Julian Green hasn’t played in a competitive match in over one month, but now has a golden opportunity to help Greuther Furth achieve promotion back to the German Bundesliga,
Green is back and available for Furth ahead of Wednesday’s 2. Bundesliga trip to Regensburg. The club sits fourth in the league table, three points out of the second automatic promotion place with 10 matches left to play.
After starring for Stefan Leitl’s side for most of the season, Green has been forced to miss the last three matches after contracting COVID-19 in mid-February. Now after a long wait to get the green light for his coaching and medical staff, Green looks set to play a key role for the club starting tomorrow.
“He is really doing very well, we gradually increased the load and had another check-up on Monday at the university in Erlangen,” said Leitl in a press conference Monday. “We received positive feedback there. From a medical point of view, we are okay with him being available.”
“But it’s not that simple. Of course, the forms of play that we played in training were a little more difficult for him than usual. But overall he feels good.”
The 25-year-old Green has delivered his best season yet with Furth, scoring a career-high seven goals and adding two assists in 20 appearances. Not only has Green been able to deliver important offensive moments, but his overall work rate on both offense and defense has made him one of the most important players in Leitl’s squad.
Furth has posted a 1-1-1 record in Green’s absence, defeating third place Holstein Kiel while also picking up a point in a 2-2 draw with Hannover. A defeat to Bochum last weekend was Furth’s first in league play since January 8th, moving them five points back of the league leaders.
Green may not be set to play a full 90 minutes for Furth just yet, but his return to selection is a promising sign for him and the club going forward. A positive ending to the league season with promotion still in the cards could set Green up nicely for a possible return to the U.S. Men’s National Team fold ahead of a loaded 2021 schedule.
Furth takes on 13th place Regensburg on Wednesday before hosting 14th place Nuremberg this weekend.
This article explains exactly why Julian wasn’t called in! The man just came back from Covid, the club is going to work him back in the rotation slowly while also saying that he’s not ready to be a ’90 minute player yet…all of this makes sense and stands to reason why he didn’t get called up, plus he wouldn’t have been allowed to play in both games anyway bc of Covid protocols in Germany!