Rapids center back Shane O’Neill had his injured right knee scanned again Wednesday, as the team tries to determine when it might get the 20-year-old homegrown player back in the lineup.
“It hasn’t really improved over the course of five weeks,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve got to take another scan and see if there’s anything else going on. So, he’s out.”
The Rapids are waiting to find out when Shane O’Neill might be able to return to the lineup.
O’Neill sprained his right knee blocking a shot against Columbus Crew on July 4. He played on it a week later in Philadelphia, but hasn’t played since.
“We’ll get the diagnosis and move forward with that, but at this point he’s not available,” Mastroeni said Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t clear when the new results would be made public.
The Rapids have won once in the five games O’Neill has missed since July 12, losing the other four. O’Neill also missed the inaugural MLS Homegrown game (part of the All-Star game festivities) in Portland.
“Like every team in this league, you’re going to have games or weeks and now it looks like months where we’re cut short,” Mastroeni said. “The guys got to really dig in deep and play in positions where maybe they’re not the most comfortable but where they’re going to contribute to this team the best at the moment, given the circumstances.”
With O’Neill out, Marvell Wynne has slid over from right back to center back beside captain Drew Moor, with Chris Klute at right back and Marc Burch at left back.
“We’ve won with this back line, we’ve had shutouts with this back line,” Mastroeni said.
