The San Jose Earthquakes suffered a costly home loss to Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night, and the result was made more painful by the loss of striker Quincy Amarikwa to a potentially serious knee injury just seconds after the opening whistle.
Making his first start in over a month, Amarikwa raced into the Sporting penalty box in pursuit of Jordan Stewart's cross as the Quakes ventured forward on the first possession of the match. Leaping to get a touch on the delivery, Amarikwa made contact with SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia as he dived to parry the ball and landed awkwardly on his left leg, collapsing in the goalmouth in obvious pain.
The striker was carted off the field and replaced by Henok Goitom.
“I know I tore something,” Amarikwa told the San Jose Mercury News, which also reported that he will undergo an MRI scan on Monday. “It was a case of bad timing.”
San Jose would concede a late winner by Kevin Ellis to fall 2-1, a serious setback in their pursuit of the playoffs that coach Dominic Kinnear called “pretty crushing.”
Amarikwa later took to Twitter to reassure fans that he “feeling much better.”
