San Jose, CA – March 24, 2017: Lletget injured his foot just minutes after scoring his first international goal.
Photo by: Bob Drebin
The USMNT took on Honduras on Friday in the crucial final round of the World Cup Qualifiers. Sebastian Lletget may have only played for 17 minutes, but he sure made them count.
Just five minutes into the game he scored his first international goal, giving the USMNT the first goal of the game and kicking off the momentum that led to their dominating 6-0 slaughter. After injuring his foot in the 17th minute, originally believed to be only a marginal injury, Lletget was subbed out.
Da Boy on Twitter: “Surreal night. We got the job done, first qualifier, first goal. Shame had to come off but thank you everyone for the kind messages🙏🏼🇺🇸 / Twitter”
Surreal night. We got the job done, first qualifier, first goal. Shame had to come off but thank you everyone for the kind messages🙏🏼🇺🇸
Unfortunately, those will be the last 17 minutes Lletget will be playing for awhile. The LA Galaxy revealed in a press release that once the swelling goes down on his foot, Lletget will need surgery and is expected to be out for 4-6 months. So what does this mean?
Well unfortunately for Lletget it’s an all too familiar story: being right on the precipice of career greatness only to be sidelined.
At the ripe age of 16, Lletget moved across seas to play for West Ham with all the poise and talent to become a major player. However, an extreme case of Mono left him sidelined and somewhat forgotten. After several years and only 1 game with the senior team under his belt, Lletget’s once promising career was starting to look rather bleak.
In 2015, Bruce Arena turned that around and singed him to the LA Galaxy. After seeing success there, his career was once again starting to take off and then Bruce Arena signed him again, this time to the USMNT in January. Then, on Friday he saw a return to international recognition when he scored his first international goal. Yet, once again injury struck right as his career was getting kicked into full gear.
As for the fate of the teams he’s a part of, the USMNT has already suffered a fair share of injuries, but Arena has managed to shine despite those difficulties. After his departure from the game, the USMNT scored 5 more goals. The LA Galaxy, however, have also suffered a variety of injuries and only have one win under their belt going into their fourth game of the season. With their relatively young, new team, they have only just begun to start playing with team unity and will need to find a viable replacement for Lletget if they hope to win their next game.
Carson, CA – March 4, 2017: FC Dallas defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in a Major League Soccer (MLS) game at StubHub Center
Photo by: Michael Janosz.
Photos courtesy of ISI.
