Seattle Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer addressed the injury status of captain Nicolás Lodeiro and goalkeeper Stefan Frei on Friday.
“Nico Lodeiro had arthroscopic surgery [on Thursday] to deal with his lingering inflammation in his knee joint,” said Schmetzer. “It was a successful surgery. Everything went well. We are going to make a press announcement with further details later this afternoon.”
Lodeiro missed the first two matches of this season while dealing with a left quad strain. He then returned in Week 3 against the LA Galaxy, logging 24 minutes off the bench, before being shut down due to the knee pain for which he had surgery.
The news was less promising for Frei, who will be out indefinitely.
“He had a complication because of the injury he suffered against San Jose,” said Schmetzer. “He developed a blood clot. We’re going to be very careful. It’s more serious than just a sprained knee. Stef as a person, we’ve always been good as a club to make sure we take care of our players. That is our No. 1 concern right now. He will be out for an undetermined amount of time as the doctors work through the procedures to get him back on the field. With both players, we do expect them to get back for parts of the regular season.”
Frei exited in stoppage time against the Earthquakes on May 12 and was initially ruled out 4-6 weeks with a sprained knee. His backup, Stefan Cleveland, has fared well so far in stepping up for Frei, allowing just one goal in two matches.
“It’s a tight locker room,” said Schmetzer. “Guys rally around [each other]. When things don’t go well, that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of with this team. They actually rally around their teammates, they protect their teammates, both on and off the field. Certainly, it was big news, but they’re going to rally around Stef. We have faith in Stef Cleveland, and we’re going to keep playing.
“It’s not good news, but it’s something that we’re going to confront and we’re going to keep our ‘next man up’ theory going, and we’ll go from there.”
