There’s good news for Patrick Vieira on the injury front going into NYCFC’s showdown with LA Galaxy on Saturday night.
Rodney Wallace has been cleared to return to the squad and could be in line for his first appearance since the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The Costa Rican international has been missing since the final game of June against Minnesota after representing his nation in the continental competition.
Picking up an adductor strain ahead of Los Ticos’ quarter final clash with Panama, Wallace was ruled out of the tournament and has since missed NYCFC games against Red Bulls, Chicago and Toronto.
Now he’s ready to return to add to Vieira’s options for this first and only Regular Season matchup against Sigi Schmid’s LA Galaxy at the StubHub Center.
NYCFC arrived in the City of Angels on Wednesday and have been training on the West Coast since but they travelled without four first-teamers.
READ: Major Keys to NYCFC at LA Galaxy
Maxime Chanot is still missing from the picture as he continues his recovery from an Osteitis Pubis inflammation, while James Sands is also not ready to make his senior debut as he sits out with an ASIS Apophysitis injury.
Miguel Camargo is out for the season and Ronald Matarrita is another longer term injury lay-off for the Boys in Blue.
Maxi Moralez will also miss the game after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Red Bulls.
For the opposition, new LA Galaxy signing Jonathan dos Santos could reportedly be in line for a first start for his new club, while Romain Alessandrini has recovered from his injury and could return vs. NYCFC.
According to MLSSoccer.com, Sebastian Lletget and Baggio Husidic will definitely miss the game, along with Robbie Rogers who is out for the season.
PHOTOS: Hard Work in Hollywood
Injury Report
NYCFC
OUT – Miguel Camargo, Maxime Chanot, Ronald Matarrita, James Sands
SUSPENDED - Maxi Moralez
LA Galaxy
OUT – Robbie Rogers, Sebastian Lleget, Baggio Husidic
Key Stats
- The Galaxy have gone winless in their last eight home games, their longest streak since 2010, and only three short of tying the longest home winless in MLS since 2010, 11 from Colorado.
- Since beating cross town rival New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena, NYCFC has failed to win on the road conceding seven goals over two games.
- David Villa’s hat trick against the Red Bulls was his first in an NYCFC uniform, and the ninth that any MLS player has scored in the 2017 regular season.
- Maxi Moralez has created 52 chances so far this year, already the third most chances created by an NYCFC player in a single season with 11 games left to go in the season. The record is Andrea Pirlo’s 64 from last season (though David Villa has 54 chances created so far this season).
- The Galaxy have scored 19 left footed goals this year, tied for the most of any team in MLS. Only three other teams have scored 10 or more left footed goals this season (Atlanta-19, NYCFC-17, San Jose-10).
- In the 11 games that Jermaine Jones has started for the Galaxy this year, they average 0.8 points per game. In the 11 games that he has not started, that number increases to 1.3 points per game.
- NYCFC leads MLS with 129 shots on target so far this season. The Galaxy have the seventh fewest shots on target of any team in the league with 92.
- Jack Harrison has completed 42 dribbles so far this season, tied for the fourth most of any player in MLS.
