VANCOUVER, BC – 555 days.
That’s how long it had been since Christian Dean appeared in a Major League Soccer regular season match prior to Sunday’s season opener vs. Philadelphia Union.
And it probably felt even longer.
Dean was pushing for a starting spot heading into the 2016 season before suffering a left foot fracture the week before Vancouver’s first match. As he was nearing a return three months later, he tore his meniscus in training, which effectively ended his hopes of playing in 2016.
To get a sense of what Dean was going through at the time, do yourself a and read this first-person article he wrote on whitecapsfc.