, especially because Dave van den bergh is out. He’s real important tyo the team, and coach needed me to step up,” Borman said. “At this time, the team needs me to step up and produce consistently at the end of the season. It’s actually quite bad that this happened right now.” The Red Bulls have looked markedly better with Jorge Rojas playing in the middle of the park, and that’s where Juan Carlos Osorio had him practicing today, with Borman wide left. It remains to be seen if Borman’s injury will force Rojas to the left flank and Mike Magee into El Zurdo’s central attacking midfield role, where he has struggled by his own admission.
“I think he just rolled it. In preseason he had a little bit of an issue with it before and we’d gone away from taping it, so we’ll go back to taping it and he should be fine,” Guter said. “The ligament doesn’t move, there doesn’t appear to be any damage; it just appears to be one of those “I twisted my ankle.’ That shouldn’t be a big issue. I expect him to play, unless (it gets worse).”
Newcomer Matt Mbuta has played on the left flank for Crystal Palace Baltimore, but he’s right-footed and Osorio is adamant about deploying left-footed players on the left; hence his feverish pursuit of left-sided defenders Gabriel Cichero and Diego Jimenez.
