Injury Updates — Dempsey, Gooch, Holden, Davies, Clark, Feilhaber

March 16th, 2010 | by: Jen | Comments (3)

It looks as though the USMNT’s spell of bad luck may be over.

This past weekend Clint Dempsey returned to action in Fulham’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester United. He played 72 minutes and played well considering it was his first game back from seven weeks of injury. We can expect Dempsey to have no trouble regaining his fitness and finesse in time for the WC in June.

Oguchi Onyewu continues to train with AC Milan having rejoined the team last month after months of rehab in the States. There is speculation that Gooch may receive some playing time as Alessandro Nester is out with a knee injury. While I think this is wishful thinking, at least Gooch will move up a bit from the ranks of reserve players. Hell, he might even dress for a match. Most feel that Gooch will be able to regain his fitness in time for the WC, but he needs to see more playing time to be truly match fit.

Stu Holden tweets that rehab is going well after breaking his leg (or rather, having it broken for him) in the US’s friendly against the Netherlands. The prognosis remains six weeks for Holden to begin full training again. He’ll have about two weeks to regain full fitness before heading into USMNT camp in May.

Ah, Charlie Davies. The Miracle Man continues to improve at a record pace. He has begun running outdoors. Numerous US World Cup bloggers and reporters are now listing him as definite for making it to South Africa in June. From what I’ve read, I would put him on about the same time line for recovery as Stuart Holden. Perhaps with the exception of Dempsey, Davies is the most desperately needed player for the USMNT who is returning from injury.

Ricardo Clark, who signed with German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in January, is expected to be back in form any day now. He suffered a calf injury in early February and sat out the recent friendlies against El Salvador and the Netherlands. He has yet to see any action with his German club but should be available to play over the next few months.

Finally, Benny Feilhaber remains in Brazil to rehab from his February ankle injury. From soccer365.com:

“I’m in Brazil doing my rehab, and there was a very positive prognosis,” Feilhaber told Soccer365. “Nothing wrong with the ligaments, no breaks, no cartilage problems, only a bad sprain.”

“I’m staying in Rio to do my rehab as me and my club both think this is the quickest way for me to get back to fitness,” he added. “I hope to go back to Denmark by the end of next week and restart training by the end of the month at the latest.”

He is expected to be available for the WC in June, but like Gooch, Holden, and Davies, it is unclear whether or not he will have regained match fitness. If he does, he will likely see playing time with his Danish club before the end of the season.