22716_isi_altidorejozy_usmntjd020516269 John Dorton/isiphotos.com
ASN Injury Report

Hamstring to Delay Jozy's Season; Cameron Returns

Despite his newly streamlined silhouette, Toronto FC striker suffered another hamstring injury and will miss the start of the MLS season. Also, Geoff Cameron and Danny Williams returned to action Saturday.
BY Nick Kariuki Posted
February 27, 2016
7:00 AM

Bobby Wood returned from a shoulder injury to play 80 minutes of Union Berlin’s 2-1 victory over Karlsruher today, scoring the match-winner in the 60th minute.


Wood missed last Friday’s 3-0 win over RB Leipzig because of a shoulder injury. Union Berlin next travels to SpVgg Greuther Fürth on March 1.

The return of Major League Soccer is just days away, but Toronto FC and national team regular Jozy Altidore will be questionable for the season opener on March 6 due to a hamstring injury picked up in training on Tuesday. “We’re not going to rush him back to try and get him back by any particular game or at any particular moment,” Toronto FC coach Gregg Vanney said Friday. “We’ll make sure that whatever the process is, Jozy’s healthy and he’s ready to go and we’re only looking forward once we get going. That’s the intention with all this, so, for me personally, I don’t have a specific timeline on it.”

This probably isn’t how the leaner, fitter Altidore wanted to start out his season, but Vanney added that the 26-year-old’s preseason has been pleasing otherwise.

Maurice Edu will also be a doubt for the opening weekend, with the Philadelphia Union captain’s recovery from sports hernia surgery in October taking longer than expected. “It’s hard because I want to be out there playing, I want to be out there getting prepared for the season,” Edu told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday. “But I have to be smart and trust the staff we have here, listen to them, and make sure I put myself in the best position possible to get out there and help this team.” The Union will face FC Dallas away to kick off the 2016 season.

San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Fatai Alashe returned to training on Monday after hernia surgery in late January. He is now in “a race against time for opening day,” Quakes boss Dominic Kinnear told the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday. San Jose hosts the Colorado Rapids on opening day.  

Aron Jóhannsson will need about another month to regain full fitness, Werder Bremen coach Viktor Skrypnyk told German paper Weser Kurier on Thursday. The striker has been in individual training since his return to the pitch on Feb. 2, after being out since September with a nerve irritation in his right hip.

Geoff Cameron played a full 90 in Saturday’s match against Aston Villa. The 30-year-old had missed the Potters’ last nine games due to an ankle injury. Despite having only recently returned to training, Stoke boss Mark Hughes feels that lacking match-fitness won’t be a worry for the versatile player. “The thing with Geoff is that if we think he is good to go then we have no worries about his fitness, although he hasn’t trained a great deal with the group,” Hughes said Friday. “He is a big guy, a fit guy, and a real athlete and he won’t have a problem in coming straight back in if we think he is ready.”

Danny Williams also returned to action Saturday, playing 25 minutes and earning a yellow card in Reading’s 4-3 win against Charlton Athletic.  The midfielder has been out for the last three matches with a hamstring injury, though manager Brian McDermott said the issue was his knee in the most recent report on Thursday. 

Nick Kariuki is an ASN contributor. Follow him on Twitter.

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