Michael Bradley is getting close to a return from the knee injury he suffered at the Copa America Centenario, according to Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney.
The Toronto Sun’s Kurt Larson reported on Friday that Vanney said that Bradley, who suffered a knee sprain on June 25 while with the USMNT and hasn’t played an MLS match since May 21, could return in time for Toronto’s August 6 home game against New England.
Toronto will host Columbus Crew SC in the final Trillium Cup match of 2016 on Sunday (7:30 pm ET; SN360 in Canada, MLS LIVE in the US).
“It’s still his goal to be ready by late next week,” Toronto head coach Greg Vanney told reporters on Friday.
Bradley won’t feature, but TFC should have reigning Landon Donovan MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco available for Sunday’s match against Columbus. The star attacker played 30 minutes in the MLS All-Stars’ 2-1 loss to Arsenal on Thursday and missed training on Friday after returning to Toronto on a red-eye on Thursday night.
Giovinco scored a hat trick to power TFC to a 4-1 win against D.C. United on Sunday.
“There’s no questions [physically], he played all of 30 minutes, it’s more just the travel, having to go there and comeback,” Vanney said. “In terms of what he actually had to do physically it’s no problem, nothing more than a moderate training session, really. I thought he looked good though, so I’ll take that.”
