Chivas USA Midfielder Jesse Marsch Out Up to Eight Weeks With Broken Jaw
Jesse Marsch feels the effects Thursday of Sean Franklin's elbow.
Photo by Scott Varley
Veteran Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch, a team leader and defensive stalwart, is out for six to eight weeks with a fractured jaw suffered in Thursday's game against the Galaxy, the team confirmed today.
He joins an ever-growing injury list at the club that has hampered its effort to match last season's performance when Chivas USA was Western Conference champion.
Marsch sustained the injury in the 78th minute of the game - forcing Chivas USA to play the rest of the game with 10 men since they had used all available substitutes - after a collision with Galaxy defender Sean Franklin.
Franklin called his flying elbow that connected with Marsch's head "inadvertent," but Chivas USA Coach Preki was furious about the incident after the game.
"I saw it out of the corner of my eye," said Chivas USA defender Bobby Burling. "I'm not sure how deliberate it was, the extent of it. I remember him walking by him and just dropping. That's all I saw out of the corner of my eye."
From the (edited) Chivas USA press release:
Marsch is the only player to have appeared in every game of the season for Chivas USA, starting all 19 games and is tied for second on the team in goals, with four. With Marsch's injury, Chivas USA now has a total of 11 players listed on its injury report.
The injury comes at a particularly inopportune time for Chivas USA - the club is embarking on a busy stretch of four games in 11 days beginning Wednesday in Houston.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook.
Jesse Marsch is perhaps the most underrated player in the league. He should have been Chivas USA's MVP in 2006 because he plugged the sieve that was the team's midfield, thus enabling Razov to go hog wild offensively and helping Suarez cover less ground. He is the team's MVP this season, given the absences and departures of several key players. This man doesn't get his due, and that's a shame.