Posted on August 17, 2012
By Kristian R. Dyer
Tropigol.com Contributing Editor
HARRISON, N.J. – The headline keeps getting recycled every month or so: Rafa Marquez is out, likely missing a couple weeks.
Marquez is again out with a calf injury, the Red Bulls designated player tweeting on Thursday night that he will be sidelined for three weeks with an unspecified injury. On Friday morning following training, Red Bulls coach Hans Backe confirmed that it was a calf injury that will keep the player out until September. It is the same injury that Marquez has struggled with throughout the season.
“His calf, he’s struggling with his calf. He will get some treatment for three, four days,” Backe said.
“I’m not quite sure and I can’t speculate how long he will be [out with] it but he struggles with his calf.”
A former star at Barcelona and a Mexican international, Marquez has played nine games with eight starts, tallying a total of 607 minutes. Based off his $4.6 million salary, the second highest on the Red Bulls, Marquez has earned $7,578.25 per minute played. The return on investment for New York is shockingly bad.
Backe was asked if this is the type of investment he expects from a designated player.
“Probably too early to say. It hasn’t been many games this year and he had a tough [go] last season, played around 50 percent for us,” Backe said.
“Probably the toughest thing is for the player to pick up these injuries.”
Since joining the Red Bulls mid-summer 2010, Marquez has made only 38 appearances with the Major League Soccer club, including a substitution appearance last Friday night. Marquez had a brief cameo in the 2-0 win over Houston in what was supposed to be a match that ushered him back into serious playing time.
Instead, the injury list – and not a New York kit – is his new home for the future.
“It is a concern of course. When you pick up these calf injuries and it looks like, when we talk to the trainers, he will be out two to three weeks,” Backe said.
“Then it takes time to come back if he stays fresh.”
Then back to the injury list again, surely.
Photo: A calf injury keeps getting the better of Rafa Marquez. Photo courtesy of the Red Bulls
Categories: Mexico, North America
Tags: Barcelona, Hans Backe, Mexican National Team, New York Red Bulls, Rafa Marquez
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