New York City FC defender Anton Tinnerholm’s season could be at an end with what appears to be a serious Achilles injury.
Playing in his side’s 0-0 draw with Nashville SC on Sunday afternoon, the Swedish full-back went down in the 30th minute under no contact while controlling a clearance from goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Tinnerholm was assisted off the field and looked unable to put any weight down on his right leg.
NYCFC boss Ronny Deila stressed it is too soon to make a reliable prognosis, but that it ‘doesn’t look good’ for Tinnerholm, who has been a key part of this side since joining from Malmo in 2018.
“I’m not a doctor of course, but this doesn’t look good,” he said after the match (via MLSsoccer.com). “It’s a big, big chance that his Achilles is off. Then it’s a long, long period [of recovery]. I don’t know, but it looks very, very bad – I have to say that.”
Tinnerholm has notched 122 appearances for NYCFC across all competitions, scoring nine times and providing 22 assists. More importantly, he’s become firmly established as one of the best defensive full-backs in MLS.
?? @AntonTinnerholm ??
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Teammate Taty Castellanos praised Tinnerholm’s importance to NYCFC and promised that he and his teammates will support the Sweden international through his recovery.
“Obviously, it’s sad what happened to him, we’re going to miss him, but we’re going to be with him, we’re going to support him,” the Argentine striker said.
“We don’t know what the results are yet and hopefully it’s nothing too bad, but he’s an important player to the team, he brings a lot of experience. It’s a really bad loss, but we’ll be with him, we’ll support him throughout his recovery and he’ll help us on and off the pitch as well going forward.”
NYCFC are in the thick of a fierce battle for playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. After a two-week break, Deila’s men face Hudson River derby rivals New York Red Bulls.
