In the eighth minute of stoppage time on Saturday afternoon’s 1-1 draw against the Columbus Crew, goalkeeper Stefan Frei suffered an injury during a collision on a Crew free kick. Frei received treatment on the field before leaving the stadium in an ambulance as the match ended.
Head Coach Brian Schmetzer addressed the media in his post-match press conference and provided an update on Frei.
"Stefan is being evaluated for a head and neck injury,” said Schmetzer. “He got hit pretty hard. We're in the early stages of that evaluation. As soon as we get a definitive, a real, good clarity on the extent of the injury, we'll give you more. I don't want to speculate. He is going to the hospital, but he is fine. He was alert when he was loaded onto the ambulance. His fingers were moving. He was OK in that regard…I'm very happy for our medical staff because they did a good job to be careful. We can't underestimate that type of stuff."
Frei’s teammates expressed their support in the locker-room after the match.
“We know Stef, he's resilient,” said Cristian Roldan. “He's going to fight his way back, and having gone through concussions [myself] before, you know he's going to get all the support he needs, and he's going to be better in no time. But you know the most important thing after an injury like this is to give him space and be patient and listen to his body, his brain, his symptoms, and in the end, he's going to be just fine.”
“He's a fighter,” said Paul Rothrock. “He's done so much for this club, so much for us. So, hopefully a couple of us are going to try and go [see] him this evening.”
The club will continue to provide updates as more information is available.
