Bill Hamid’s horrified face said it all, instantly telling viewers at home that something was very wrong with Justin Mapp – and that they’d be better off avoiding the replays.
According to the Impact, Mapp suffered a gruesome dislocation of his left elbow in the 82nd minute of Montreal’s 1-0 defeat at D.C. United. Running onto an Eric Alexander pass, Mapp fell over Hamid and Chris Korb, both of whom prevented him from getting a clean shot on goal. The fall on the RFK Stadium turf did the damage.
“They’re going to take him to the hospital,” head coach Frank Klopas told reporters after the game. “They’ll just put it back, and it’s unfortunate, because it was a great play, a great first touch. … It’s just an incident you don’t want to see with any player. Nothing is broken, I think. They’ll put it back, and we’ll go from there.”
Mapp’s teammates had collected themselves after the game, but they were clearly still upset by what they had seen, some 30 minutes before.
“I was very worried for him, because he looked in a lot of pain,” right back Hassoun Camara said. "I saw something was wrong with his elbow. I hope he'll be back soon, because he’s an important part of our team.”
Said goalkeeper Evan Bush: “It happened to the worst guy [it could happen to]. He does everything right. He's a great guy on and off the field. … Hopefully he can have a speedy recovery and find some peace in what’s happened, but it’s a tough moment for him.”
In a regular-season opening loss for Montreal, who had advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals in midweek, Mapp had been a clear positive. But it was a generally difficult game for Montreal, who failed their counterattack going as Klopas had hoped.
Some defensive mistakes put the Montreal goal under serious pressure. Lost balls in the middle of the park were plentiful, and while some could be blamed on the worn-down field, both teams had to make do. Meanwhile, only one side managed to score, as D.C. got the winner through Jairo Arrieta.
“It was unlucky, because it was a soft goal, out of nothing,” Klopas said. “The fair result would have probably been a 0-0 game. But it’s a long season. The effort of the guys was very good until the end. The subs we made brought a lot of energy to the team, and we pushed. ... Not every game is going to be like the Pachuca game [with a last-minute equalizer].”
