Minnesota United is having some pretty bad luck when it comes to knees this year.
Winger Ethan Finlay tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, the club announced Tuesday. He is the second player to go down with a season-ending injury. Starting midfielder Kevin Molino tore the ACL in his left knee during the March 10 game at Orlando City.
"For Ethan, it's a devastating blow, but the one thing I know here now is that if ever there was a kid that would come back stronger and probably in better shape, it would be him," coach Adrian Heath said. "He's a great professional, trains every day 100 percent. And I have no doubt he'll take that into his rehabilitation."
Finlay is the third long-term injury for the Loons along with Molino and holding midfielder Sam Cronin, who has been out since preseason because of concussion issues.
With the primary transfer window closing May 1, Heath said it might be "a little bit late" to make a move for another player. Heath did say there were "two or three people ringing around," so he wouldn't rule out a possible addition.
Finlay's injury was similar to Molino's in that he also went down in the first half but kept playing until Heath subbed him off in favor of Sam Nicholson for the second half. Finlay seemed to plant his leg awkwardly before a hard collision with Seattle's Alex Roldan in the 37th minute of Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Sounders. Finlay immediately grabbed for his right knee.
That lineup change led to some moves up top with Finlay's absence on the right wing. No. 10 central playmaking midfielder Darwin Quintero seemed to drift out more wide right while left winger Miguel Ibarra played more interior.
"I always prefer to play through the middle and move through the spaces that are left behind by the forwards in front of me," Quintero said in Spanish through a translator. "But when things are closed up, it can be really helpful to move out on the wing and kind of open up that space by doing that."
