{"id":12936,"date":"2012-06-18T06:05:38","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T10:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=12936"},"modified":"2012-06-17T23:53:02","modified_gmt":"2012-06-18T03:53:02","slug":"nyassi-nearing-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=12936","title":{"rendered":"Nyassi Nearing Return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Sainey Nyassi could soon be another dangerous option in the Revs crowded midfield.\u00a0(Photo: Chris Aduama\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a frustrating four months for Sainey Nyassi. The speedy midfielder has been sidelined since February 10th with a severely strained right hamstring, missing out while the New England Revolution has already played 14 games this season.<\/p>\n

But, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally nearing. On June 10, Nyassi played 34 minutes for the Revs Reserves against the Columbus Crew in a 1-0 loss \u2013 his first action since playing for the Revs in a February 10th preseason match against Boston College.<\/p>\n

Then, on Sunday, June 17, Nyassi came off the bench in the 60th minute to score the game winner in the Revs Reserves 1-0 victory over the Crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great,\u201d said Nyassi of his return to playing and scoring. \u201cAfter being out for almost four months, it has been a frustrating year. Getting back and starting to run out is a good thing for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that I\u2019m back. I\u2019ve been thinking about it a lot \u2013 being out for a long time. Hamstring [injuries] sometimes come back – you think it\u2019s gone and you start feeling it. But [Sunday] it was good, so I felt great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just two minutes after entering the match Sunday, Nyassi snuck behind the defense to tap-in the rebound after a John Lozano header was saved. Undoubtedly that goal could serve as an important confidence builder as Nyassi looks to return to pre-injury form.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him, I said \u2018gosh, it\u2019s so refreshing to see you out and playing again,\u2019\u201d said Revs assistant coach Jay Miller. \u201cI know how difficult that is for a player to sit and watch as long as he has. I would just see nothing but improvement for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Nyassi does still have a ways to go to return to full form and fitness. Getting 90 minutes fit won\u2019t happen overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not far,\u201d said Nyassi. \u201cI\u2019m almost there. I\u2019ve been doing some fitness running with my trainers and things like that. Right now the plan is to be playing one half every game, so hopefully by the end of the month I\u2019ll be ok to play \u2013 in a couple of weeks hopefully to even a month, but hopefully 2-3 weeks I\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel pretty good going 45 minutes. I feel like I can go more than that, but they have to pull me out. That\u2019s the plan. 45, 40, 30 sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Nyassi has made plenty of progress and continues to press forward in his recovery, first team playing time isn\u2019t guaranteed, even when Nyassi is 100%. With the deepest midfield in recent years in New England, Nyassi will have to be at his best just to earn a spot in the match day 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a pretty good team this year, so you have to battle it out to get back in the starting eleven,\u201d said Nyassi. \u201cI\u2019ll have to work hard to get back in there\u2026 We have a lot of midfield players that are playing pretty good this year, scoring goals and I\u2019ve been out for a while, so I\u2019ll take it easy and keep working hard to get back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what Nyassi can bring is something that \u2013 despite all the talent the Revs have in midfield \u2013 no one else can match: speed. Nyassi\u2019s unparalleled pace can add a different element to the Revs attack that could prove a game changer. Unfortunately, that blazing pace has yet to fully re-emerge as Nyassi continues to recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have that burst of speed from him yet,\u201d said Miller. \u201cHe\u2019s still a little nervous \u2013 he had a very bad hamstring tear. But, again, that\u2019s a dimension that could really add a lot to our team as well \u2013 that burst of speed \u2013 especially wide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once that speed is back, look for Nyassi to add yet another threat \u2013 and create another difficult decision for head coach Jay Heaps to make \u2013 to an already impressive and crowded midfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gambian international scores for Revs Reserves as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/nyassifeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12937,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions\/12937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}