KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sporting Kansas City center back Matt Besler will miss next week's 2016 AT&T MLS All-Star Game with a strained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee.
Manager Peter Vermes told reporters on Friday that Besler, a five-time All-Star and a selection to the Fan XI for this year's match against English power Arsenal at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, also would miss Sporting's home match on Sunday against Seattle Sounders FC (3 pm ET, ESPN).
"He tweaked it the other day in practice," Vermes said. "He's definitely not going to play this weekend, and he won't be going to the All-Star Game."
Vermes did not have a timetable for Besler's return but said the injury was not serious.
"You tweak [a ligament], and it just takes time for it to shrink back to where it normally is," he said. "It's nothing like that. He went into a tackle and it just opened up a little bit."
Besler's absence on Sunday will leave Sporting without two of their two top central defenders, with Nuno Cuelho still nursing a nagging hamstring injury that he aggravated last week.
