Tai Baribo Safely Out of Israel, Plus Injury Updates

The Union's leading goal scorer safely landed out of Israel on Monday afternoon.

Philadelphia Union forward Tai Baribo safely exited Israel on Monday.

Union manager Bradley Carnell confirmed the news in his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with the Chicago Fire.

“He is safely out of the country. He landed at that destination about 25-30 minutes ago,” Carnell said.

Baribo was in Israel over the last week due to a few reasons, including a green card appointment that was scheduled for early last week.

Baribo is still on the mend from a calf injury, so he won’t play for the Union during the three-game road swing in Chicago, Columbus and Nashville. His injury timeline was 4-5 weeks as of last Saturday.

The Union’s injury list is quite long after Baribo.

“There’s a couple of question marks. Frankie Westfield sprained his ankle. Mikael is still out. Ian is still trending in a certain way and we’re hoping to get him ramped up at some point,” Carnell said.

The Westfield injury is the new one of those three. Olivier Mbaizo will likely be thrust into action at right back if Westfield is unable to play this week.

Uhre’s injury timeline is about a month as well, so that’s no surprise on his prognosis.

As for Glavinovich, he’s still in recovery for his meniscus injury. The wait is still on for the center back to rejoin full team training.

Jesus Bueno, who left the win over Charlotte with a hamstring injury, is progressing.

“Jesus Bueno is training in the right way,” Carnell said. “He pulled his hammy a little bit in the last game and got substituted. He’s showed real good trends to get back to be ready to be competitive.”

“We’ll see how we get through today and tomorrow’s training and then make roster moves, or what we’re doing, with the team through the next few days,” Carnell said.

Danley Jean Jacques will return to Philadelphia on Monday night after Haiti was eliminated from the Concacaf Gold Cup by way of its loss to the USMNT in Arlington, Texas on Sunday.

“He’s a big player for them. We take all of that into account,” Carnell said. “We take the travel into account as well. He arrives tonight, so in terms of sleep and regeneration, he’s still in matchday recovery mode. We just have to treat that with respect and caution.”

Danley likely won’t play on Wednesday, but he should be an option for the Columbus game on Sunday.

Quinn Sullivan, Nathan Harriel and Andre Blake are all still away at the Gold Cup.

Sullivan, Harriel and the USMNT face Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarterfinals in Minneapolis on Sunday.

Blake and Jamaica finish Group C play against Panama on Tuesday. The Reggae Boyz are second in their group with three points going into the final matchday.