Photo by ISIphotos.com
Oguchi Onyewu took to the practice field Thursday and trained for the first time since being sidelined with a ruptured patellar tendon in the U.S. men's national team's World Cup qualifier vs. Costa Rica last October.
Onyewu took part in 30 minutes of light training with the U.S. national team, which is preparing for Wednesday's friendly vs. El Salvador in Tampa. He is expected to train with the team on Friday before the national team leaves Carson, California for Tampa.
Onyewu underwent surgery to repair the ruptured tendon just four months ago, and is expected to rejoin club team AC Milan by the end of the month.
Here are some other stories to get your Friday going:
LIVERPOOL, FULHAM WIN IN EUROPA
English clubs finished a perfect 3-0 in the first leg of Europa League Round of 32 after Liverpool and Fulham followed up Everton's win on Tuesday with victories of their own.
Liverpool needed an 81st-minute game-winner from David Ngog to post a 1-0 victory at Anfield in the first leg of its Europa two-leg series vs. Unirea Urziceni.
Fulham also needed a second-half game-winner, with Bobby Zamora blasting home a 63rd-minute winner in the Cottagers' 2-1 victory against defending Europa League champion Shakhtar Donetsk at Craven Cottage. Fulham will travel to the Ukraine for the second leg next week.
Here are the other Europa League results from Thursday:
Rubin Kazan 3, Hapoel Tel Aviv 0
Villarreal 2, VfL Wolfsburg 2
FC Twente 1, Werder Bremen 0
Standard Liege 3, Red Bull Salzburg 2
Lille 2, Fenerbahce 1
Ajax 1, Juventus 2
Club Brugge 1, Valencia 0
Hertha Berlin 1, Benfica 1
Hamburg 1, PSV Eindhoven 0
Athletic Bilbao 1, Anderlecht 1
Atletico Madrid 1, Galatasaray 1
FC Copenhagen 1, Marseille 3
Panathinaikos 3, Roma 2
ESTUDIANTES ROCKED IN LIBERTADORES
Defending Copa Libertadores Estudiantes were mauled by Peruvian side Alianza Lima, 4-1, in Peru on Thursday night. Wilmer Aguirre's first-half hat-trick was enough to dispose of Juan Veron's squad. American Michael Hoyos did not dress for Estudiantes.
Universidad de Chile won Thursday's other Copa Libertadores match, riding a Juan Manuel Oliveira penalty kick to a 1-0 victory against Venezuelan side Caracas FC.
BELLAMY'S CITY FUTURE IN DOUBT
Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy could be on the way out of the blue side of Manchester after a reported clash with manager Roberto Mancini. The fiery Welshman apparently didn't like Mancini's rigorous training methods and refused a training assignment, which led the Italian manager to kick Bellamy out.
NEWS & NOTES
Women's Professional Soccer released its 2010 schedule (opener is April 10 between Washington Freedom and Boston Breakers in Maryland.)
D.C. United waived goalkeeper Milos Kocic (at least in part because of prospect Bill Hamid's stellar pre-season).
Former Real Salt Lake defender Ian Joy signed with the Portland Timbers.
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What do you think of these developments? Surprised to see Onyewu training already? Surprised by Liverpool's struggle?
Share your thoughts below.