FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A difficult task awaits the New England Revolution on Saturday evening in Colorado, where they’ll face a Rapids side which has yet to concede a goal through three games. But the Revs could receive a boost ahead of that trip in the form of key players returning from injury.
Jermaine Jones (sports hernia surgery), Teal Bunbury (R shoulder sprain) and Kevin Alston (R hamstring strain) all missed last weekend’s 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes, but the trio could be ready to contribute as soon as this weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Bunbury, who sprained his shoulder in the season opener and has been sidelined for the past three games, is the furthest along, having recently rejoined his teammates for full training.
Although Bunbury said he may have to fight through some discomfort at first, head coach Jay Heaps was confident enough in the winger’s recovery to declare him fit ahead of the trip to Colorado.
“Last week he was really close. We wanted to give him one more week,” Heaps said. “When players are week-to-week, we don’t talk about them. But when they’re day-to-day, we really start incorporating them a little bit more.
“Teal’s in that day-to-day. He’s doing more and more each day and we expect him to be available for Saturday.”
Jones arrived in New England last Thursday after spending recent weeks working with rehab specialists from the U.S. National Team. The player himself said he would likely require “maybe a week, two weeks” to get back up to full speed, but that he was in the final stages of recovery.
Having eased his way into training last week, Jones is now increasing his workload on a daily basis, which has Heaps optimistic about when the influential midfielder will be ready for action.
“He’s starting to get to the day-to-day,” Heaps said. “Last week was just really getting him working with our staff. Now this week we want to get him incorporated into our training sessions.”
Alston, who missed both games of the recent homestand, has also been working his way back into training sessions, giving the Revs a potentially fully fit roster heading into April.
It’s a welcome change for the Revs, who’ve already lost 13 man-games because of injury through the first month of the season, including 10 involving players projected to be in the starting lineup when healthy.
