FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Early last week New England Revolution rookie Tajon Buchanan was excitedly preparing for a trip home to face Toronto FC, as the 20-year-old forward grew up in the Toronto suburb of Brampton. Unsurprisingly, he’d fielded plenty of requests for tickets from friends and family.
But unfortunately for Buchanan that trip never materialized, his plans dashed by an injury suffered late in the week. While it’s unclear how long Buchanan will be sidelined, head coach Brad Friedel revealed on Tuesday that the issue is a stress fracture, and there’s hope that it will be a straightforward recovery.
“We’ll know more on Tajon’s timeline (soon), but he does have a stress fracture in his leg, which is very disappointing for him and for us,” Friedel said of Buchanan, who made his MLS debut with a 10-minute showing in the home opener against Columbus Crew SC. “Hopefully it’s not too bad, and hopefully it’s in a non-weight-bearing area so he won’t be out too long.”
According to Friedel, the stress fracture is actually the result of a previous injury which was exacerbated when Buchanan took a knock in training last week. When the pain of that knock didn’t subside, New England opted to send Buchanan for x-rays, and that’s when the stress fracture was discovered.
“It’s actually fortunate that we found it when we did, because if he’d needed a plate or a pin – knock on wood that he doesn’t need one of those things – then that’s a longer-term scenario,” Friedel said. “Hopefully he doesn’t have too long to go in his recovery.”
It seems likely, at the very least, that Buchanan will miss his second straight game when the Revs host expansion side FC Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium (4 p.m., TICKETS).
