MONTREAL – Justin Mapp may pick up where he left off.
In scintillating form in 2014, Mapp equalled his highest single-season assists total (eight) only 18 games into his season. But he was last seen on August 16, in a 1-0 win against the Chicago Fire. He left the game after 74 minutes, having suffered a groin injury.
After several weeks of training on the sideline and indoors, Mapp returned to team practice this Wednesday. And Chicago’s Toyota Park could be the scene of his comeback, next weekend.
“A realistic view would probably be for him to be available for the Chicago match, have maybe 5-6 days of training with the team and continue to push on his fitness,” head coach Frank Klopas told reporters. “He’s been out for a while, but it was good to have him back, no setbacks. We’ve just got to keep pushing with him, but the likelihood is he’ll probably be available for Chicago.”
Mapp trained cautiously on Wednesday morning. He moved to a central role during drills as to not suffer a setback driving a ball in the middle.
He was glad to kick a ball, but Mapp remained pragmatic.
“I feel fine,” Mapp said. “I could probably give a few minutes already. Not much. But hopefully, there are no setbacks with another week under my belt and I would feel comfortable in a bigger role next weekend.”
There is no such good news for team captain Patrice Bernier, who hasn’t played since a 3-1 win for Canada over Jamaica on September 9. Bernier is still struggling with plantar fasciitis, a condition that Klopas suffered as a player. Everyone recovers from it differently, Klopas said, but in his own case, it “went away after three months.”
But Klopas is still confident that Bernier, who skipped training on Wednesday, will recover before the season’s end.
“It’s a couple of weeks where we’re going to sit him down because of the pain that he has in his foot, plantar fasciitis,” Klopas said. “He feels better, but it’s a situation where you can start running, and the next day you’re not able to walk. So we’ve got to be smart with this situation too.”
