Futty Danso, Eric Brunner Undergo Surgery; Won't Play This Saturday

Yesterday the Portland Timbers front office sent out a press release stating that both Futty Danso and Eric Brunner had underwent successful surgery. The former for a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee and the latter for a microfraction in his right ankle. Both players are expected to be out for the next few weeks and neither will be able to take the field this Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Which brings me to my next point: who will play in the extra center defensive role this weekend?

While Hanyer Mosquera would ordinarily fill the spot, his injury in Vancouver this past weekend also leaves him as questionable for the final game of the regular season. As Will stated in his training report yesterday, the Timbers defenders are all gone...

The most likely scenario is that we see rookie Andrew Jean-Baptiste take the field against San Jose, which isn't really a bad thing. Let's be honest, this season is now done. This final game against San Jose is pretty much just for fun. They've already won the Supporters' Shield and the top spot in the 2012 play offs. Nothing is going to change that now. The Timbers have already won the Cascadia Cup and have no possible way to get into the play offs. There's literally nothing on the line.

So if the worst thing that comes out of a few defdensive injuries in that one of the Timbers' most important rookies gets valuable minutes... I'm perfectly fine with that. In fact, let's throw in Sebastian Rincon up top as well for good measure.

Here's the full press release:

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers today announced that defenders Eric Brunner and Futty Danso have each undergone successful surgeries for respective injuries. Timbers Director of Medicine Dr. Jonathan E. Greenleaf performed each of the procedures at Sports Medicine Oregon in Tigard, Ore.

Brunner, 26, underwent microfracture surgery of a chondral lesion in his right ankle Tuesday afternoon. His expected recovery time is 6-8 weeks. Brunner played in 13 matches (10 starts) this season, logging 924 minutes and scoring one goal.

Danso, 29, underwent arthroscopic surgery on Monday for a small lateral meniscus tear in his left knee. His expected recovery period is 4-6 weeks. Danso appeared in 10 matches (9 starts) and played 853 minutes during the regular season and featured in two World Cup qualifiers for The Gambia National Team in 2012.

The Timbers play host to the San Jose Earthquakes in their 2012 regular-season finale Saturday at JELD-WEN Field at 3:30 p.m. (Pacific). The match will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network, with local radio broadcasts available on FM News 101 KXL and in Spanish on La Pantera 940 AM.