{"id":28359,"date":"2014-10-08T00:40:56","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T04:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=28359"},"modified":"2014-10-08T01:08:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T05:08:17","slug":"dorman-eyeing-return-to-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=28359","title":{"rendered":"Dorman Eyeing Return to Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Kari Heistad\/capturedimages.biz<\/p><\/div>\n

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2013 Three months ago, Andy Dorman was a major part of a Revolution midfield that was not only coming into its own, but finding success along the way. Then, with one swooping tackle, he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In the early stages of a Jul. 12 clash with the Fire, Dorman was met with a fierce challenge from Bakary Soumare. The Revolution’s midfield general slowly picked himself up, and tried to fight through the pain in his right knee. But it was too great for him to bear. He came off the field minutes later, and after the match, exited the locker room on crutches. The diagnosis: a sprained MCL, with a recovery period of 10-12 weeks.<\/p>\n

Now, with the bulk of his rehabilitation behind him, the 32-year-old midfielder is eyeing a return to the pitch with his side in the hunt for the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, when you get told it\u2019s going to be 10-12 weeks, it doesn\u2019t seem too too bad,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s dragged on a long time, you know? Full credit to the guys in the treatment room. They\u2019ve been brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Revolution training staff has certainly played a major role in Dorman\u2019s recovery. When Dorman was able to return to training, he was under the watchful eye of head trainer Evan Allen and assistant Phil Madore, both of whom ensured that the veteran midfielder wasn\u2019t rushing back too fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been brilliant in taking it slow (with me), and everything\u2019s been good so far,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ve been a pain to have around for the last 10-12 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Dorman is able to snicker about countless hours he’s spent with the training staff, there’s no question the physical recovery hasn\u2019t been easy – especially in the immediate wake of his injury. But according to Dorman, the psychological aspect of his recuperation was just as daunting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always find it hard on the Saturday watching the games,\u201d Dorman said. \u201cThe recovery at the start was painful, and obviously, and you do what you need to do to get ready, and listen to the guys in the training room. But Saturdays were always the hardest for me and not being involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Dorman is as close as he\u2019s ever been to returning to the pitch. A few weeks ago, he returned to full participation in passing and possession drills, which then led to him partaking in small-sided games. Last Monday, he reportedly played in a full scrimmage against the Western Mass Pro Soccer team without setback. Days later, his status on the injury report was upgraded from \u201cout\u201d to “questionable.”<\/p>\n

Whether the veteran midfielder is set to return to the pitch this weekend in Montreal remains to be seen. Dorman is only one of three players who appeared on last week\u2019s injury report, meaning that coach Jay Heaps has nearly a full roster to work with at the moment.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t bet against Dorman coming back before the end of the season. With U.S. International Jermaine Jones quickly assimilating himself in a midfield that the Welshman once commanded, many supporters are intrigued about the potential of a Dorman-Jones central pairing.<\/p>\n

As for Dorman, who said his knee feels \u201cgood,\u201d he appears content with taking it day-by-day, comfortable knowing that, with the Revolution playing well and his knee close to being fully fixed, there\u2019s no need to hasten his return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m back at training at the moment, so that\u2019s all, and really taking it from there, and getting the training sessions in, and getting the fitness and strength in my legs back,\u201d said Dorman. \u201cI\u2019m just being sensible at the moment and letting my body determine (when I return).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly three full months since suffering a sprained MCL, Andy Dorman appears to be close to making it back onto the pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28360,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[186,49,1274],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Andy-1.png?fit=485%2C259&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28420,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28359\/revisions\/28420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}