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Edu closing in on comeback

Maurice Edu 2 (ISIphotos)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

by FRANCO PANIZO

If you have been anxiously waiting to see midfielder Maurice Edu get back on the field, you may not have to wait much longer.

According to the Rangers club website, Edu is expected to return to full training for Rangers next week, and he could be back to first-team action after November's international break, when the U.S. national team will play Slovakia and Denmark.

The timetable for recovery will rule Edu out for the U.S. team's friendlies, but Edu should be available to play for Rangers for about a month before the winter break.

Edu has been sidelined since late May after undergoing surgery for a knee injury he suffered in last season's finale against Dundee United. The recovery was originally expected to take approximately three months, but Edu had a problem with his knee that set him back until now.

Think Edu's return will give Rangers a much-needed boost? Do you see him challenging for a starting role with the U.S. national team?

SHare your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Torres is a different player not better. Edu offers you things that Torres does not and vice versa. The USMNT would be better if they could find a way to accomodate both players.

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  2. A complete tear of the ACL or MCL requires replacement, The ACL simply is the one that gets completely torn more of the time. In either case, their can also be damage to the meniscus and that is either repaired or removed depending on where it is torn. Any surgery generally replaces ligaments, and repairs or removes torn cartilage in one session. Recovery will depend on a whole bunch of things. When I tore my ACL and medial meniscus, I was told that the recovery for ACL generally requires active rehab early and often, while for the torn and repaired meniscus the protocol called for rest. So for me they struck a middle ground and it took well over a year before the surgeon said I could do sports like soccer and BB and it was 3 months before he thought I should do any running on uneven surfaces or make sudden changes of direction. So unless we get a complete surgical report, it is really hard to hear a general statement about knee damage and have a good idea if/when the player might return.
    Edu is a very good player. I expect to see him with the national team when he is healthy enough.

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  3. MCL requires surgery in less than 5% of cases (only if it is completely torn). Parial MCL tears heal on their own in about a month or two. I seriously doubt that an MCL tear would require him to be out for so long.

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  4. Maurice Edu Maurice Edu Maurice edu is a Hun!!!!!!Maurice Edu is a Hun!!!! The Shame of Scotland.Rangers fc- biggest bigots in europe (except for maybe Lazio)

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  5. Edu slid one slot back to D is interesting isn’t it? Maybe try it out in Jan friendly?

    According to Ranger’s write ups his play had really accelerated just before the injury. Hopefully he can re-capture that soon.

    I’ve read a few tidbits about how hard he’s hit the weight room during this time off the field and that he’s a beast now. I’m guessing atrophy wont be a problem and that he’ll be even more physical now than before.

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  6. Great news! I would like to see Edu maybe help out in defense like he did in the Olympics. With Gooch and Jay out it might be a good fit. A defender that can play out of the back on his own and have a chance of scoring in the run of play mgiht be nice. We have so many CM’s that are worthy it might make sense. Especially if we can get J Jones going with MB.

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  7. It will be good to get Edu back. He’s a lot like Michael Essien in that he’s no doubt got the defensive goods and grit but he’s also a very good ball handler going forward. Should his recovery go well for the rest of the year and up until the World Cup, He’ll be just behind Jones as a defensive midfielder. I would imagine we’ll see Altidore,Dempsey, Donovan, Holden, Bradley, Jones, Bornstein, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Spector and Howard in the starting XI with Guzan, Cherundolo, Goodson, Torres, Feilhaber, Edu, Rogers, and Cooper(or Ching) on the bench.

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  8. Rangers will in all likelyhood be selling most of their high wage earners in January if they aren’t rescued by a new owner. Since I doubt Edu is in that group, the chances of him getting significant playing time the rest of the season are quite good.

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  9. Having torn an ACL, had surgery in mid-June and attempted to come back and play sports in late-November… believe me, that’s BARELY enough time to possibly even be ready for a non-professional athlete who’s relatively athletic… after I attempted one game, I had to take another month and a half off before I got into things… knee was definitely not stable enough.

    Considering professional athletes are in much better shape, their recovery time should be shorter… the biggest problem I had was muscle atrophying once the swelling went down. For Mo, it shouldn’t be as bad because it was an MCL instead of an ACL, but these things can take time.

    Obviously, this is off topic, but I figured I’d throw in my two cents.

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  10. There has never been any actual reporting about the exact nature of the injury or the severity. The word “ligaments” was used in an early statement from the club — suggesting the injury was to more than a single ligament. It seems unlikely that there was not a complete tear involved, but I’ve seen nothing to say that was the case. I think the original projection of 3 months was silly.

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  11. Also – I don’t believe it was ever reported that Edu had an ACL tear. I thought it was an MCL, but can’t find any information to back that up.

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  12. I think its because of the demands on the ligaments themselves not being the same in soccer as it is the other sports. But that’s just an uninformed theory.

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  13. must have some good root in chicago. they are two different players, different roles, different positions. edu should be put in central defense. problem half solved

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  14. It might be because soccer players are actually playing longer then 6 months, while the NFL season starts in August and ends in January. Any ACL injury in the NFL after September means even a four month injury will be a season endind one.

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  15. I don’t see Edu being with the USMNT for a while. he hasn’t played in what feels like 5 years and is probably not at all in form. Torres is better anyway.

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  16. with beasley actually having played 72 miutes and now edu coming back. We r sure to see minutes played by both of them by mid january dont u think?

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  17. This is good to hear. Rangers are in a huge hole roster-wise, so I imagine he’ll see a fair amount of time. They pretty much are on a self-imposed “hiring freeze” on the market, so competition will be thin.

    Let’s hope he’s back and performing well to get back on the radar.

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  18. Hurray! I’m not sure he’ll be a starter in South Africa, due to the incoming Jermaine Jones and the already established Bradley, but he will certainly put pressure on the starters to perform well and is a step up from the likes of Clark. Best of luck to Edu and hopefully he can get some playing time at Rangers.

    On another note, I still have faith in Beasley. If he leaves this January on loan or on a transfer (and goes somewhere else in Europe and doesn’t return to MLS), I think he can work his way back into the squad. As a player who isn’t even 30, he certainly can revive his career once he finds more playing time.

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  19. given all of the competition at central midfield for the US, I don’t see Bob taking both Edu and Clark. My predicted midfield for SA:

    Bradley, Jones, Dempsey, Edu, Torres, Feilhaber, Holden, Rogers (Donovan listed as FW)

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  20. why is it that in Europe ACL injuries only take 4-6 months to recover from and in the states they take a year? This has never made sense to me but over and over again you hear about soccer players being expected to play in six months where NFLers, College Players and Basketball players have an expected return of 8-12 months. Is this why Beasley has never come back to the player he once was?

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