The stumbling start to the season for the San Jose Earthquakes has been tough on the players who have been on the field to see it up close. It's been even harder on winger Darren Huckerby, who has been forced to watch most of his side's struggles due to a thigh injury.
But at long last, it looks like the Englishman is healthy again, and not a moment too soon.
Huckerby first strained his right quadriceps muscle in training back in mid-April. It was assumed that the former Norwich City player would be out for just a few weeks, but a setback prior to the team's game against Chivas USA on May 2 forced Huckerby to start all over again in terms of his recovery. That sidelined him for the rest of the month, a time in which the Quakes won but one game.
But Huckerby finally made it back onto the field during last weekend's 2-2 draw against Dallas, even though his appearance as a substitute consisted of just a few minutes of stoppage time.
"The plan was not to play unless I needed to because we were short on numbers," said Huckerby. "I had only trained two days after eight weeks. ... We thought we'd try it for the last couple of minutes and it almost worked. We should have scored."
The result has created a modest unbeaten run of two games for the Quakes. Heady stuff given that they ended an eight-game winless run almost two weeks ago, but Huckerby was among those disappointed to see his team concede a late goal and not walk away with all three points.
"I thought it was nearly the perfect away performance," said Huckerby. "We went a goal down but we battled back. I thought we were looking the stronger team in the second half, but a lapse in concentration and we got punished, so we've got to learn to be sharp defensively for all 90 minutes.",p>
Huckerby is now determined to look forward and play a more prominent role this weekend when the team travels to Seattle to take on Sounders FC. Tuesday marked what he called, "the first proper day" of training since he first injured the thigh. The run-up to last week's match saw scaled down sessions designed to get the team close to their physical peak, but Tuesday's practice was more demanding, and is exactly what Huckerby needs ahead of this weekend.
"This week, the aim is to gain as much match fitness as I can," said Huckerby. "I've missed eight weeks and it's not going to come back in two or three days. It's going to take a couple of weeks to get match fit, but I'd just like to be involved.
"[The thigh] isn't 100 percent yet, but it's getting there. It's a lot better than it was. It's one where you want to push on, but then you're scared it's going to pull again. We'll take it slowly, day-by-day, and hopefully it will improve."
Huckerby also stated he isn't concerned that his first extended minutes will come on the artificial surface of Seattle's Qwest Field. On Tuesday, the Quakes trained on the artificial field adjoining Buck Shaw Stadium, and while he got through the session fine, he made no secret of preference for real grass.
"Ideally, there shouldn't be any [artificial] turf in any professional sport," he said. "It's a strange one, especially coming from England where it's frowned upon to even train on turf, never mind play on it. What can you do?"
Play on it, which Huckerby will be the first to tell you, sure beats watching.
Jeff Carlisle is a contributor to MLSnet.com
