There was a moment during the most recent Lights FC home game that was impossible to overlook but perhaps easy to underestimate.
Everyone in the crowd saw Bryan De La Fuente enter the game as a sub in the 72nd minute on Aug. 25. Most saw Irvin Parra remove his captain’s armband and put it on De La Fuente. Some knew De La Fuente was returning from an injury, but few knew how much this game meant to him.
De La Fuente was supposed to be the team captain on the field before he tore his ACL in the preseason. There was worry he would miss the whole year. Instead, he made his emotional return in a Lights victory last Saturday.
During a preseason game with MLS squad Colorado Rapids on Feb. 16, De La Fuente was battling for a ball when he banged his knee against a Colorado player and said he experienced pain like he had never felt before. But he shook it off.
He stayed in the game and finished the final 20 minutes of the first half and started the second half. There came point, however, that he just couldn’t keep going.
De La Fuente later learned he played nearly half an hour on a torn ACL. The initial prognosis was that he would miss the entire season.
“I fell and I saw everything in slow motion,” he said. “I was scared. I didn’t know what was next. I knew I was about to start something difficult and hard in my life and my career, something I never thought would happen to me.”
While De La Fuente was away, the Lights struggled. Parra wore the captain’s armband on the field, but behind the scenes he was asking for De La Fuente’s input.
“He was always around trying to have everybody in a straight line,” Parra said. “I take everything that he tells me.”
This season hasn’t gone great for the Lights. They are 8-10-7 and in 14th place in the 18-team Western Conference.
It’s not as if De La Fuente being there would have turned the team into a championship contender, but it’s difficult for a coach to get his message across without his captain.
“As a coach, you’re trying to take young, impressionable guys who have never been a pro, put them in a professional environment,” coach Eric Wynalda said. “I was relying on Bryan to be that voice and a constant reminder of what it means to be a pro. And when we lost him, we lost our way.”
Two days after undergoing surgery, De La Fuente was right back with the team at practices, but he could only do so much from the bench.
But Wynalda eventually told him to stay away and focus on his recovery, hoping the absence would make him work even harder to get back.
“I think that hurt him and inspired him at the same time,” Wynalda said.
In an ideal world, De La Fuente would have made his return to playing in the final 15 minutes of a game in which the Lights had a comfortable lead. It would have taken the pressure off him.
That’s not how it happened.
The Lights led Portland 1-0 in the second half last Saturday when Wynalda inserted De La Fuente for Parra.
“I was trying to hold my emotions in check,” Wynalda said of the emotional return. “I cried after the game. I think we all did a little bit.”
The Lights won the game, in part because De La Fuente steadied the defense and did not allow another goal. He said his first regular-season game with the Lights felt much the same as the first professional game he played when he was 18 years old.
“It’s not new to me, but it was exciting,” he said. “It was definitely a special moment.”
But nothing compared to putting back on the captain’s armband.
“It’s one of those things that mark your life...seeing your teammate giving you the captain’s band and seeing the fans clapping at you, recognizing the hard work you’ve been putting in throughout the recovery and all your teammates and coaches welcome you back,” De La Fuente said.
“That’s definitely something you’ll never forget,” he said.
Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.