IMAGE, MATT KREMKAU FOR EMPIRE OF SOCCER

by DAVE MARTINEZ

The New York Red Bulls are following a festive victory over the Houston Dynamo with some dour news.

According to team communication specialist Eric Giacometti, Red Bulls boss Jesse Marsch revealed that Gideon Baah, Gonzalo Veron and Ronald Zubar suffered “significant” injuries and are listed as “week-to-week.”

“If we were playing this weekend, they wouldn’t be available,” Marsch said. “We’ll just see how we get through next week and then eventually evaluate where we are from there.

“They’re not so significant that we feel they’ll be gone for major amounts of time, but it’s week-to-week at this point.”

The trio of injuries happened during the team’s 4-3 victory over the Dynamo at Red Bull Arena this weekend. After starting the match and playing a vibrant role in the attack, Veron fell to injury in the 31st minute of action with an apparent hamstring issue. Thirteen minutes later, Gideon Baah was challenging for a ball near the Red Bulls defensive third, when suddenly his leg gave way, forcing the Ghanain defender to hop off the end line and crumble into a heap. He later came off the pitch with tears in his eyes, and ended the night hopping towards the South Ward for the team’s customary curtain call. The oft-injured Zubar was the last to fall, also from a hamstring issue.

Of the three, Marsch lamented putting Veron “in a position to re-injure the same thing.” The Argentine sparkplug re-aggravated his initial injury which kept him out for two games.

“If I were to guess, I’d say Ronald [is the most optimistic] but I’m not sure. We’ll see. It’s unfortunate for Gonzalo more than anything,” Marsch continued. “We’ll miss him because he provides something, and I certainly thought he had a good start to [Saturday’s] game. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll get him healthy and get him back and pick it up where he left off. That’s who I feel for more than anybody is Gonzalo just because he’s really established himself with our team, so it’s unfortunate the timing of the injury.”



Karl Ouimette, Connor Lade and Mike Grella all came off the bench and sparked the Red Bulls to an unexpected victory. This trio will likely get the call again when the Red Bulls return to action on April 1st against the New England Revolution at Gilette Stadium. Kemar Lawrence, meanwhile, made a change from his natural leftback position to centerback, covering for the paper thin defense. Draftee Zach Carroll is also an option at the spot.