The word filtered out early Wednesday evening and has since been confirmed: Canadian midfielder Josh Simpson has broken his leg and will miss next month's World Cup qualifiers against Cuba and Honduras (and possibly the ones in September and October as well).
The injury is a significant blow to a Canadian team that has often struggled to produce goals, and will surely cause head coach Stephen Hart to do some thinking about his lineup selection and tactics.
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During a conference call earlier this month, Hart told reporters that one of Mike Klukowski, Ante Jazic or Ashtone Morgan (the three leftbacks on the squad) could see playing time outside of their normal position. With Simpson now out, is it possible one of these left-footed players could be pushed up into the midfield?
As for who will fill Simpson's spot on the roster, the name coming to the minds of many Canadian fans has been Randy Edwini-Bonsu. The 22-year-old completed a move to the 2.Bundesliga earlier this year, and represented Canada in the Olympic qualifying tournament before infamously being sent off following a confrontation with match officials.
Hart had considered including Edwini-Bonsu on the roster from the start, but also said he wished he'd seen more of him at the Olympic qualifying tournament -- a not-too-subtle allusion to the red card incident. With Simpson now injured, the speedy attacker might just be receiving a call from Hart some time soon.
One man who did receive a call from Hart is D.C. United defender Dejan Jakovic, who was officially added to the roster earlier this week.
What do you think? How significant is Simpson's injury to Canada's chances in next month's games? Will Hart need to revise his tactics? Who, if anyone, will replace Simpson on the roster?
Updates (May 24, 2012):
Here is a link to the original article about the injury, run through Google Translate.
And if you want to send Josh your best wishes for a speedy recovery, leave a note on this thread on the Voyageurs message board. It will be delivered to Simpson.
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