CARSON, Calif. – Last Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps was a depressing affair to say the least, but there was at least one positive development in an otherwise forgettable night.
Making his first appearance in the starting lineup this season was none other than veteran left back Todd Dunivant, who was making his first start since playing 26 minutes in a 6-0 win over the Colorado Rapids last Sept. 5. The 34-year-old Dunivant went 64 minutes against Vancouver before being replaced by Edson Buddle as Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena tried desperately to inject some life into a struggling offense.
“He was OK,” Arena said of Dunivant, now in his 13th season in the league. “It was good to get him some time because all these guys we’re going to need to use at some point in the season. We have to get them on the field and hopefully that pays dividends that at some point we have more than 11 players ready to play.
“He’s coming around. He’s getting there.”
It certainly has not been the best of times for Dunivant. A torn abdominal muscle, followed five months later by a torn groin, limited him to just seven appearances (including five starts) last season and his spot had been taken by converted midfielder Robbie Rogers.
Dunivant admitted he felt somewhat of a sense of relief getting back on the field – he did play three minutes in a 2-2 tie in Portland on March 15 – and understandably wished the game was something to savor besides his long-overdue appearance in the starting XI.
“It wasn’t a good game,” he said. “Front to back, left to right, it didn’t matter. We got beat on the day. Kind of beaten pretty soundly.”
But at least he contributed in some way. Dunivant said he was thankful for that.
“You can’t replace being on the field and starting a game. That part of it was great,” he said. “I’m just looking to build on that now.”
There was a time, he acknowledged, when he couldn’t build on anything. The injuries left him basically inactive for an extended period and it was so depressing he couldn’t even do any rehab.
“Your core is everything, and when you don’t have that you can’t function. Obviously you can’t be a soccer player, but you can’t even be a person,” he added with a laugh. “You’re kind of just stuck.
‘The most frustrating part was being idle. As an athlete you always want to try and do anything you can to get back. You have something like that, the hardest thing is being patient.
“It’s so hard when you have injuries and it forces you out and it’s difficult to come back from that. I kind of joked that I got it all out of the way last year. All in one fell swoop. It was a very long road to come back, but I’ve come back really hard to improve my fitness and strength.
“So far, so good, knock on wood. It was fantastic to be out there.”
