Santos suffers another injury setback

After scoring a stoppage time winner in Kansas City on a rehab assignment with Bethlehem Steel, Philadelphia Union striker Sergio Santos has suffered another injury setback, this time to his knee.

“He did good in kind of a wild game against Swope Park,” head coach Jim Curtin said during his weekly press conference on Wednesday. “Good for him to get minutes, good for him to score.”

Santos’ goal in second half stoppage time gave the Steel its second win of the season by a 4-3 final scoreline.

“Felt like we’re making forward progress and then maybe had a little bit of a setback with a little issue in his knee,” Curtin said.

Curtin added that it’s related to a previous knee injury. The 24-year-old striker missed some time in preseason with soreness in his knee but it was a grad 2 hip flexor injury that has kept him out of the Union lineup since his second appearance off the bench in week 2 in Kansas City.

“We’ll get pictures taken, an MRI, and then we’ll assess where that’s at, but unfortunately he trained yesterday but wasn’t able to train today, kind of out of the picture right now,” Curtin said.

Kacper Przybylko, who had been out with a broken toe after scoring in the Steel’s first game, is back fully training. Curtin said he expects him to get minutes this weekend with Steel and when he gets back to full fitness will push to get into the 18 with the first team.