Fabian Espindola sprains MCL, out six weeks

Things cannot be all milk and honey for D.C. United during the World Cup break, as word came out this morning that MVP candidate Fabian Espindola suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee and will be out for six weeks.

According to the team, the injury occurred seconds after kickoff when Felipe Martins came in hard on a challenge (the video can be seen at the beginning of the highlights package here). Assuming we look at six weeks from the injury date, he misses D.C. games against Seattle and Chivas, bookending road games in Toronto and San Jose. One would likely further assume he would not be part of the friendly against Fulham, which would make his first game 7/30 home against Toronto FC, barring any announcement of CONCACAF Champions League games.

While talk (and rightly so) revolved around Espindola's subsequent raking of his studs over Martins' achilles, the Martins challenge should merit examination as well. Updates on the injury and punishment as they come in.