Diego Rubio out for several weeks with knee injury | OneFootball

Colorado Rapids forward Diego Rubio will be sidelined for several weeks after undergoing a successful arthroscopic procedure to remove a loose body in his right knee.

The team confirmed Rubio’s recovery period is “between two to five weeks.”

His absence is a huge blow for the Rapids, after standing as the team’s leading scorer in 2022 with 16 goals and seven assists in 30 matches. He also equaled the Rapids’ single-season scoring record and set a new club record for single-season goal contributions.

Without Rubio, head coach Robin Fraser is expected to lean on homegrown forward Darren Yapi, Sam Nicholson and Kevin Cabral. The three kicked off in the 0-4 loss against the Seattle Sounders, struggling in the season-opener to make an offensive impact.

“It was that in certain situations we have to be better. There's just no two ways about it. And we have to be able to manage certain situations better than we did. We did talk about the fact that this game is behind us,” said Fraser of his players.

“You can't change this now, but we have to learn from it and we need to come out guns blazing next week. Kansas City is a very good team and to have them at home we know it's going to be a big challenge, but we need to deal with this. As I said to them, I want this one to hurt because it should hurt, but we have to also take it and learn from it and come out better next week.”

After concluding the 2022 campaign in 10th place on the Western Conference table with 43 points in 34 games, the Rapids made several necessary off-season additions. But the team continues to struggle under Fraser.