Atlanta United loses another to hamstring injury

ajc.com

Atlanta United’s Brandon Vazquez will miss at least four weeks because of an injured hamstring.

The team announced the injury on Saturday on its twitter account. The team is playing at New England on Saturday.

Vazquez is the third player on the team to suffer a hamstring injury in the past three weeks during the team’s six-game homestand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Fullback Greg Garza sustained his during the first half of what would be a 7-0 win against New England. He returned to play in the second half of Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Philadelphia.

Midfielder Miguel Almiron sustained his during the first half of a 2-0 win against Montreal. He is expected to miss at least four weeks.

The team didn’t announce when Vazquez sustained his injury. He has one goal and an assist in 13 league appearances.

After Almiron’s injury, manager Gerardo Martino said he didn’t think playing on the artificial turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium contributed to the injuries. He did note that they were the first muscle injuries sustained by players on the team and theorized they may be the result of playing so many games in so few days. Saturday’s game against the Revs will be the seventh in a stretch of eight games in 24 days.

Atlanta United is quickly running out of depth at the wide midfielders. Andrew Carleton and Chris Goslin are with the U.S. Under-17 squad headed to the World Cup.

Jacob Peterson can play on the right or left in place of Hector Villalba and Yamil Asad. Julian Gressel can play in either role, but he filled in for Almiron against Philadelphia. It seems likely Gressel will keep that role.  Chris McCann, Kevin Kratz and Harrison Heath are more central midfileders, but McCann has been playing left fullback in Garza’s place.