Teal Bunbury Out with Torn ACL and Damaged LCL
Teal Bunbury chips the ball a split second before colliding with Red Bull keeper Bill Gaudette. Photo courtesy MLS Soccer.com.
Prior Lake, Minn. native Teal Bunbury will be sidelined for 6-8 months with a torn ACL and a damaged LCL in his left knee, sustained in Sunday’s match against the Red Bulls.
In that Sunday match, Bunbury used his speed to get around a Red Bulls defender after Graham Zusi played a looping early cross. The Sporting forward was just able to tip the ball up into the air towards Kei Kamara who was making a run to the left of Bunbury. Kamara headed the ball up and over the crowd; it then bounced into the Red Bulls’ goal to open the scoring in the 4th minute of play. Bunbury’s pace allowed him to beat Red Bulls’ Bill Gaudette to the ball but also carried him into the New York goalkeeper. Bunbury can be seen laying on the field after the goal celebration by Sporting KC’s Kamara. (Video after the break)
According to the team’s website, Dr. Scott Luallin, the team’s orthopedic surgeon, will operate on the forward’s knee this Friday.
Bunbury respond to fan support on Twitter yesterday saying, “Thank you all for the get well wishes! It means so much. You guys are the best. Feeling stronger already. God is good, God is great.”
Bunbury has made 22 appearances for Sporting KC this season and has 5 goals and 2 assists in 1,247 minutes played and is tied for 2nd most goals scored on the team.
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Bad break for Bunbury-hopefully he comes back as strong as he was before. A big part of having that injury is the mental aspect. As anyone who’s had it can attest to: It’s really painful and you wonder if you are going to be able to get back to the level that you were before you got injured. Just look at Gooch; I don’t think he is the same player after he jacked up his ligaments. I can’t be the only guy to wonder if he’s ever going to get back to where he was a few years ago.
It is terrible when you see you talent get a serious injury. Bunbury did a great job setting up a nice goal. It was a bummer to see him leave early. Get better soon.
i think kansas city will be okay
when it comes to their fowards or midfielders everybody steps up
with bunbury out now its sapong time to fill in the void
teams that can win mls cup: san jose new york kansas city seattle and salt lake
wildcards: vancouver la chicago d.c or coloumbus
yankiboy said
“I can’t be the only guy to wonder if he’s ever going to get back to where he was a few years ago”
The board consensus is, the best years of yankiboy are behind him.
^You are being WAAAAYYYY to kind. The board consensus is that yankiboy was never much more than a jv player to start with. Almost any guy who was luck enough on the be featured on the same line as BQ & Der Kaiser woould look like a Best XI player.
They say that timing is everything in life and football.
Yanki, Gooch was a patella. Very different injury. I remember photos of him on the ground facing north with his knee cap facing south-west. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.
^Oh yeah. Epic botch. I was there that night when it happened and I still BOTCHED it!
Oh well, there is something to be said for consistency…
@BQ – yes patella injuries are no fun – when the patella tendon is ruptured it rolls up into the thigh like a roller blind ( depending on where the tear is). Morphine in this instance is a very very good thing and you should never allow an inexperience EMT to tell you it may be dislocated and try to put it back in place. Just ask for more morphine
a side note to my story; once my screaming subsided and the morphine kicked in, one of my most favorite training moments took place. One of my most favorite players came up to me and said, ” hey coach we still have 30 minutes left, can we put cones around you and the medical guys and keep going?”
You can’t make that up.
Tough break for such a good player hope to see him back on the pitch soon.
@yankiboy
Aside from the type of injury, Bunbury is still really young with plenty of time to heal. However, you are correct about the mental/emotional component. Hopefully, SKC have a good sports psychologist on call. It’ll take attention from Peter Vermes to keep Teal’s mental toughness engaged and his concentration on the therapy during recovery. I have a feeling he’ll be back nice and strong next season.
I personally think next season is way too soon to expect anything from Bunbury. Adrian Peterson of the Vikings is coming back way too soon. I would bet dollars to doughnuts ( Dunk’n) that Peterson will injure his other knee, if not the same one, this year due to returning to soon.
When income comes calling I understand the need to hurry back, but I think it is unwise.
Teal, good luck in your recovery. You will come back stronger!