The final 10 games of D.C. United's season start this Sunday with a showdown against the Philadelphia Union, but the Black-and-Red won't have the services of starting defensive midfielder Russell Canouse. 

Canouse exited Saturday's game against the Chicago Fire in the second half after a collision with CJ Sapong. Today the club confirmed that Canouse had suffered a collapsed lung and will miss the next three to six weeks recovering. 

The news was first reported yesterday by The Athletic's Pablo Maurer.

"The important thing is that he is going to be fine, he is going to have two healthy lungs here in a couple of weeks," United head coach Ben Olsen told FloFC after Wednesday's practice. "The bad part is we're not going to have him for a couple of weeks."

Canouse went to a hospital in the Chicago area after exiting the game on Saturday and underwent a procedure to drain the collapsed lung. The midfielder returned to the area yesterday but likely won't suit up for United until September, the final full month of the MLS regular season.

"This was a little scarier than usual. Goes beyond soccer. We're just happy he is OK," added Olsen.

Canouse's injury means that United will still be unable to field the same starting lineup that was used for the first four games of the season back in March. In those four games, United won three while conceding just one goal.

In the fourth game Joseph Mora went out injured with a broken jaw, and Olsen has had to work around that absence — as well as international absences and suspensions — by shuffling players around and using different formations. 

"[Injuries] have affected us from a rhythm standpoint. And we've adapted with players, and tactically. It's been a year of juggling," Olsen said. "But I think most years become that, in some form or fashion. It's now time to rely on depth again, and hopefully we can get some points against a good Union team."

The likeliest candidate to replace Canouse is young midfielder Chris Durkin, who spent much of the first half of 2018 filling in for the injured Canouse. After racking up 23 league appearances last year, Durkin has seen his role diminished a bit this year behind Canouse and Junior Moreno, with the homegrown player making just 12 league appearances in 2019. 

United enter the contest against the Union in third place in the Eastern Conference, with 36 points from 24 games. They trail the conference leaders, Philadelphia, by just three points. However, at the other end, United is also just four points above the eighth-place team in the conference, Toronto FC.

Under the new playoff format this season, the top seven teams in each conference make the playoffs.