Kennedy World Cup injury ‘a big loss’ for Canada says Herdman

Canada coach John Herdman says the absence of defender Scott Kennedy for the World Cup due to a shoulder injury is a “big loss” to his team.

The 25-year-old central defender picked up the injury playing in Germany on Saturday for his second division club, Jahn Regensburg.

Herdman told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday that he had spoken to the Calgary-born player and that there was no way he could be fit in time for this month’s tournament in Qatar.

“We looked at every angle of trying to bring him into this World Cup squad and getting him back. But with that type of injury there is just no way back for Scott unfortunately. He was devastated and he is going to be a big loss,” said Herdman.

“It has been tough. We had a conversation with him, myself and the medical team and he is just sitting in Germany in pain at the moment with that shoulder.”

Kennedy would likely have made the 26-man squad as the main back-up central defender but Herdman said his absence would be felt in other ways.

“For anyone who knows Scott, he is just a good man, a good human being in the environment. He has great character, always seems to contribute in a quiet way and very, very reliable on the field,” said the Englishman.

“So he will be a big loss to this group on and off the field. Just one of those tough moments as a coach when you have got to share that grim reality with someone. Never easy,” he said.

Herdman, who will take a squad of Canadians from Major League Soccer clubs for a week-long camp in Bahrain concluding with a friendly on November 11, conceded that he is confronting the fear of injuries every time he watches his players in action in Europe.

“Every game we are monitoring you have just got that pit in your stomach, that you are going to lose a critical player,” he said.

“But I think it is going to happen, these things happen, losing Scott Kennedy was awful. You know what is coming in the conversations you have got to have with the player and its tough.”