Sebastian Lletget’s introduction to the U.S. national team last year was even better than he had dreamed it would be.
Playing his first competitive game less than a mile from the San Jose fields where he learned soccer as a boy, the Galaxy midfielder scored five minutes into a crucial World Cup qualifier with Honduras, giving the U.S. a lead it would never lose.
The dream became a nightmare 10 minutes later when Honduran defender Ever Alvarado stomped on Lletget’s left foot, dislodging a bone and ending his season. It took surgery and months of painful rehab to get Lletget healthy enough to return to the national team, yet when he showed up at training camp this week he was hobbled by an abductor problem he says is related to the foot injury.