Columbus Crew’s mission to get into playoff consideration this season has just become a lot harder. The team announced on Friday that Argentinian midfielder Federico Higuain underwent knee surgery for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and will most likely miss the entire 2019 MLS season.
Higuain tore his ACL in a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids last Saturday, leaving the field in the second half after providing the assists for the team’s second goal. The 34-year-old played 14 games in MLS this season, having scored one goal and contributed with three assists.
Considering the fact that Higuain is a key player in the team’s midfield, his injury represents devastating news for Crew, as the team is trying to get out of the slump they find themselves in lately. Columbus lost eight out of their last nine games, which caused them to slip to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Federico Higuain joined Columbus Crew in 2012 and is currently team’s longest-tenured player on the roster. In the past eight years, he played a total of 193 regular-season games with the team and managed to score 55 goals. Higuain’s 63 assists during that period make him the franchise’s all-time assist leader.
It remains unclear whether the game against Rapid is the last we saw of Higuain in Crew’s jersey. He considered retirement after 2018 MLS season but ended up signing a new one-year deal with the team. We will have to wait until the end of the year to find out will he recover enough (or wish) to get another one.
