Toronto FC Loses Striker Koevermans for the Season

Fate has dealt a cruel blow to Toronto’s Major League Soccer franchise just as the club appeared to be turning a corner. Toronto FC striker Danny Koevermans will be gone for several months after colliding with New England Revolution defender A.J. Soares in their game last Saturday.

Koevermans will undergo surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament at an as-yet-undetermined point in the future, according to a brief press release issued by Toronto FC on Monday. No timetable was given for the return of the Dutch international, but he is expected be out for the rest of this season and possibly a significant portion of 2013 as well.

The injury occurred in the 37th minute as Koevermans, the Reds’ top scorer with nine goals, pursued the ball along with Soares to the right of the penalty area and the two players’ knees clashed. Toronto won the game 1-0, but paid a heavy price as Koevermans had to be stretchered off the field. He was later seen leaving Gillette Field in Foxboro, MA, on crutches.

He had been named the MLS Player of the Week in early July after scoring in back-to-back games; losing Koevermans is a significant setback for TFC and head coach Paul Mariner, who is also the director of soccer operations. Mariner had changed the squad’s formation to 4-4-2, which involves playing two strikers up front; the new arrangement seemed to be working, as the Reds managed two wins and four draws in eight games under Mariner’s command after nine straight losses under former coach Aron Winter.

The club had previously identified defence as their biggest need, but now they need immediate help on their front line. That could be an opportunity for rookie Luis Silva to step up.

Toronto’s top pick and the fourth overall player taken in the 2012 MLS draft, Silva gained notoriety when he and two other Reds players were charged with public intoxication after a fight outside a bar in Houston a month ago. Last Wednesday, the 23-year-old got a measure of redemption after scoring a goal in Toronto FC’s 3-2 last-minute victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Field.

Mariner has other options up front, among them Ryan Johnson, Eric Avila and Andrew Wiedeman, who was acquired from FC Dallas for Julian de Guzman. Toronto still has a designated-player spot to fill from the trade of de Guzman, and is likely actively looking for more help in the team’s quest to find a way out of the Eastern Conference basement. That goal will be tougher to accomplish now without Koevermans.