HARRISON, N.J. – Bradley Wright-Phillips has avoided quite the injury scare.
Wright-Phillips sustained an unspecified knock in training on Wednesday and was absent from the New York Red Bulls’ Thursday morning practice at Red Bull Arena as a result. The injury was serious enough that the club had the MLS Budweiser Golden Boot leader undergo tests, but the results returned negative and he could resume in his starting role in New York’s important home game on Saturday vs. Eastern Conference foe Sporting Kansas City (7:30 pm ET, NBCSN).
“It was one of those things to be very precautious, take precaution, and be very smart about it,” said Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke on Thursday. “That’s it. He’s good to go. A lot can happen in two days, but right now with everything coming back negative, yeah [he’s available to start].”
While Wright-Philliips should be healthy enough to start his 20th consecutive game and attempt to add to his league-leading 20 goals, backup forward Saer Sene is staying on high alert just in case he is called upon to replace the Englishman. Sene has been working his way towards full fitness since arriving to New York via a trade from the New England Revolution, and is now capable of going the distance without issue.
"I have been practicing a lot, training a lot with my fitness and I feel pretty good," Sene told MLSsoccer.com. "The more I'm going to play, the better I'm going to play. I'm ready to play, but I think Brad is good, he's feeling good, but I'm always here if the team needs me."
One player who is inching towards a return to full health is fullback Kosuke Kimura. The 30-year-old Kimura has been recovering from a hamstring problem suffered in a reserve match a few weeks ago, and has been sidelined since, but was seen taking part in some of Thursday’s practice and is expected to be back in full training soon.
“I don’t know if he’s ready to go 100 percent, but, yes, he’s very, very close,” said Petke. “He looks like he’s close, he looks like he’s ready, so we’ll get the final word from the trainers and we’ll take it from there.”
As a whole, the Red Bulls had a limited amount of healthy and available bodies on Thursday. With the likes of Tim Cahill and Ambroise Oyongo on international duty and Wright-Phillips and Kimura among the players sidelined, New York assistant coaches Robin Fraser and John Wolyniec filled in during one practice drill to make up numbers.
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Still, Petke isn't overly concerned about having to work through a busy eight-day stretch with a thin squad, but he is contemplating bringing back fullback Connor Lade from his loan to NASL’s New York Cosmos in order to help replenish the roster and add another option off the bench.
“He’s definitely in my mind to come back, for sure,” said Petke. “Right now we had 18 guys available to practice today through call-ups, through injuries, so, yes, and that’s why he’s close with New York because we can just grab him back when we need him. We’re evaluating that and we’re figuring out what bodies we need and who we need.”
Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by email at Franco8813@gmail.com.
