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Bobby Wood returns to training with Hamburg

After missing the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup qualifiers this month, Bobby Wood is back in training with his club.

Wood returned to  training with Hamburg  following a lower back injury that has kept him out during the entirety of the international break, per German paper Kicker. The length of the injury was initially unknown, with a week and a half out of training, the injury is apparently not a serious one.

The news is good for the German Bundesliga club, as the forward is the team’s highest scoring player, with five league goals. Wood’s return is a boost for Hamburg, currently sitting 16th in the Bundesliga table and fighting relegation.

Hamburg returns to action Saturday for a home match against Cologne.

Comments

  1. I think we should give Bobby the benefit of the doubt. He has played in all the previous games over the past 12 months. It’s certainly possible that he strained a muscle but was able to recover in three weeks. Also, flying long distances is terrible for recovery. If he is conspicuously absent again I’d be worried, but sometimes this stuff just happens.

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      • Hey, my friend of a friend of the weight trainer’s second cousin over at Dortmund mentioned that Pulisic will never again play in an away WC qualifier in Central America. And Dempsey’s on the radar of a certain Bundesliga club’s summer transfer list. Oh, and Arena is positioning a move to Germany because he visited a few months ago.

    • I really doubt he’s faking it. It’s possible his club leaned heavily on him and threatened to yank his playing time to convince him he needed to rest his back, but nothing in his past suggests he would fake it. Wood is made of the same cloth as Deuce.

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    • @javier, sorry, Bobby doesn’t owe his career to the Nats, he’s been injured twice in the past on duty for the Nats, one of which may have led to a serious injury that was initially reported as career-ending. So, no, Bobby doesn’t owe the Nats a thing.

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  2. They are preparing him for sale so no surprise. To be honest clubs only give a care about national teams as far as they keep the player happy and promote the club itself. They HATE national team football in general because the players are their product and injuries affect the bottom line and team quality in general. Wood probably had a little knock but not to the extent that he couldn’t train. They just didn’t want him getting hurt like Lletget got hurt. Wood probably minimally protested given possible sale to a better club, injury history and great form at the moment. Maybe he wanted Bruce to promise him minutes and Bruce wouldn’t (and higher salary which he should be looking to secure anyway) It also could all be just what they say it was. Who knows?

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  3. I thought his injury was a thigh strain not a back injury. Also the timing of his return to training does appear as this injury was made up so he didn’t have to travel and could rest for what will be some big games for Hamburg if they are going to stay in the Bundesliga.

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  4. Shady. Unbelievably convenient that he’s back in training day after the last USA game of the break. Hertha Berlin tried the same thing with Brooks. I know many clubs do it but I just don’t see the same underhandedness with bundesliga clubs and the german federation.

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    • Let’s add to the conspiracy theory. Didn’t Wood credit Klinsmann a few days ago for saving his career? Maybe Wood is upset about the Klinsmann firing and was perfectly happy to have an excuse not to join the team.

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      • Yeah, that last comment makes no sense. This was a decision by the team, not the player. You really think Wood is so attached to JK that he’s going to turn down a USMNT call up just to stick it to Arena/USSoccer/USMNT? Ok dude…

      • No, dude, I don’t think Wood would try to stick it to the team. I see a lot of people throwing around words like “sham” and suggesting that the injury was made up. I will agree that details about a vague back injury that just happens to coincide with the international break seem odd, but all of these accusations sound like conspiracy theories to me. Could there be something to the theories, maybe, but I was trying to sarcastically point out that people were throwing accusations around that would have to include at least some type of cooperation from Wood just based on a strange set of details.

  5. Is it me or does anyone else think this was made up so that Bobby would be fit and rested for the final period of the season while the team staves of relegation.

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