Chicharito Lands In Hospital After Sustaining Concussion In Practice

Having gone largely unacknowledged in the history of soccer, a concussion was the diagnosis when Manchester United sent star forward Javier Hernandez, aka Chicharito, to the hospital last night following an accident on the pitch.

There is no doubt that Chicharito will miss tonight's All-Star Game in New Jersey between the MLS and Manchester United, even despite it not being announced as of yet and the Premier League star already being released from the hospital.


Concussions are rarely identified at the time of the injury, but are thought to occur fairly frequently in the game of soccer/football.

Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated wrote an article last fall about the incidences of concussion in soccer:

According to Dr. Robert Cantu, a concussions expert at the Boston University School of Medicine, soccer provides the third-highest number of his patients among professional athletes, behind only football and ice hockey. But unlike those sports, soccer has two big differences: Its players don't wear helmets, and the pro and international games allow only three substitutions per match with no chance to return, putting pressure on teams to make hasty decisions to keep injured players on the field.

Perhaps Chicharito's injury will open the eyes of soccer fans to this issue, but Manchester United would do well in protecting their investment in him to keep him off the pitch for a while.