Portland Timbers central defender David Horst is expected to miss the remainder of this season as a result of a broken right leg suffered early in Saturday’s match against the Houston Dynamo at Jeld-Wen Field.
On Monday, Horst had surgery to repair a displaced tibial plateau fracture of his right leg. The surgery was performed by Timbers Director of Medicine Dr. Richard Edelson at Sports Medicine Oregon.
Horst is expected to be sidelined for six months, the team said in announcing Monday’s successful operation.
Horst, 27, is in his third season with the Timbers. After missing time because of a preseason injury, Horst played all of Portland’s match at Colorado on March 30. This injury happened when Horst’s right foot rolled after he sprinted to battle Houston’s Giles Barnes for the ball.
The injury leaves the Timbers with four healthy center backs. Mikael Silvestre and Andrew Jean-Baptiste were the starters before Horst returned to health last week. Rookie Dylan Tucker-Ganges has dressed for several games but has not played in a league match. Futty Danso has not been active for any MLS games yet this season, and on March 18 the Timbers granted Colombian Hanyer Mosquera a leave of absence.
Additionally, the team announced on Monday that Diego Valeri will be evaluated this week under the league’s process for clearing players who suffer head injuries. Valeri took an elbow under his right eye from Houston defender Jermaine Taylor during Saturday’s first half and was unable to continue. The Timbers next play on Sunday at home against San Jose.
• For the second week in a row, a Timbers player was voted the MLS Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters. Striker Ryan Johnson, who scored both goals in Portland’s 2-0 win over Houston, won this week’s vote.
Timbers midfielder Will Johnson won the vote last week after his two goals earned the Timbers a 2-2 draw at Colorado.
