FRISCO, Texas – When FC Dallas were forced to play the last 35 minutes of Saturday’s season-opener a man down, head coach Schellas Hyndman turned to substitute Ugo Ihemelu, recently recovered from a January sports hernia injury.
“We were not really planning on playing him,” said Hyndman follwing FCD's 1-1 draw with Chicago. “If anything, maybe 10 to 15 minutes and definitely not playing him with us being down a man. But I also know what a competitor he is, how strong he is, and how much he wants to be a part of this.”
For his part, Ihemelu gabve himself mixed reviews on his return to the pitch.
“I thought I did all right,” said the veteran defender. “I won a few head balls which I haven’t done in I don’t know how long. So I just tried to keep it simple.”
Ihemelu was a big part of FC Dallas’ success in 2010, starting 18 of 19 games played. His play for the year earned him an invite to the January US men’s national team camp.
With Bob Bradley and the coaching staff allowing the players to play more soccer as opposed to team fitness, Ihemelu felt like he was performing well, enjoying the experience, and getting a good response from the coaches.
Then he suffered a sports hernia injury, forcing him to leave camp, and take Bradley’s advice with him.
[inline_node:323894]“He said go back to your club, get the injury taken care of and try to have a good season,” said Ihemelu. “I’m optimistic and hopefully I will get back but it all comes with performing with the club first.
“It was disappointing because I felt ready for that camp, I felt fit. I had been to two other ones and in this camp I felt the most comfortable because I knew a lot of the guys there and I felt relatively fit,” said Ihemelu.
Hyndman, Ihemelu’s collegiate coach for four years at SMU, knew exactly how he felt.
“He was disappointed,” said Hyndman. “You don’t get many chances to get called into national camp. I also think he was disappointed because it was a sports hernia and it's something that he had been complaining about for the latter part of the season.”
After traveling to Philadelphia for surgery and taking a week off to rest, the rehab process began for the seven-year MLS veteran. Ihemelu, who had had previous surgeries, said this process was one of the most difficult.
“It was really tough because it was with the abdominals,” said Ihemelu. “You don’t realize how much everything, any movement, or anything you do in life really incorporates your midsection.”
Everything he did hurt. Coughing, laughing, talking, sitting down, getting in and out of the car, sleeping and getting up in the morning all kept him in pain. Then after yet another week, he started to feel better and have less pain. Ihemelu began walking a mile a day, then progressed to jogging laps, before further progressing to timed jogs.
Finally, after nearly two months of rehab while his teammates grinded through two-a-days, Ihemelu found himself back training.
“Last week was the first time I actually did anything with the team like train with the ball,” said Ihemelu. “From that point to getting to the game came really quickly but my body feels pretty good.”
