



Milton Valenzuela knew it right away. Something serious had happened.

In a preseason practice Feb. 3, 2019, the Crew left back was in the box when a cross was whipped in from the right side. When the player who jumped to attempt a header came down, he landed on Valenzuela’s knee.

"I heard a 'crack, crack' and I couldn't move my knee," Valenzuela told The Dispatch through an interpreter. "I was just screaming because I couldn't move my knee."

The 19-year-old designated player was an integral part in the Crew’s 2018 season while on loan from Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys. The Crew paid a transfer fee to permanently acquire Valenzuela after the season and locked in their left back for the foreseeable future.

But Valenzuela was left to watch from the suites at Mapfre Stadium as the Crew struggled through a stretch of 13 losses in 15 games in 2019, balancing his desperation to get back onto the field and praying to have the patience to work through a year without doing what he loves.

On Monday, Valenzuela will be on the plane with his team again for preseason with a healed knee and cleared for full training. He will carry with him the same number of questions as expectations about what type of player he will be once he returns to the field March 1.

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"I think mostly it's being confident and knowing that my knee is OK," he said in his first interview since the injury. "Just trying to get back to that intensity and aggressiveness."

Once officially examined in Chula Vista, California, last year, Valenzuela was told he might have ruptured his ACL and MCL. With the language barrier, Valenzuela didn’t quite understand and didn’t want to hear the worst.

"I was trying to gain confidence to ask him and just really hoping that he would say I didn't need surgery," he said.

After surgery in Columbus, Valenzuela couldn’t run or jump for six months. He spent two to three hours a day rehabilitating at Orthopedic One, on top of at-home exercises to strengthen his quad and hamstring.

In the months before he could really do anything, Valenzuela was on crutches, watching practice and longing to be out there. He leaned on some of his closest friends on the team like Artur, Federico Higuain, Eduardo Sosa and Gaston Sauro for support. Crew owner and former team doctor Pete Edwards would stop by and chat.

The injury required a lot of patience. He had support, but was largely on his own. Once Higuain suffered a torn ACL in late May, the two Argentines had each other to console and motivate to come back from the injury stronger than before.

Valenzuela also meticulously analyzed games he watched in Europe, Argentina and MLS. Between games, he spent time learning English in the locker room and learning more about his teammates’ lives away from soccer.

"I'm not a big talker … so when (the injury) happened I wasn't able to be on the field to help," Valenzuela said. "That's something I'm working on is I tried to fix that."

Valenzuela went back to Argentina in August for his birthday. Shortly after, he began running and jumping — actually doing things soccer players do. It was a breakthrough moment, but a short-lived thrill at that. Those little moments are great, he said, but they’re a bunch of little steps to get back to the player that still has untapped potential.

"When it comes down to it," Valenzuela said, "I just have to make sure that I give my all physically and just give everything that's in me to help the team however I can."

Valenzuela said he’ll still have to learn what coach Caleb Porter wants from him. Knowing how Porter likes to use outside backs in the offense, Valenzuela will have a key role on the team this season.

"He's flying down the left flank and getting service in," Porter said, "so that's going to create a whole new dimension for us."

When Valenzuela sees a defender going for a 50-50 ball, he winces a bit thinking about his own injury. That’s the mental side of the injury only time will heal.

But he’s done thinking about his injury. He has sat out long enough.

jmyers@dispatch.com

@Jacob_Myers_25