Busy month ideal for ample Sam-ple tests
Fullback Adekugbe almost ready to pitch in after a lengthy absence due to ankle injury
Sam Adekugbe hadn’t been in front of the cameras, microphones and digital recorders after a Whitecaps training session in quite a while.
So with the fullback finally ready to return to the lineup following an extended injury absence, there was some lighthearted primping going on this week as he prepared for the media scrum.
A quick swipe of his face with the front of his shirt to remove the trickling beads of sweat. Then some tugging of his hair by media relations man Nathan Vanstone to make sure the tight curls didn’t look too messy. And finally some ribbing about his growing thatch of black and whether he was avoiding the barber until he got back in the lineup.
“Yeah, I didn’t want my head to grow, so I decided to let my hair grow instead,” Adekugbe said jokingly.
He took it all in stride, flashing that big, toothy grin of his. Just the fact the media wanted to talk to him again was certainly a good sign.
The 20-year-old residency program graduate hasn’t played a Major League Soccer game since a run of seven starts in eight games ended on April 25 with a 2-1 home loss to D.C. United. Two-and-a-half weeks later, he severely sprained his right ankle early in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League.
“It’s been a while,” he said after Tuesday’s training session. “I was getting a run of games and just to get hit by such a big injury was obviously disappointing.
“I’m happy to be back. There’s games coming up and I’m hoping to get back into the team by training well.”
The plan is to get him 45 min- utes with WFC2 in a USL Pro game on Friday, the night before the Caps are in Seattle for a crucial MLS match. If things go well, Adekugbe could be the first team side next Wednesday when the Caps host the Sounders at BC Place Stadium in their first group stage game in CONCACAF Champions League.
Blessed with terrific pace, Adekugbe played well after replacing struggling veteran Jordan Harvey in the second game of the regular season. He jumped confidently into the attack down the left flank, making some good crosses into the box. He was also strong defensively.
But his play began to fall off a bit — the inconsistency of youth, claimed head coach Carl Robinson — and he was replaced by Harvey, who has returned to the form that has made him a consistent starter in Vancouver.
Still, with eight games in August over three competitions, the Caps will need Adekugbe to contribute.
“It’s just for me to get back into that zone where I’m match-fit, able to get that volume of fitness back,” the English-born Calgary product said. “Everyone’s going to get injured, so I’d rather it happen now instead of when I’m older and it’s harder to recover from.
“I’m feeling pretty confident in my injury now. I’ve gotten over it and it’s now just a matter of me getting more training. Hopefully, (a return to game action) is just around the corner.”
Interestingly, with Harvey out of the lineup last Sunday because of a red-card suspension, and Robinson perhaps not fully confident in Adekugbe’s fitness, second-year centre back Christian Dean stepped in at left fullback and had a strong game.
“Dean played really well on the weekend, Jordan’s been playing well ever since he got back in the lineup,” Adekugbe said. “It just makes you play harder and do things more positive and do things even better just to get myself back into the team.”
In addition to playing the CONCACAF Champions League game, Adekugbe figures to probably get starts Aug. 12 and 26 in the two-leg Amway Canadian Championship final against the Montreal Impact.
Rotating his lineup will be critical for Robinson, who knows that getting points out of the five MLS fixtures in August will be vitally important to ensuring the Caps finish high enough to host a home playoff game.
“If people who think we’re not putting our first team (into the Amway games), we’re still playing professional players,” said Adekugbe. “We don’t see any difference. It’s still a big game. It’s just a matter of all of us performing.”