Argentine playmaker Guillermo Barros Schelotto is 35 years old, but has started all off league-leading Columbus Crew’s 23 games this season. He’s also been voted MLS Player of the Week four times, and is league leader in assists with 18, almost twice as many as the Real Salt Lake’s Javier Morales in second place. So it makes sense that he takes a rest before the playoffs.
Schelotto suffered a left hamstring injury this week, so he won’t play against Toronto Saturday, and could miss a home game Thursday against New York, reports Shawn Mitchell. “It is better to not play in Toronto and [against] New York,” said the player, “[because] I think we are in the playoffs and I want to play in the playoffs.”
“We want to be careful with him right now,” said Crew coach Sigi Schmid. “We’ve been very cautious with it. It’s us making sure something small doesn’t turn into something big.”