No one in the world could properly understand what Daryl Dike was feeling at that moment, but anyone who has followed the American striker's career felt the exact same rush of sadness on Saturday. There he was, head in hands, shirt pulled over his face to hide whatever emotions were surely all over his face.
Right away, Dike knew what the rest of the world was going to find out soon enough. He'd suffered another injury, and it was another bad one, too. On Monday, Dike and West Brom confirmed the bad news. Torn Achilles, they said. Out for the rest of 2024. The future is once again somewhat uncertain.
It was another moment of awful, awful luck for the U.S. men's national team's unluckiest player. He'd only just recovered from another catastrophic injury and, for the first time in a while, things were starting to look up for the 23-year-old striker.
Now, he faces another year of recovery, rehab and self-reflecting. It's a horrible shame, as another year will go by with Dike and everyone else wondering what could, and should, have been.