Sal Zizzo, a 22-year old midfielder/forward in the services of Bundesliga club Hannover 96, tore his ACL in training Monday. He will undergo surgery and miss the rest of the season. The club’s team doctor told a local paper the injury was “serious and complex.” Zizzo will likely go under the knife this week, he added. The San Diego native is expected to miss at least six- to nine months.

The injury occurred during a test match when Zizzo attempted to tackle Hanno Balitsch. He did not make contact with his teammate but was apparently brought down when one of his cleats got hung up in the pitch, says the German newspaper report.

The injury comes just when Zizzo had finally begun to make strides at 96, having made his first team debut in a 1-1 draw with Mainz earlier this season. With other injuries to the squad (Mike Hanke and Mikael Forssell) he was likely to see more playing time in the weeks ahead.

Zizzo, who played collegiately at the University of California, Los Angeles, moved to Hannover after leading the U.S. U-20 team to a quarterfinal berth at the 2007 World Championships. This summer he briefly joined Fortuna Duesseldorf on loan but returned to Hannover due to illness.