The Angle Don’t Call It a Comeback: Jamie Watson’s Path from ACL Tear to the Box Score by Jeff Rueter on 23 September 2016

The May 16, 2015 fixture between Indy Eleven and visiting Minnesota United started off like any other match for Jamie Watson.

Starting on the right wing in Manny Lagos’s 4-2-3-1, Watson played a major part in the first half’s attack. In the 7th�minute, he nearly was on the end of a Justin Davis cross that would’ve opened the scoring. In the 22nd minute, he was the recipient of a hard foul just outside of the box, creating a free-kick that was converted by former Loon Kalif Alhassan. In the 33rd, he had another shot on goal that was punched away by Keith Cardona.

The script came to an abrupt halt in the 45th minute.

Without the cameras watching, Watson was tracking back on a defensive run when he fell to the ground. A non-contact injury, Watson was clutching his right knee and shouting in pain. Immediately, he feared the worst.

“You just knew something worse had happened. It hurt, but I was instantly in shock about it. Your mind goes to the worst thing right away.”

“I remember the noise. I remember the feeling like no other injury I’ve had,” Watson reflected after Wednesday’s United training. “You just knew something worse had happened. It hurt, but I was instantly in shock about it. Your mind goes to the worst thing right away.

“The Indy doctor told me he was doing a test that was 95% likely to tell if it’s�an ACL injury or not. So he does it, he moves my knee. As soon as he does it, he looks up at me and says ‘I’m sorry.’ I’ll be honest: that’s one of the last times I’ve cried in my life.”

The ACL tear has always been an athlete’s bogeyman, a sort of worst-case scenario. In the last ten years, surgical procedures and improvements in ACL rehabilitation have allowed many more athletes a second chance at their careers. Famously, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson tore his ACL in December 2011 and was the team’s feature running back 260 days later. In 2015, the French Alpine Ski Team published a study�boasting�that 23% of their athletes who tore their ACL made it to a medaling position in the sport.

At 29, Watson was at a crossroads in his career. While ACL tears can be damning to a player’s career, he never lost faith that he’d return. “I tried to tell myself that there was a reason this was happening and that God’s got a plan. I trusted that. I’m glad I told myself that, because I probably would’ve gone crazy thinking about why it happened to me.”

The Road to Recovery

Watson underwent season-ending surgery later that week, with the operation performed by Dr. Corey Wulf. Going into the procedure, he knew his career was in the balance. “I thought I would be back. I can see why other people might have doubted it, but at the same time that was a reason why I pushed through it.”

He also was in the midst of another, equally earth-shaking life event: the upcoming birth of his first child, Cade. For many players, one of their most cherished moments on the pitch is walking around the field with their children after a match. Landon Donovan’s recent comeback was sparked in part by his desire to achieve this for the first time. Likewise, Jamie Watson wanted to have this unique experience.

With doubters building up numbers, Watson began his rehabilitation slowly. “I remember the first couple of weeks, I couldn’t lift my leg. My wife was pregnant at the time and she would have to literally walk around the car to me, help lift my leg in, close the passenger’s door, then do it all again to help me out of the car. It was literally that bad.”

For many players, one of their most cherished moments on the pitch is walking around the field with their children after a match. Landon Donovan’s recent comeback was sparked by his desire to achieve this for the first time. Likewise, Jamie Watson wanted to have this unique experience.

“I didn’t kick a ball for several months. I remember lifting my leg for the first time. My wife was in the other room, and I just started screaming ‘Caley! Caley!’ She comes running in thinking that something is wrong; I haven’t been able to get off the couch in weeks, and all I’m able to do is ‘Look!’ [lifts right leg one in in the air] And that was it. But it was like the most exciting moment for me.”

“A New Challenge”

On the field, Watson has had a successful career already. After playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels (and earning many US Youth National Team caps), Watson was drafted 13th overall by Real Salt Lake. (If you’re curious, here’s his rookie journal from MLSsoccer.com and another one from his US U-20 days.) He’s one of the few players who’s scored in all four divisions of US Soccer between his days in RSL, Minnesota United, Orlando City, and the PDL’s former member Austin Aztex. No matter the stop, health hadn’t been an issue.

“The one thing I kept in mind this whole time was that this was the first major injury I’d had in my career. It was something new for me in 11 years of playing. It was a new challenge for me in my career. In sense, it was reinvigorating for me. I had no idea what my timeline would be, how soon I could start doing different things. For weeks, my rehab would just consist of [former trainer] Yoshi Ono driving out to my house and helping me re-learn how to squeeze my quad muscle.

“It seems like forever, but that was just over 12�months ago.”

“The one thing I kept in mind this whole time was that this was the first major injury I’d had in my career. It was something new for me in 11 years of playing.” – Jamie Watson

While he was unable to make his return during 2015, he was pushing ahead at all cylinders during the 2016 preseason. Training as hard as ever, players and coaches alike had to admit that it looked like Watson was back to his usual fitness. However, he struggled for playing time in the spring, starting once during the 10-game stretch. Not wanting to risk rushing what traditionally is a 12-month recovery process, Watson was eased into the United game plan.

“The coaching staff was entirely fair to me. For the first month I was back, they were all genuinely shocked how well I was doing given the fact that I was coming back to play for the first time. I think a lot of that was the exuberance of being back, finally being able to run around and I could do things that other guys weren’t quite doing yet. After the first month, fatigue set in a little bit. Other guys were getting into form and I was on the decline.”

As the Fall Season rolled around, Watson’s consistent training form coupled with injuries to regular starter Danny Cruz allowed him a re-entry into the XI. He made sure to take his chance, adding an element to the attack on the right.

“It took him a couple of games to get his legs going, but he’s got a constant engine,” striker Christian Ramirez analyzed. “He’s probably up there on the team in terms of meters ran per match. He’s finding himself in good areas and he’s reading the game well. As he gets more time, he’s going to keep getting sharper and converting more of the chances he creates. He’s been dangerous and I think that’s something that we need.”

Completing the Comeback

While this past weekend’s loss to Ottawa was a bitter one for the club, it’s impossible to deny that there were individual successes for Watson.

It meant so much having my @ERHSsoccer2016 Raptors there to watch me last night! Hope coach Jamie made y'all proud! https://t.co/lGlY1kJNkB — Jamie Watson (@jamiewatson77) September 18, 2016

With the East Ridge High School girls team (for which Watson is the head coach) in attendance, Watson was once again in the starting lineup. In the 30th minute, Ramirez found a pass�from a turnover and booted it up-field in a truly world-class pass. The rest was up to Watson.

His goal put the crowd into a frenzy, a testament to all of the belief he had kept, the work of Wulf, Ono, and the training staff, and his drive through all of the turmoil. Head coach Carl Craig admitted that he was “really pleased for Watson to get that goal. I would hate for Jamie to think that was an own goal. (laughing) You know what? The beauty of it was that he didn’t have his cleanest touch, but he kept fighting. He forced the keeper�into an error, got a second touch, and banged it onto goal. After the great pass, he made it happen. I have to tip my hat to that. It was tremendous.”

With seven matches left in the season and a major question about what 2017 holds, Watson is going to take every chance he has to make this season a good one. Citing a desire to make the playoffs, it’s foolish to doubt Watson and Minnesota’s drive down the home-stretch.

As far as his previous goal to play in front of Cade?

“He may not remember it, but my son was in the stands on Saturday night when it happened. The only regret I have is that my wife is pregnant again and I got so excited about scoring that I forgot to do the celebration where I put the ball under my shirt. As soon as I got back to midfield, I remembered. I started thinking ‘oh crap.’

“So now I have to score another one.”

Tags: ACL, Jamie Watson, Minnesota United FC