Jay DeMerit says he has no problem with the advice he was given to continue playing despite having Achilles tendonitis during pre-season.
The Vancouver Whitecaps captain ruptured his Achilles tendon six minutes into last weekend's season opener against Toronto FC and is now likely to miss the remainder of the MLS season.
DeMerit spoke to the media on Saturday and denied any suggestions that the Whitecaps medical staff did not detect a potentially serious problem.
"I was dealing with [tendonitis] for almost a month before the actual rupture happened," DeMerit said. "From that standpoint it was something we were monitoring closely.
"Hindsight's very easy for us and I know the medical department felt very hard done by as well. As a team, as a group, we make decisions. The injury itself, in terms of the signs it was showing, showed signs of tendonitis, and if I could play with the pain, then I could play.
"That was the prognosis going into the game. In the week leading up to the game I was able to train full the whole week and able to get through the training without any blow up of swelling or without any real signs to show that it was going to rupture."
As for plans to retire because of the injury, the 33-year old added: "You always think about that stuff - do you want to go through these types of things? But that's not really in my personality. I don't really think that way when my sensible head prevails normally for me, it's about getting back and playing again, and I'll go off [when I eventually retire] on my own terms."
