In the latest of an increasing number of Yanks to be hit with Covid-related interruptions, Borussia Mönchengladbach starting defender Joe Scally is being isolated after a positive test, according to the team.
The Foals announced the positive result for the 18 year-old American and his fellow defender Mamadou Doucouré on their website on Thursday afternoon, with no specific timeline for their return.
The club confirmed that the pair are joining teammates Denis Zakaria and Keanan Bennetts on the quarantine list. “There were positive results for Joe Scally and Mamadou Doucouré. The pair must now enter quarantine,” they stated, reassuring “all four players are doing well, however.”
With eight days still remaining until ‘Gladbach returns to action next Friday with a difficult visit to league leaders FC Bayern, there is some chance, albeit a small one, that this result won’t impact Scally’s availability for any of their January schedule.
Unlike many of the other European leagues, the Bundesliga has a relatively calm schedule in January with only three league games and a DFB Pokal round between their January 7 restart following the holidays, and their final games prior to the international break on the weekend of January 22-23.
The New York-born defender has been one of the biggest surprises of the current season, earning a place in the team’s starting eleven barely eight months after arriving in Germany, and starting all 17 of their Bundesliga games so far this season, with a number of standout performances.
This led to his call-up to the USMNT by head coach Gregg Berhalter for the November window for World Cup qualification. While he didn’t make his debut in either of the team’s games, he is considered likely, if not certain to be brought in for the international window starting in late-January, and is widely seen as an outside candidate to push for a starting position in the final year before 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
