Patrick Nyarko never wanted to let his teammates down.
So when the Chicago Fire midfielder felt a tweak in his back and pain in his hip during the middle of last season, he kept playing, starting 32 games and coming off the bench in three. His only respite from his discomfort came from the pain-relieving shots he took before games and the breaks he took from practice.
“I just had to fight through,” Nyarko told MLSsoccer.com shortly after the 2012 season ended. “I felt hurt, but I kind of had the belief that I could play through it.”