FC Cincinnati Beat: Nick Haaglund Suffers Collapsed Lung, 2 Broken Ribs Following on-field Collision in 4-2 Loss To Atlanta United

CINCINNATI — The Orange and Blue will be without the anchor of their defense for the foreseeable future.

Defender Nick Haaglund left Sunday’s match at Atlanta United after suffering two broken ribs, with one of them being out of position and causing a collapsed lung. He had a procedure Sunday night to manage the lung and will undergo another procedure to address the rib fractures. The team confirmed the news in a release on Monday.

Hagglund sustained the injuries following an on-field collision in the 10th minute.

The team said Monday Haaglund remains at the hospital in Atlanta with FC Cincinnati’s medical staff and is expected to make a full recovery. He will travel back to Cincinnati when it is safe to do so, and FC Cincinnati will provide an update when appropriate.

A Cincinnati native and product of Lakota West High School and Xavier University, Haaglund has played and started in 10 games this season with 689 minutes played. He’s in his seventh season with the club after playing the first five seasons of his career with Toronto FC.

Haaglund’s absence was heavily felt by Cincinnati Sunday night, as Atlanta scored two goals in 10 minutes after the on-field collision to race out to a 2-0 lead. The two goals were tone-setters in an eventual 4-2 win, Atlanta’s first MLS win since March 29th.

Cincinnati (9-4-2, 29 points) is back home at TQL Stadium Wednesday night to take on Dallas FC (4-6-4, 16 points). It’s the first of two home matches for the Orange and Blue as they will also host D.C. United (3-7-5) Saturday night. Both matches get underway at 7:30 E.T..