BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – A month after hip surgery brought a premature end to his sophomore season with the Chicago Fire, Mike Magee is fully focused on his rehabilitation but reluctant to think about a return date so early in his recovery.
The reigning MLS MVP hasn’t played for the Fire since the 1-0 defeat at the Montreal Impact on August 16 and underwent season-ending hip surgery in Colorado on Sept. 8. On Monday, Magee joined most of the first-team squad on the sidelines of the Toyota Park Practice Field as a strong Fire reserve team (5-1-2) beat the Impact reserves 1-0.
Getting around sprightly on crutches, the 30-year-old was typically candid as he discussed his surgery and recovery, which could see him miss the start of next season.
“The surgery went great, it’s feeling good now, I’m eight weeks total non-weight-bearing,” Magee told MLSsoccer.com. “The crutches are a bit of a pain but all things considered, the surgery was a success.
“It’s a very long recovery time. I want to say you’re playing six, eight months after the surgery, which I’m only a month out, so I’m trying to do my best to not think about how to answer that question [about returning] at the moment and just focus on doing my rehab properly.”
The Fire were officially eliminated from the playoff equation after Sunday’s scoreless tie with the Impact at Toyota Park, and Magee was quick to admit that 2014 has been a frustrating year for the club, in more ways than one.
“This has been a really frustrating year from a lot of standpoints,” he said. “Every season expectations are raised and hopes are high. There were a lot of turning points in the season where we thought we could have done better and thought we made a good attempt to change things and it just didn’t work out. So it’s obviously really frustrating and I think the best part about this season is that it’s almost over.”
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Frank Yallop’s men extended their MLS tie record with their 18th draw of the season against Montreal, and with three difficult games remaining, the Fire could very well finish the season with more points from ties (18) than wins (15 from five).
“With the lack of wins those ties become a bit embarrassing, especially the draws at home,” Magee added. “In the beginning of the year when you’re pulling out ties, sometimes you can find positives in them. But as it goes on, it’s just embarrassing.”
