Charlotte FC forward Archie Goodwin came off early in the second half against Chicago on Sept. 26, and Dean Smith's first worry was the worst one. "We think it's a toe injury, but I'm not sure at the moment," the Charlotte FC coach said after the 1-0 loss. "My worry was it was an Achilles injury, because he obviously stopped suddenly."
It wasn't the Achilles. It's still bad news.
Goodwin had surgery on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to address a torn plantar plate, the club announced the next day, and he is expected to be out four to five months. The plantar plate is a ligament in the ball of the foot that supports the joints where the toes connect to the foot, according to the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society.
Count four to five months from the surgery and you land between early February and early March. This MLS season ends well before that: the regular season wraps on Nov. 7, and MLS Cup, the league final, is set for Dec. 18. So even a deep Charlotte playoff run would be over before Goodwin's expected return. Folks, that is the season.
Saturday, without two regulars
It starts Saturday at 7:30 p.m., when Charlotte hosts FC Dallas at Bank of America Stadium, the clubs' first meeting in MLS regular-season play. Charlotte will be without Goodwin and without defender Tim Ream, who serves a one-match suspension for the two yellow cards he picked up in stoppage time against Chicago.
Charlotte is 12-8-7 (12 wins, eight losses, seven draws) with 43 points, fifth in the Eastern Conference, and has gone 6-2-4 in league play since MLS paused for this summer's World Cup, according to the club. Seven regular-season matches remain. The match streams on Apple TV.
What Charlotte loses
Goodwin is 21, from Newcastle, Australia, and came to Charlotte from Adelaide United. He has mostly come off the bench (seven starts in 28 appearances in all competitions before the Chicago match, by the club's count), and he has scored in every competition Charlotte has played this season. His first two MLS goals came in the 6-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in March. He scored against the Charlotte Independence, who play a division below MLS in the USL Championship, in the U.S. Open Cup, the national knockout tournament, in April. And he scored against Mexico's Pumas in the Leagues Cup, the tournament between MLS and Mexican clubs, in August. That made five goals in all competitions, three of them in MLS.
He started against Chicago. Forward Tyger Smalls replaced him in the 49th minute.
So the question Smith left hanging after the Chicago match, toe or Achilles, has its answer. The answer just costs Charlotte a forward for the stretch run.