U.S. U-20 Goalkeeper Cody Cropper Out Two Months After Knee Surgery
Ipswich Town FC reserve goalkeeper Cody Cropper will be out several months after sustaining a bucket tear of his meniscus in his left knee. The tear was sustained during training on Tuesday. Cropper landed on the knee and at the time felt like he had hyperextended it. But as often happens with bucket tears (where the meniscus tears and flips over) his knee swelled and locked up.
The team had the injury looked at and determined because of his age that Cropper should have surgery on the injury immediately. The 18-year-old U.S. U-20 player had that surgery on Friday and was resting comfortably afterwards.
The speed of his recovery will depend on the doctor’s prognosis after the initial healing takes place. But the standard time is 2-4 weeks for recovery from the surgery and another 2-4 weeks to regain fitness.
Currently Cropper is on crutches with a cast and is only able to place limited weight on the injured knee.
The injury came at an inopportune time for both Cropper and Ipswich who have been going through a bit of a goalkeeping crisis recently. Fulham’s David Stockdale, who had been on loan this season to Ipswich, was recalled just this past week after Mark Schwarzer sustained an injury for the Whites that could leave him out of action up to 6 weeks.
Arran Lee-Barrett will be between the posts for Ipswich this weekend and Cropper most likely would have been on the bench as his backup. Thirty-four-year-old Richard Wright is injured could be out one to two more weeks with a strained muscle.
The team may look to academy goalkeeper Conor O’Donnell to fill the spot on the bench that would have been Cropper’s.
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