Portland Timbers striker Jaroslaw Niezgoda will miss the remainder of the 2023 MLS season after suffering a torn ACL, the club announced Wednesday.
The 28-year-old Poland native got injured in Portland's defeat at Houston Dynamo FC last weekend. He will undergo reconstructive surgery in the coming weeks and his timeline for return is approximately nine months.
This is Niezgoda's second long-term knee injury after tearing his ACL in November 2020 – a setback during his first season in Portland upon joining from Legia Warsaw. A Designated Player, Niezgoda has 20 goals and four assists in 80 games (38 starts) across four seasons. He was limited to 634 minutes played this year.
Without Niezgoda, Portland have Franck Boli, Felipe Mora, Nathan Fogaça and Dairon Asprilla as options at striker.
Portland recently parted ways with head coach Giovanni Savarese and have named Miles Joseph as interim head coach, hoping to ascend into the Western Conference's Audi MLS Cup Playoffs picture (12th place; 26 points).
