ATLANTA, GEORGIA—To ensure that his star winger is in full strength in his return, Atlanta United head coach Gonzalo Pineda said he would not force Luiz Araujo to return and play immediately for the team after his hamstring injury.
Pineda said Araujo is steadily progressing but cautioned that the club would be very patient to bring him back into the fold. “He’s progressing well. He’s training on the side before our training sessions, and he’s progressing very well,” Pineda said. “Sometimes these types of injuries take longer. We always say 4-6 weeks but we don’t know the [exact] timeline, especially for a very explosive player. WIth muscular injuries, it’s pivotal that we don’t rush the decision to go to the next phase when we don’t feel comfortable with his progression. It’s taking a little bit longer than we expected at the beginning, but it’s the best for Luiz Araujo in the long term. We want him to be back in a good shape rather than come back soon. We’re just trying to make sure that his recovery is good. So we’re happy he’s progressing well in the last few weeks,” Pineda added.
Araújo suffered the injury in the 20th minute during the club’s season-opening 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. The absence of Araujo is a loss since he is one of the expected scorers for the team this year. In fact, in their first game, he scored one of the three winning goals for the team.
The injury of Araujo came as the team celebrated its first victory of the young MLS season and the selection of star Venezuelan striker Josef Martinez to the 2022 MLS Team of the Week. Martinez got the honor earlier after helping his team win its first game of the MLS season. Although Martinez failed to score a goal, he dished out two assists in their victory.
