Mauro Diaz is set for surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon with a renowned foot and ankle doctor set to perform the procedure, sources tell Goal USA.
The FC Dallas playmaker left his team's 2-1 win against the Seattle Sounders on Sunday in stoppage time after setting up the match-winning goal. Sources say he was rushed to the hospital with an injury that will sideline him for the rest of the 2016 campaign.
Diaz is in Charlotte, N.C., with Dr. Robert Anderson set to perform the procedure. Anderson, who the Charlotte Observer called the "most well-known foot and ankle doctor in the world of sports" in a 2015 profile, performed successful operations on former MLB star Derek Jeter, and NFL players Terrell Suggs and Michael Crabtree among other athletes and has had success with a Percutaneous Achilles Repair System, though Diaz may not undergo the same procedure.
Both FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja and technical director Fernando Clavijo declined to comment on the specific injury until the move is officially announced by the team, but both were critical of how often the player, who led the league in fouls suffered per game, was the victim of tough challenges.
"They need to be more aware," Clavijo said. "It’s funny because I have mentioned throughout the year with PRO, with the league, that they are taking turns, players on the field, so they don’t get a yellow card right away, to hammer the most skillful players on the field.
"It’s not only Mauro, it’s around the league, and they don’t do anything about it or if they do something about it, then it’s not enough. I look at the play with Mauro, maybe it’s a yellow card. I don’t think it was a vicious tackle, but it was 33 games of that that I have concern with. If he didn’t get kicked for 33 games, maybe that tackle is just another tackle."
Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer denied that his right back Tyrone Mears was going after Diaz on the fateful challenge late in the game.
"It’s just unfortunate that a really, really talented player got hurt in the last game of the year. But in no way, shape or form do we advocate going after their best players," Schmetzer told reporters. "We don’t play like that. We want to play good soccer. I’ve had the same argument when teams would target Clint [Dempsey] or [Nicolas] Lodeiro. But we don’t play like that.”
When asked if the team had someone who could be a like-for-like replacement for Diaz, whose seven match-winning assists are tied for the league lead, Pareja responded that it was a good question that he already had been thinking of for two days.
"We always feel for any payer when they get injured or have any sort of physical issue or personal problem," Pareja said. "We feel for them because we see them every day, so it's very tough not to have them here. But we've become accustomed in this team to always find our form in tough moments and we have to keep adapting."
