FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Things didn't look good for Diego Fagundez when he stepped off the pitch on Saturday night.
Not only did his New England Revolution drop a heartbreaking 1-0 home loss to Montreal, but the forward also suffered a painful-looking shoulder injury in the process, leaving many to wonder his fate for the club’s final game of the season on Sunday against New York City FC (5 pm ET, MLS LIVE).
Chasing down a loose ball near the top of the penalty box in the 60th minute, Fagundez bumped into Marco Donadel with his right shoulder before tripping over the Montreal defender and crashing shoulder-first onto the Gillette Stadium turf.
While he would remain in the game, Fagundez seemed to be playing in pain for the final 30 minutes. But three days after the incident, he downplayed the significance of what initially looked to be a very hard knock to his right shoulder.
“It’s feeling pretty good right now,” said Fagundez. “I’m excited to come in. Good thing it was nothing major. I’m just looking forward to training and making sure it heals the right way, and try to play on Sunday.
“It was tough,” he added. “You’re going to get injuries in the game. I was trying to fight through it. I didn’t want to leave the field because we were playing well as a team, trying to get a goal. I was trying to give it everything I had, as much pain as I had, I felt like I needed to be on the field and not be off the field.”
The crafty 20-year-old has been handling the injury in the customary way, with plenty of ice and rest, and he was able to test things out in practice early in the week.
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“I was out here Monday with the team,” he said. “There was no way I was going to miss practice over this. It’s something small and it’s not really a big deal right now.”
Fagundez was a full participant at the team’s Wednesday training session and he feels that as the week progresses, he should have his body ready for battle as the club looks to stay above the red line and secure the Eastern Conference's final spot in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.
“Right now we’re just trying to make sure everything is okay,” said Fagundez. “Trying to get strength and try to be ready to go … That’s all you can do right now. You just have to make sure that it’s good to go for Sunday.”
