Weston McKennie returns to training

Reports coming out of Germany have indicated that United States Men’s National Team midfielder Weston McKennie has returned to training for Schalke 04 following his scary injury in March’s 1-0 friendly win over Ecuador just two weeks ago.

There are certainly steps to be taken in going through the process of moving from individual training to full training and finally back to game play. While the process could still prove to be lengthy, it is an encouraging sign to see that McKennie has returned to the field in any form so quickly.

Initial reactions to the injury were that it looked quite severe and could have resulted in major structural damage. Schalke reported shortly after the match that McKennie had suffered a “ruptured ankle ligament,” leading many to wonder whether McKennie would miss the remainder of Schalke’s season and perhaps the start of the Gold Cup in June as well.

Schalke is undoubtedly eager to have their jack-of-all-trades back as they seek to avoid relegation. The team sits ten points out of straight relegation but just six points out of 16th place and the relegation playoff spot with seven games to play. Again, it’s quite possible that the full recovery will have an extended duration and McKennie misses the remainder of the season. Perhaps we will have additional clues once we hear how the ankle responded to the stress of individual training, but for the time being, the news appears better than we could have hoped after seeing the nasty looking injury a couple weeks ago.