Joe Gyau makes return from injury for Borussia Dortmund (II)

Joseph-Claude Gyau made his long awaited return from injury in a Regionalliga West (fourth division) match for Borussia Dortmund's reserve side. The 24-year old winger entered in stoppage time, as third place Dortmund earned a 1-0 win over Alemannia Aachen.

Gyau commemorated the appearance on his personal Instagram page:

It was only a few minutes.. But we got the win.. My first game back in 22 months... #Thankful

A photo posted by Joseph-Claude Gyau (@joegyau36) on Oct 29, 2016 at 8:32am PDT

Gyau spoke to Paul Tenorio and Four Four Two in September:

Gyau said he was also encouraged by the support of Dortmund, which extended his contract despite the injury, as well as U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who checked up on Gyau regularly both by phone and via sending people to see Gyau personally.

“[Klinsmann] does a lot of things a lot of coaches would not be doing,” Gyau said. “And not just for me, he does it for all the guys. I’m very appreciative of that. And the same goes for Dortmund. … They could have left me high and dry and I would’ve been stuck doing my rehab on my own. That’s what motivates me. Those things wouldn’t happen if people didn’t think I was good, that I could succeed at this level.”

(Read that whole article if you can. It's pretty good.)

Gyau made two appearances for the U.S. national team in 2014. In his second appearance, he tore his lateral meniscus. Prior to the injury, he was nearing a breakthrough with Dortmund's first team.

BVB II's next match is on Friday, November 4th against first place Borussia Mönchengladbach II.