Photo S ource : FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 4 September 2015 – Toronto, ON, Canada. Canada Soccer / Paul Giamou

After a hectic few days on social media, Pacific FC confirmed that marquee signing Marcel de Jong would likely miss the entire 2019 Canadian Premier League season after rupturing his Achilles tendon during a training session on March 13th.

Marcel de Jong likely out for season, Pacific FC confirms. https://t.co/NHvAd77hIV #CanPL — Kurt Larson (@KurtLarsonCPL) March 16, 2019

In the events leading up to the injury, Pacific FC hired Director of Sports Science, Randy Celebrini. Celebrini joined the club on the team retreat to Tofino, BC, shortly after his hiring and led the team through various training sessions. Celebrini is a highly trained registered-physiotherapist and has worked in many top-tier sports leagues including the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer. It is also worth noting that Celebrini is specialized in orthopedic injuries. Pacific FC returned to The Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence in Victoria on March 11th. Two days later, Marcel de Jong sustained his injury. Rumours began circulating on Twitter shortly after, stating that de Jong suffered a serious injury on the training ground. Pacific FC confirmed the injury on March 15th, with Randy Celebrini stating that de Jong underwent successful surgery for his ruptured Achilles tendon and that he would likely not play for Pacific FC this season.

Honestly seeing this breaks my heart but it’s amazing to see the team caring for one another after only being teamamates for months and perhaps weeks i.e. Lukas and Issey. There is a real bond at @Pacificfccpl on and off the pitch. #WinItForMarcel 💪🏻

Via Marcel’s Instagram pic.twitter.com/TyDnVK8UBO — PFCOntario (@PFCOntario) March 16, 2019

Marcel de Jong was visited by teammates Lukas MacNaughton, Marcus Haber, Victor Blasco, Ben Fisk, and Issey Nakajima-Farran in the hospital following his operation and he still seemed optimistic about the future and his recovery.

“Sometimes injuries are out of your control, but you can control the attitude you have towards your recovery”. -Marcel de Jong following his surgery via @marcel91011-Instagram

Marcel De Jong’s injury is a devastating blow to Pacific FC, the CPL, and the Canadian Men’s National Team. de Jong, who has 56 international caps to his name was going to be a key player for Pacific FC and was regarded as one of the biggest CPL signings to date. The only other injury he suffered involving his Achilles tendon was in 2014, while he was still playing for FC Augsburg, however, it only kept him out for a single game. This will likely be the longest period of time that he will be kept on the sidelines, with his previous longest injury being a syndesmotic ligament tear that kept him out for 14 games during the 2011 Bundesliga season

de Jong’s sudden injury sheds light onto the club adding left-back Elyad Shojaei to the pre-season trialist list after it was initially posted. Shojaei has spent the last four seasons playing in the Vancouver Metro Soccer League. Pacific FC currently has seven defenders on trial and the club will surely want to create depth on the back-line after losing de Jong for the season. Inaugural signing Kadin Chung does have experience at left-back and Matthew Baldismo has played as a right-back, but the club will likely sign some of the defenders on trial.

All of us at Northern Starting XI wish Marcel de Jong a speedy recovery. Thanks for reading and as always, #ForTheIsle.

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Maxwell Mowbray Maxwell is a University of Guelph alumni who started watching football in his first year of university. Though his undergrad was in music, sports journalism has always been one of his interests. Max decided to support Pacific FC due to family past on the west coast, leading him to create his Twitter page, @PFCOntario. Though he is 3300 km away from Westhills Stadium, Maxwell is a dedicated PFC fan and member of the Lake Side Buoys. You can often find Maxwell scouring through the lower leagues of Football Manager games.

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