BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The Fire were back it at Thursday, hitting the Toyota Park training ground for the first time since Tuesday night’s 1-0 SuperLiga win over Pumas UNAM.
WATCH:MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: CHI 1, PUM 0
Here are a few notes from their light training session:
Missing out
Seven players didn't join in on Thursday's practice. Wilman Conde, Collins John, Mike Banner and Tim Ward joined Patrick Nyarko (concussion), Baggio Husidic (right ankle sprain) and John Thorrington (left quad tear) on the sidelines.
Conde had to leave training early with a leg injury that he picked up in Tuesday night’s match, but Fire head coach Carlos de los Cobos said he felt that Conde shouldn’t be out for an extended period of time.
Ward, who returned last Saturday against New England, missed training with a left calf injury, the same area that kept the 23-year-old defender out since May 8. De los Cobos expects Ward to resume training quickly.
John, who also made his return on Saturday after a seven-week absence due to a gastrointestinal illness, was resting on Thursday. The Dutch forward went 70-plus minutes on both Saturday and Tuesday.
Back in action
It wasn’t all bad news on the injury front though, as Logan Pause, Peter Lowry, Dasan Robinson, Steven Kinney and Calen Carr all trained Thursday morning after injuries kept each one of them out of Tuesday night’s match.
Carr’s return was particularly noteworthy. He has yet to see the field this season due to a left quad injury and Thursday was only his second day participating in full training.
“They’re just kind of reintegrating me slowly, but today went really well,” Carr said. “I was just having a good time playing with the guys and competing a little bit, which was fun. I made a couple of mistakes but, at the end of the day, I’m just happy to be out here.”
Carr said he’s hoping to take the pitch by the time Chicago’s Aug. 1 match at Los Angeles rolls around.
Sam Stejskal covers the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at sam.h.stejskal@gmail.com or on Twitter @Sam_Stejskal.
