Chicago Fire center back Mbekezeli Mbokazi has suffered a torn thigh and could miss several months, according to Head Coach and Director of Football Gregg Berhalter.
The South African defender – who returned from a World Cup with Bafana Bafana last week – missed each of the Fire's first two games in July and has been placed on the Injured List, certainly ruling him out for at least the next six MLS matches. A torn thigh could keep a player out for anywhere between a few weeks and several months, depending on the grade/severity.
“It’s not good,” Berhalter said following Saturday's 3-1 loss to New York City FC. “He’s going to be out a while. He took a shot in training, hit the ground a little bit, scuffed the ground, and ended up tearing his thigh. And it’s serious. He won’t be back for a good amount of time.”
In addition to ruling Mbokazi out of the next six MLS matches, the ex-Orlando Pirates captain will be unable to feature in the Fire's Leagues Cup matches against Necaxa, Santos, and Cruz Azul. He will be out at minimum until the second week of September, missing league games against Charlotte (H), Portland (H), Orlando (A), New York (A), Seattle (A), and Toronto (A). The Fire will also welcome Inter Miami and the New England Revolution to Soldier Field in quick succession after that.
“It is a miss,” Berhalter said. “We feel like we have good center backs there anyway, but because he’s a top center back, we’re going to be missing him for a while. So we’ve got to get used to the new normal.”
At present, the Fire now have just three first team center backs available. Jack Elliott and Joel Waterman started together against NYCFC, while Sam Rogers was the lone central defender on the bench. Top prospect Christopher Cupps is the other center back on the roster and is currently in Mexico with the U.S. national team for U-20 World Cup qualifiers. Second team players Omar González and Jack Sandmeyer could theoretically be called up on short-term agreements, while Djé D'Avilla, Mauricio Pineda, and Andrew Gutman could be emergency center back options in a pinch.
With only three first team center backs currently available, Berhalter suggested that all options are on the table as far as securing needed depth at the position – whether that be on the transfer market, or recalling Cupps from national team duty.
“We don’t have an answer for it right now,” Berhalter said when asked if it the Mbokazi news impacts transfer strategy. “It is something that we’re considering. We have a busy schedule. We need everyone on deck. There’s Cupps, who’s away on international duty, so maybe we bring him back. But it’s something we’re considering for sure.”
While recalling Cupps would put the U.S. U-20s in serious jeopardy given how essential he is to an already heavily depleted team, it may be a decision Berhalter has to make given the mini-crisis that is losing their top center back. Mbokazi already withdrew from the MLS All-Star game this week, and now is effectively ruled out for the rest of the summer.
“Losing Mbokazi, and important player in our team, is a bad thing,” South African winger Puso Dithejane told MIR97 Media postgame. “We have players who can do what he's been doing.”
