TUKWILA, Wash. – In a season that has already featured a rash of ill-timed injuries to key contributors, the Seattle Sounders were dealt another significant blow as general manager Garth Lagerwey confirmed reports on Tuesday that newly acquired Panamanian center back Roman Torres has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season.
Torres had played in just four games for Seattle after joining the squad last month from Colombian side Millonarios, establishing himself in Seattle’s central defense beside Chad Marshall and adding the dimension of an imposing aerial threat on set pieces.
Now, the Sounders will have to make do without him for at least the rest of this season and likely part of the next one. Lagerwey said that ACL injuries typically fall in the six-to-nine month range for rehab time but added that the team won’t know exactly how much time Torres stands to miss until after he has surgery on the knee.
“Until you get in there [and perform the surgery], setting a rehab timetable is not worth speculating about,” Lagerwey said. “It could be longer than what the standard is. I think it’s fair to say that it’s not going to be shorter.”
Lagerwey said that second-year pro Damion Lowe has been activated to take Torres’ roster spot. However, versatile captain Brad Evans and veteran stalwart Zach Scott figure to be the top two candidates to assume center back duties with Torres now out of the mix.
“We have good options there,” Lagerwey said. “Zach Scott’s been doing it for 15 years for the Sounders in various iterations. Brad Evans, I think, did a very good job. It was never a comment on Brad’s ability back there that we brought in Roman. We got a great deal on a great player and we went and did it.”
Evans switched positions to become Seattle’s starting center back at the start of the season before Torres’ arrival pushed him back to midfield. Now, it appears he’ll have to return to the Sounders backline once again.
“To be honest, I’ve felt comfortable moving positions regardless if I’ve wanted to or not,” Evans said. “It’s what the team needed and it made us a better team I think in this last stretch. …For me it’s plug in where needed with five games left and go get after it.”
The timing of the injury is especially unfortunate for the Sounders, who seemed primed to finally have a fully first-choice lineup at their disposal after stars Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins and Osvaldo Alonso all missed extensive time this season with injuries of their own.
But with just five games left in the regular season and locked in an all-out battle for a Western Conference playoff spot, the Sounders are afforded no time for self-pity.
“It’s not the time of year to be reflecting on how hard your life is,” Lagerwey said. “It’s the time of year to be saying, ‘How do we win a title?’”
