A seemingly scary injury suffered by Club América and USMNT attacker Alejandro Zendejas is not serious and will not lead to any missed time, according to reports out of Mexico.
The recent USMNT convert went down shortly before the half in Friday’s win over Juarez with an apparent hamstring pull, showing considerable pain as he left the field. The game was the final of the regular season for América, and secured them second place heading into the post-season Liguilla.
While there were considerable fears that his pained reaction was a sign of a serious injury that would lead to significant time off, further examinations over the weekend have given a far more optimistic scenario.
Mexican outlet Récord has confirmed with the team that the injury is only a minor strain, and will not cause him to miss any games in the team’s upcoming final title push.
Conveniently, they will have nearly a two-week break until their first game of the Liguilla phase in mid-May. This should allow Zendejas enough time to recover and be ready for their first leg of the quarterfinal round, according to the Récord report.
The top four teams in the Liga MX standings skip the initial play-in phase, meaning that Zendejas and his teammates will next suit up on on May 13/14 for the first leg, and three days later for the second leg in their home of Estadio Azteca.
The news will come as a major relief for USMNT fans, who also saw national team prospect Malik Tillman go down over the weekend with an apparent hamstring injury ahead of a summer with two trophies on the line.
Zendejas would have been a significant loss to the team, having emerged as a potential starting option in the Americans’ attack in recent months. During the last set of CONCACAF Nations League games in March, he scored his first international goal against Grenada, and slotted into a full-strength starting XI in the narrow win over El Salvador.
