AMSTERDAM – Recovering Borussia Dortmund winger Joe Gyau says he expects to begin the rehabilitation road back to full training when his left knee is free from the brace currently helping his cartilage heal.
The 22-year-old has not seen BVB II action since suffering the setback in early December. Gyau originally injured the knee in his second US national team cap, a 1-1 home draw with Ecuador back in October of last year.
Gyau suffered that inital injury a few weeks after making his league debut for eight-time Bundesliga champs Dortmund. Now, he is again to the point in recovery where he can count down with excitement.
"I have four weeks left [with the brace and crutches] and then I can start doing normal stuff," Gyau told MLSsoccer.com after watching Wednesday night's stirring 2-1 triumph over Germany in Cologne from the away dugout. "I can actually start doing my rehab, building muscle back up in my legs. Things will start going uphill from here."
The Tampa native says fans should expect him back in his typical physical form when he returns to action, with his both his speed and mobility back to regular levels.
"Everything's going to be normal," stated Gyau. "It's not like I had an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injury. A piece of cartilage fell off, they did the transplant and now it just has to heal back onto my knee."
A recent German report claimed Gyau would miss the entire 2015-16 season, with the added nugget that he'd signed a contract extension for an added season, but both assertions were inaccurate. Most importantly, a local source in Dortmund recently gave MLSsoccer.com the rough estimate of a winter return to the playing field.
In addition, Gyau's agent, Christian Rapp, has confirmed to MLSsoccer.com that a one-year extension is in the works. The attacker is currently set to start into the last year of his contract.
As for the big US win over the country that has housed his entire professional career, Gyau was visibly over the moon. He admits to being scolded for celebrating Bobby Wood's picturesque 87th minute winner too vigorously.
"Oh, man! I was hopping up one leg and the coaches were saying 'Yo, relax!'," Gyau chuckled. "Bobby is like my best friend on the team, so when he scored that winning goal I was really happy for him."
After a quick pause to reflect on the European friendly swing that also saw the Nats topple the Netherlands for the first time in Amsterdam, he added, "Two wins against two top teams. our soccer is on the come-up!"
