FRISCO, Texas – No athlete ever wants to be labeled as injury-prone.
But as he enters his second full season in MLS, FC Dallas’ Mauro Diaz is getting closer and closer to receiving that tag. After playing in only 17 matches due to various maladies last season, Diaz has already missed his first game of the young 2015 season, not playing in Saturday’s scoreless draw against Seattle due to a leg injury.
Now, after not participating in training on Tuesday and Wednesday, he appears to be in danger of missing this weekend’s contest at Portland (Sat., 10:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE).
Diaz has been placed on a special training regimen that is routinely separate from the rest of the team.
The young Argentine has trained on the side for much of the season so far, doing individualized strength and weight training, core work, and aerobics assigned to him by first-year strength and conditioning coach Fabian Bazan.
Keeping Diaz healthy was a priority for FCD head coach Oscar Pareja entering the season, which is why the Dallas staff has created a unique program for him.
“The way we plan it, it’s not just about tomorrow,” Pareja said about Diaz’s special training schedule. “We’re getting the bigger picture into our methodology and trying to get the individual better, trying to do the preventive part.
“So far it’s working, so we can keep going that way.”
Although Diaz has missed time on gameday and during the week, Pareja insists that it is all part of a master plan to make sure he can last through the end of the year. Part of that plan was playing him a full 90 minutes on multiple occasions in the preseason to get him used to a full workload.
While he was able to stay fit through Dallas’ first two games of the season, Diaz left the team’s 2-0 victory over Philadelphia on March 21 with soreness in his leg and has been held to the side ever since.
“We’ve decided to be careful over the next two weeks and work on different aspects to strengthen his body in order to keep him healthy,” Pareja said.
Even before the recent injury, Diaz hardly looked like the player he was while healthy in 2014, lacking the flash and playmaking ability that led many to believe the former River Plate midfielder would be a breakout player this season.
While he hasn’t quite been at his best this year, his teammates still have plenty of confidence in him.
Now it’s up to Diaz and the club to make sure he returns – and stays – at 100 percent.
“I think he’s comfortable, it’s just his body is a little bit injured still,” forward Tesho Akindele said. “It’s tough for everybody in that situation.
“He gets the job done on the field, so that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”
