Americans Abroad

Berhalter suffers serious setback to recovery; O'Brien returns to light training.

Because of complications, Gregg Berhalter (right) has needed three surgeries after suffering a broken nose and cheekbone from an inadvertent teammate's elbow. -- Energie Cottbus web site photo --

By Gary Davidson (in Washington, D.C.)
and Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Friday, July 16, 2004) -- Gregg Berhalter will miss most or all of the United States men's semifinal World Cup qualifying, as well as the start of the German season as injury woes continue to plague the veteran defender.

Berhalter, 31, will be out at least another six weeks after he underwent two additional surgeries because of a complications from an initial operation to correct nose and cheekbone fractures he suffered playing for Energie Cottbus in Germany. Additionally, Berhalter needed to have surgery to repair a hernia.

In Cottbus' 2-0 loss to host SpVgg Unterhaching May 16 in Germany's 2Bundesliga, Berhalter was victimized by an inadvertent elbow to the nose from teammate Zsolt Löw when both jumped to head a loose ball. Berhalter gushed blood and was taken immediately to a hospital in Munich for corrective surgery.

On a recent plane flight to visit his family in Tenafly, N.J., the cabin pressure apparently caused Berhalter nasal complications, requiring two more operations to fix the problem. It was unclear when Berhalter developed the hernia problem.

The U.S. will play six games in its four-nation semifinal qualifying group, starting August 18 and ending November 17. Under a best-case scenario, Berhalter would miss the August 18 match at Jamaica and probably a September 4 home game against with El Salvador and a September 8 trip to Panama.

Considering Berhalter would need to regain game fitness, it would seem unlikely he could be ready for the October 9 game in El Salvador, and home games on October 13 against Panama and November 17 against Jamaica.

A U.S. Soccer Federation official said today that Berhalter remains in the pool of players for selection to play in qualifiers.

Berhalter has 34 international appearances for the U.S., 26 of them starts, including two in the 2002 World Cup. However, with the emergence of such young defenders as Carlos Bocanegra and Cory Gibbs, Berhalter, who has only five caps since the World Cup, has an uphill battle to regain his job.

Cottbus has already started preseason training with its August 7 season-opener at 1.FC Köln only three weeks away.

After a losing almost all of the 2003-04 season to a variety of injuries, John O'Brien hopes to return to his old form for the United States men and Ajax of Amsterdam. -- Ajax web site photo --

After spending much of the summer resting and rehabilitating both in Europe and at home in California, O'Brien has returned to light training with Ajax of Amsterdam which opens defense of its Dutch Eredivisie championship August 15 at FC Twente.

After injuring both Achilles heels and his left hamstring at different times, O'Brien, 26, was limited to playing four matches -- all starts -- for Ajax last season.

O'Brien still has a way to go. He did not dress for Saturday's preseason opener, a 5-1 victory over the amateur side FC Omniworld in Almere.

O'Brien has 21 appearances and 17 starts for the U.S. men, but has earned only one cap in 2003 and 2004 because of his ailments.

Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor. E-mail Gary Davidson. Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent. E-mail Robert Wagman.