TORONTO – Greg Vanney is amazed that Steven Beitashour played on after being plowed into “like a cannonball” earlier this week.
Unfortunately, Toronto FC’s coach won’t be able to rely on his iron-man right wingback/fullback when the Reds pay a visit to FC Dallas on Saturday night in Major League Soccer action.
TFC announced on Thursday that Beitashour underwent abdominal surgery for an injured pancreas after being hurt in Tuesday night’s Canadian Championship win over Montreal. He’s currently recuperating in the hospital, and it’s not immediately known how much time he’ll miss.
The incident that led to the injury occurred just before halftime when the Impact’s Kyle Fisher clattered into Beitashour just seconds after he made a pass, with the TFC defender taking the brunt of the collision.
“I think Fisher realized he was going to be late, and then he decided that he wasn’t going to go down to make a challenge, while Beita’s read was that [Fisher] was actually going to go down. Beita opened his body to start to jump over the tackle he thinks was coming. But Fisher looked like he changed his mind and went in almost like a cannonball right into the middle of the body with Beita was exposed,” Vanney told Sportsnet ahead of TFC’s game against Dallas.
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Referee David Gantar issued Fisher a yellow card, but Vanney believes the Impact defender could have easily been shown a red and expelled from the match.
“It was a late challenge, it was very hard, it was reckless. It could be argued that it deserved more. … I don’t know that I would say it was intentional. I just think Fisher realized he was going to be late and he ended up barreling through Beita with a late challenge,” Vanney offered.
Incredibly, Beitashour went on to play the full 90 minutes in TFC’s 2-1 win over Montreal after receiving treatment from the team trainer on the field after the incident.
“Everyone across the board is amazed. It’s a pretty serious injury, and a lot of people – doctors and others who I know who’ve been involved in this type of injury before – have told me it’s a wonder that he was able to get through the rest game. They don’t understand how he did it,” Vanney admitted.
TFC’s coach confirmed that Beitashour is doing well and being monitored in the hospital, and has several tubes in him that are draining some of the excess fluids out of his body.
“We’ll have an update as he progresses over the next couple of days to see where it goes from here. We still don’t know how long [he’ll be out] even in a best-case scenario. We don’t have any kind of timeline just yet. We’ll start to know how things are going to play out over next few days,” Vanney explained.
Beitashour, 30, has two assists and started 13 of TFC’s 17 regular-season games this season, ranking fifth in minutes played (1,147). Beitashour is of the Reds’ key starters, but the team has such great depth – even with Canadian Raheem Edwards currently away on international team duty – that Vanney won’t have any problem finding someone to fill in for him at right wingback.
Nor does Vanney anticipate changing from his preferred 3-5-2 formation in Beitashour’s absence.
“Beita is probably our truest right fullback; even if we were to go back to a four-man defence, he would be our most natural right back. Our other guys are hybrid, right-sided guys, which makes our current setup a bit more conducive to their skill sets, whether it be Tsubasa [Endoh] or [Marky] Delgado, or Oyvind [Alseth], who we haven’t given a look yet, but at some point we need to take a look at him,” Vanney stated.
“It doesn’t necessarily behoove us to change things up to tactically too much just because of the mixture of guys we have available.”
Like next Wednesday’s road game against Orlando City, FC Dallas should pose a stern test for TFC, which sit atop the overall MLS standings.
The Texas club was last year’s Supporters’ Shield winner as the best team during the regular season, and is currently tied for second place in the Western Conference. Toronto has only beaten FC Dallas twice in their 15 all-time meetings, and is winless in eight trips to Toyota Park (six losses and two draws).
“We’ve always been very aware of this game, and this road trip. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for Dallas with all of the things they were able to achieve last season. They’re a dangerous team and have players who can hurt you in transition,” Vanney said.
What’s more, the hot and humid conditions (not to mention the thunderous rain storms) that are common in Frisco, Texas, where Toyota Park is situated have historically made it very difficult on visiting teams.
“When you come to Dallas in the summer, there’s always going to be challenges associated to the environment, in addition to what the opposition brings,” Vanney stated.
“You just have to push through it. We have to set up our game plan and to be smart about how we do it, choose our moments when we really extend and push the tempo of the game. If we can be good on the ball, and stay together in our defensive block, then [the elements] shouldn’t be much of an issue.”
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