Head coach Dominic Kinnear would rather play on the weekends than have a bye week. But with the third weekend of the season off two of his opening day starters got a chance to rest injuries.
Brad Davis (hamstring) and Tony Cascio (knee sprain) took advantage of the bye week, resting their respective injuries. As the team returned to the field Monday the pair was out of the training room and on the field getting work in during the session.
“It’s good because we have a couple of guys who are injured and it gives them a little bit of time to rest and recover,” Kinnear said Monday. “For guys that are injured the bye week’s great because it gives them time to recover.”
Davis picked up his hamstring injury in the waning moments of the club’s 1-0 victory over the Montreal Impact in week two. With no game on the weekend, the club is being cautious in regards to its captain.
“At the end of the game it just tightened up a little bit,” Davis said. “I’ve been going a lot this offseason, haven’t really had a rest, and I was just fortunate that we were off for the weekend and could give a little extra rest. Not worried about it, just giving it a few days extra rest.”
Speaking with the media, Davis sounded confident he will be available come Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Alongside Davis Monday was Cascio, who has similar aspirations.
On the back of a superb preseason Cascio played his way into the opening day starting XI only to see it cut short by a knee sprain. That injury has kept him sidelined since, costing him the game against the Impact and halting his progress.
“It was a little tough working my way into a starting spot and then an injury setting me back a little bit,” Cascio told MLSsoccer.com, reporting no ill effects from the session. “For me [having this week off] was huge. Just to give it that rest was huge. I think as soon as I get healthy, hopefully, I’ll be back in the 18 and working my way back to a starting spot again.”
Added Kinnear: “The closer he gets to the field and if he gets his tennis shoes off and puts on some soccer shoes this week it’ll be better for us. I felt really bad for him because I felt that 55 or 60 minutes he performed very well for us. To have him picking up his workout and saying he feels good is a positive sign.”
As far as when that sign turn into full action, Cascio is hoping it is sooner rather than later. “That’s where my mindset is right now,” he remarked about a possible weekend return. “Hopefully my body will follow my mind and I’ll be ready for this weekend.”
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
