Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden will be sidelined for up to six weeks after breaking his right leg in the U.S.s’ 2-1 loss to Holland yesterday.
Holden was hurt from a bad tackle by Nigel de Jong that somehow did not even earn the Dutch player a yellow card.
The U.S. Soccer Federation issued a statement Thursday saying that Holden was “recklessly tackled.” The USSF said the bone was the fractured was his fibula.
The 22-year-old Holden had started Bolton’s last two matches after leaving Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo to sign with the Premier League club in the January transfer window.
“It’s disappointing for Stuart because he has come into the team and done ever so well,” Bolton manager Owen Coyle was quoted as saying on the club’s Web site. “He has shown a real hunger and desire to do well for our football club. In both games, against Tottenham Hotspur and Wolves, everybody saw the quality he has, so it is a blow, but the most important thing is that he returns bigger and better.”
The timetable for Holden’s injury should allow him to return before the end of the Premier League season on May 9 and the start of U.S. pre-World Cup training camp about a week later.
photo credit: William Holtkamp