Sad News For Sam Vines

Yesterday Sam Vines posted on his Instagram that he had suffered a broken tibia in practice on Friday and had immediate surgery to repair it.  They inserted 2 screws and the prognosis is for a full recovery, but he'll be out of commission for 3-4 months.

Obviously that means he won't be able to go to the World Cup in Qatar in two weeks.  He had an outside chance to make the roster being announced on Wednesday, though most experts seemed to think he'd be one of the final names left off the list.  Still only Gregg Berhalter and Jedi Robinson really know the extent of his injury and Vines is the best pure LB available to back him up so there was certainly the possibility of him being on the plane.  Now, sadly, Sam will have to turn his focus into challenging Robinson for the next 3.5 years to lock up a sot on the 2026 roster.

Sam Vines was really the only hope for a strong Rapids connection on the U.S. roster, depending on how you think of Kellyn Acosta now (personally I don't really think its a strong connection).  Rapids 2 midfielder Daniel Chacon will be on Costa Rica's roster.  Chacon was signed midseason by Rapids 2 and immediately loaned back to hiss Costa Rican team to allow him to focus on the World Cup, so he has yet to play a game in a Rapids kit.  No other current Rapid or Rapid homegrown is expected to be in Qatar.

If there's any silver lining to the Sam Vines news, any reason for me to buy one of the lousy U.S. kits is now out the window.  Now I'll likely get a Japanese or South Korean alternate kit instead.