The Los Angeles Galaxy will be without the services of promising young midfielder Efrain Alvarez for at least two weeks after the Homegrown product suffered a left ankle injury in the club's preseason scrimmage against the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.
Alvarez picked up the injury 10 minutes after entering the contest as a second-half substitute, when he got tangled up with Colorado's Jonathan Lewis near the corner flag and went down before immediately signaling for a trainer and getting stretchered off the field.
Per club insider Adam Serrano, Galaxy head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto updated Alvarez's status on Saturday, revealing that an MRI showed the 17-year-old has suffered lateral ligament damage to his left ankle and he will be sidelined for at least two weeks.
While that's an unfortunate early-season loss for the Galaxy, it appears as though Alvarez managed to avoid a longer-term injury many might have feared when he was stretchered off the field, although it remains to be seen how soon he can resume playing after that two-week timeframe.
Schelotto also updated the statuses of midfielder Jonathan dos Santos (groin) and defender Daniel Steres (illness), who are both expected to rejoin the club for training on Tuesday. The Galaxy coach said that his hope is that both will be able to play in the club's upcoming season-opener against the Houston Dynamo on Feb. 29, but whether that will happen is currently unclear given their lengthy absences from training.
"I don't know if they will be ready for the game in Houston because Jonathan hasn't trained this preseason and it's the same with Daniel," Schelotto said. "We only have one week to prepare for Houston, but we will check during the week how they're doing."
