Sporting Kansas City will be without winger Graham Zusi for their next two games, with the American Designated Player sidelined by a mild strain in his left hamstring.
Zusi, who had been playing his way back from a stress fracture in his right foot, pulled up lame and was replaced by Bernardo Anor in the 39th minute of Saturday's 1-0 away victory over New York City FC.
“It's a Grade 1, which is good in that at least it's not a 2 or a 3,” manager Peter Vermes told MLSsoccer after Tuesday's training session. “So it's a couple of weeks, and then we'll take another look.”
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The roster news for Sporting this week isn't all bad, though.
Hungarian winger Krisztian Nemeth, who missed the club's last two matches with a strained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, returned to training on Tuesday and is expected to be available for Sunday's home match against the Philadelphia Union (7 pm ET, Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes).
Midfielder Roger Espinoza was absent for the NYCFC match but is back from international duty with Honduras, after Los Catrachos rebounded from a 3-1 opening defeat to take a white-knuckle home-and-away Gold Cup qualifier from French Guiana.
And while Sporting might have had some initial apprehension over left back Marcel de Jong being lifted in the 34th minute of Canada's 3-0 friendly victory over Puerto Rico on Monday, reports from the Canadian Soccer Association characterized the move as a precaution and de Jong's postmatch Instagram posts made no mention of any injury.
“I don't really know the full details of what went on with that,” Vermes said on Tuesday. “Hopefully, it was just a situation where he maybe felt something and took himself out.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
