Richie Laryea will miss approximately one month with a thigh injury, Toronto FC confirmed on Saturday. Laryea’s chance of going to the World Cup this summer with Canada is not currently in doubt, according to Toronto FC general manager Jason Hernandez, who held a brief press conference with reporters after Toronto FC’s defeat to Atlanta United.

Laryea was not in the Toronto squad on Saturday after feeling some discomfort after the Reds’ 3-3 draw with the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday night, and got some imaging done with doctors to try and assess the severity of his injury. The expected timeline is a few weeks on the sidelines, and the hope is he can return before the league’s World Cup break.

“For us, it’s probably a question of will we see him back in the mix for us for a few games before the World Cup break,” Hernandez said. “I think that you would want to be careful and smart with him.

“Obviously, we know he has an important summer, and we’re connected with Canada Soccer and all the ways to make sure that he’s up and running and feeling good. We’re not concerned about pulling the World Cup at all.”

Hernandez does not believe a specific incident caused the injury, but more fatigue after playing every minute of the season to that point, including two games just a few days apart.

“Typically when someone picks up some type of muscle injury, you see an acute mechanism, right, like someone strikes a ball, or someone stretches, or something like this,” he explained. “Richie played the full 90, probably 95, minutes on Wednesday and there was no signs. I think it likely was fatigue or accumulation of just being a dynamic player, and he plays a lot of minutes certainly for club and country, so more likely that.”

Courtesy: Sean Pollock/Canadian Soccer Daily

Laryea is the latest Toronto FC player to suffer an injury in recent weeks. Matheus Pereira was scheduled to get groin surgery on Friday and miss 10-12 weeks, and Djordje Mihailovic is also out until at least the World Cup break with a pelvic stress fracture. Theo Corbeanu, Nicksoen Gomis and Henry Wingo also remain out long term.

Benjamin Kuscevic and Jose Cifuentes left Saturday’s game with knocks as the injuries continue to pile up. Kuscevic reaggravated the adductor injury that kept him out of the previous two matches, and Cifuentes is dealing with a recurring injury in his knee per head coach Robin Fraser.

Related Reading: Toronto FC’s Matheus Pereira out 10-12 weeks after needing groin surgery