Michael de Leeuw came off the bench in the Chicago Fire's April 1 match against Montreal while recovering from one injury and left the field 14 minutes later after suffering a different injury.
De Leeuw had a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Fire's match in Atlanta on March 18. After an off week for the team, he came off the bench against Montreal while still regaining his fitness from the hamstring injury.
Not long after coming onto the field, de Leeuw got stepped on. The thing about getting stepped on by a soccer player is that cleats are sharp. Sharp enough to cause a gash on de Leeuw's left hand. The gash caused de Leeuw to get six stitches from the middle of his index finger past his knuckle to the back of his hand.
"It was a deep cut," de Leeuw said after the April 8 win against Columbus. "Now it's still a little bit sore, but it's OK."
The Dutch forward returned to the lineup against Columbus and played the whole 90 minutes.
During the week leading up to that match, de Leeuw was training with a black and white glove to protect his hand and the stitches. Come gameday, de Leeuw's glove was red to match the Fire's home color.
"The glove was good," de Leeuw said. "It's more a little bit irritating. As a soccer player you're never injury free. There's always something that you're feeling in your body. Now it's my hand, but it's not a big problem. It's not really an issue. It's just irritating."
Chicago Fire
It may not have bothered him on the field, but as far as day-to-day activity, de Leeuw still couldn't close his hand all the way on Saturday. However, he says that was only a big problem for a couple days.
"In the beginning the first couple of days it was (affecting non-soccer activity), but now I can do a lot of things with my hand," de Leeuw said. "It's not so bad. The first couple of days it was annoying, but not anymore."