AMSTERDAM – Injured Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona ace Bryan Gerzicich does not yet have a specific timetable from the club for his return from minor knee surgery, but player himself estimates he could be back in the game by the end of September.
The midfield lynchpin was originally expected to miss about four weeks, but the requirement of surgery added a bit of recovery time. With two weeks of mending already in the rear-view mirror, the 28-year-old Los Angeles native figures he's now about a month away from action.
"I had an operation on the meniscus," Gerzicich told MLSsoccer.com. "Time-wise, I don't know yet how long it's going to take. I calculate a month-and-a-half [in total from the time of injury]."
Gerzicich was injured during Hapoel's August 8 clinching draw at Champions League qualifying victms Neftçi. The Ligat Ha'Al champs will begin their title defense when Beitar Jerusalem come to town on Saturday, and then attempt to rally from 2-0 down against Champions League playoff round second-leg guests BATE Borisov on Tuesday.
