The New York Red Bulls have announced that starting center back Damien Perinelle will miss the remainder of the MLS Cup Playoffs after suffering a left knee injury in the game against DC United on Sunday. At the time the injury looked very serious as he immediately went down grabbing his knee, and was crying as he was stretchered off the field. His teammates and the ref immediately waived for the Red Bulls doctors to come tend to Perinelle when he went down. Later in the match, he came out of the tunnel with his knee heavily wrapped and using crutches to come sit on the bench for the rest of the match. Red Bulls PR man Jason Baum first reported the news on Twitter. 

Damien Perinelle is a 32-year-old defender who came to the Red Bulls in the summer of 2014. Since his arrival, he has two goals and one assist in 30 games with 11 yellow cards in the process. When Perinelle has starts with one of the best young players in the MLS in Matt Miazga in the back, the Red Bulls are 14-3-3. When another combo of players have started the Red Bulls are a paltry 5-7-3.

The Red Bulls were without Perinelle earlier this season. In August, he was suspended for two games for an incident at Red Bull Arena during the win against New York City FC. In those two games, the Red Bulls were without Perinelle the Red Bulls went 1-1, with a 3-0 win over Toronto FC at Red Bull Arena and a 3-2 loss against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

The Red Bulls tweeted out what the guy that replaced Perinelle on Sunday for the last 40 minutes or so Ronald Zubar and manager Jesse Marsch said about the Perinelle injury. Zubar said, “Let’s make sure we keep going forward for him.” Meanwhile, Marsch said, “Right now we’re just devastated about Damien. It’s time for everyone else to step up. Whoever is getting called on for the day, we believe that they’ll step up and do the job. I’m excited for @zubarronald to step up and establish himself.

The most likely replacement for Damien Perinelle going forward in the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs is Ronald Zubar, who as previously stated replaced him in the game last Sunday. Zubar played well on Sunday at RFK and will try to fill Perinelle’s shoes on the road to what the Red Bulls hope is an MLS Cup Championship. This year Zubar played in 12 games while registering one goal and no assists. He also got one yellow card, but has been injured a few times during his career and this season. 

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Max ONeill
My name Is Max ONeill, I am currently a Senior at York Prep in NYC, I have written for multiple years for my own blog, Max2theMax. I love NYC Sports including the Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, and Giants. Ithaca College Bound!!