Toronto FC goalkeeper Clint Irwin will miss six weeks with a quadriceps strain, the club announced on Tuesday.
Irwin, 27, suffered the injury in Toronto’s 3-2 loss to Orlando City SC on Saturday, when he collapsed in pain after taking a goal kick. The game was tied, 1-1, and he was subbed out in the 70th minute, replaced by Alex Bono, the club’s first-round pick in the 2015 SuperDraft. Irwin, despite being removed early, performed well enough to be named the goalkeeper for MLS’s Week 16 Team of the Week.
Irwin has played 18 games this season, 15 in league play and three in the Amway Canadian Championship. He has posted a 7-5-5 record in all competitions, with eight clean sheets.
Bono, 22, made his MLS debut on Saturday. He allowed two goals and did not make a save as TFC lost in the final minutes of stoppage time when Kaka converted a penalty for the game-winner.
MLS Fantasy managers who relied on Irwin between the posts, may want to pick up Bono, who figures to step in for the club, beginning with the Canadian Championship second leg Wednesday in Vancouver against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Bono was chosen sixth overall by TFC after playing three seasons at Syracuse University. He spent most of his 2015 season with TFC II, but this season beat out academy product Quillan Roberts to earn the backup job.
