Toronto FC will be without veteran defender Drew Moor for approximately two to three months due to a quad tear suffered before the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League final.
According to Reds coach Greg Vanney, the 34-year-old pulled up on two days before the Wednesday night game in Guadalajara against Chivas after attempting a routine 10-yard pass in training. Moor’s injury is the most serious of the four TFC centerbacks currently unavailable — a situation which has forced Michael Bradley to start the past two games in the middle of defense.
“I don’t know the exact timeline, but it’s more along the months than it is the weeks because it’s a fairly significant tear,” Vanney said Monday, a week after Moor suffered the tear. “It was a moment in training that you would never, ever in your lifetime believe that he’s going to be out for a couple of months, given the situation. It was like a 10-yard pass that led to him pulling up.
“Even to Drew it’s, to this day, super mind-boggling to him. He’s never had muscle challenges or issues. But again, it shows you the grind this tournament has and the toll it’s taken just with all of the travel, the differences of surfaces, the differences of altitude… there’s just so many variables the guys are dealing with. By and large, we got away with it with some little things but this one is probably a little bit more than little.”
Asked for a specific timeline on Moor’s return, Vanney added: “I don’t know exactly. I would put it in the two-to-three-month range, probably.”
There is better news elsewhere for TFC. Vanney is currently without Jozy Altidore and Justin Morrow in addition to the other three centerbacks — Eriq Zavaleta, Nick Hagglund and Chris Mavinga — but none of those players are expected to be sidelined for long.
“My understanding is it’s a mild strain in the hamstring,” the coach said of Altidore, who made it through 84 minutes of the second Chivas game but was absent for the 2-2 draw against the Chicago Fire at the weekend. “It was off of when he was jumping and one of the actions there. I think it’s a couple of weeks.”
Mavinga and Morrow could be in contention for Friday’s visit of the Philadelphia Union.
“[Morrow] will get an MRI again today,” Vanney continued. “We’ll see where he’s at. I think he’s feeling better. Obviously he’s made some appearances so we know he’s close, but we’re just trying to get him to where he’s out of any sort of danger zone so we’ll know more [after the MRI].
“Chris is, again, on the verge of being ready to go.”
Zavaleta and Hagglund could, along with Mavinga, be ready to compensate for the loss of Moor in defense sooner rather than later. Zavaleta is expected to miss no more than a couple of weeks with a minor quad problem, while Hagglund is a month into a six-week lay-off due to a hamstring injury.
“Eriq is not too far off either,” Vanney said. “It’s an issue in the quad but it’s a minor muscle, not like Drew’s. He actually feels a lot better right now because a lot of the stronger muscles around it can compensate, but it doesn’t mean he is safe from it because it can easily be set back once you get into a game. He’s close. We think he’s within the next week or two.
“Nick’s progressing good. It was a pretty significant hamstring issue, so he’s started to do some more stuff on the field. He’ll probably get into a little bit of training this week. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks [he can return] again.”
Midfield playmaker Victor Vázquez, meanwhile, appears to be on the right side of a nerve issue in his back having started against Chivas and the Chicago Fire last week, scoring against the latter.
“It’s an indication that he’s making progress, I think, for sure,” Vanney said of Vázquez’s inclusion in two games in a row. “Whether it’s completely gone, I don’t necessarily have the answer specifically to that. I’m sure that we’re still trying to get him up to maximum fitness and strength and all those kinds of things.
“I don’t know if all the discomfort is necessarily gone. But he’s definitely to a point where he can manage it and still be able to play and perform and all that.”