Cameron Porter Out for the Year

News came out today that Cameron Porter broke his fibula and suffered ligament damage in his right ankle during practice on Tuesday. This is the second major injury of Porter’s professional soccer career. In 2015 Porter tore his ACL in his left leg and missed a year. This injury seems likely to have a prolonged recovery period.

Porter came to Sporting KC in a surprise trade in 2016 for second year man Amadou Dia, who has since left Montreal and plays for Phoenix Rising FC in the USL. With Porter being near the bottom of the roster and taking a second harsh injury, one has to wonder if this is the end of the road for the 24-year-old.

Whether Cameron decides to come back to soccer after this injury or not, Sporting Kansas City have taken their second loss at the forward position in the last week. Of course last week’s trade of Dom Dwyer to Orlando City SC feels more significant in the short term, but the loss of Porter suddenly leaves Sporting with much less depth.

It is nothing like 2016 when there was essentially no depth at forward causing players like Connor Hallisey and Jacob Peterson to rack up significant injuries. Here is a look at where the positions stand as of today.

Center Forwards: Diego Rubio, Latif Blessing, Soony Saad, Cameron Iwasa

Wingers: Gerso Fernandes, Blessing, Saad, Jimmy Medranda, Daniel Salloi, Cristian Lobato, Tyler Pasher*, Graham Zusi*

*They are listed as defenders, but could easily move back up to the wing.

That is 10 players to cover three positions. The loss of Porter probably impacts practice more than an actual game. Porter only has 21 league minutes in 2017, so it seems unlikely he’d have gotten on the field much, even with Dwyer being gone.

Further injuries, especially to Rubio, Blessing, Gerso or Salloi could really hurt this lineup as they are clearly the top four guys across the front at this point. Medranda spent plenty of (ineffective) time on the wing earlier this season and Saad and Lobato seem capable, but this really feels like a team that could use a big signing.

At this point everything remains quiet on the Krisztian Nemeth front. He has until August 9th to join the club during the secondary transfer window.

We’ll keep you updated.