USMNT’s Goalie Zack Steffen Injures His Knee Once Again

Zack Steffen in 2017
Zack Steffen with Columbus Crew SC in 2017. Photo by Anthony Nesmith/Csm/REX/Shutterstock (8826857x)

The return to training didn’t go well for United States national team goalkeeper Zack Steffen. According to his club Fortuna Dusseldorf, Steffen suffered another knee injury which will keep him out indefinitely.

Steffen hasn’t played since December due to kneecap issues and has only recovered in full recently. However, the 25-year-old didn’t manage to stay healthy for long, as he suffered knee ligament damage during one of the first training sessions since Bundesliga got suspended due to coronavirus pandemic.

The club’s sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel told reporters that Steffen’s current injury isn’t connected to the kneecap issues he had before.

“With Zack Steffen it is particularly annoying,” said Pfannenstiel on Monday. “We had only just got a grip on his patellar tendon problems thanks to hard work.”

Zack Steffen is currently on a year-long loan in Fortuna from Manchester City. He started the 2019/20 Bundesliga season as the club’s first choice at goalkeeper and managed to make 17 appearances before the injury. During that time, he made 64 saves and had two clean sheets.

Despite Bundesliga still being suspended, soccer players in Germany returned to training in limited participation. The league intends to resume the competition next month, but this will largely depend on several factors related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.   

Harley loves music and tries to go to a music festival every summer. When he's not listening to music, he writes about movies, food and wine, art, and sport.