João Paulo will be ‘involved’ in CF Montreal match

RENTON – Following a week in which he came in and out of the full training sessions, João Paulo has been cleared to participate in the Seattle Sounders’ match against CF Montreal on Saturday.

“João is going to be involved in the game,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer declared following Friday’s training session. “The nature of the injury is something he’ll have to deal with for the remainder of the year. But we’ll modify the trainings and make sure we don’t overcook him in stretches where we have lots of games. But let’s just get him back on the field first and then we’ll talk about the rest of the games.”

The Brazilian midfielder missed the Sounders’ final preseason match and has not made an appearance in any of their first five regular-season matches due to what has been described as a “chronic” hip issue. Even this week, he was limited in the first couple days of training and was held out of most of Thursday’s session before fully participating in Friday’s session.

Schmetzer suggested that João Paulo will likely be brought back slowly and that some patience will be required.

“That part is hard, especially for fans expecting a lot,” Schmetzer said.

Other injuries

• The next injured player to return may end up being Léo Chú, who was originally expected to miss 3-5 weeks. It sounds like he could return on the early side of that, with Schmetzer suggesting that Chú may return to training as early as next week.
• Pedro de la Vega is now about four weeks into what was originally ruled as an absence that would likely last about 6-8 weeks. Schmetzer said Young Designated Player was “on pace” to return within that timeline and that there have been no setbacks during his recovery.
• Braudilio Rodrigues, who was signed from Tacoma Defiance in the offseason, might be the farthest out. Schmetzer said he is still 3-4 weeks from returning to training.