SPORTS:FOOTBALL
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By Lester Smith, GFA's Technical Director
Inside Grenada contributor
October,2006

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- On Sept. 21, Shalrie Joseph suffered an injury to his right hand so severe that he was told were he to return to playing too soon, he ran the very real risk of losing the use of the limb forever. New England Revolution fans had good reason to fear that they had seen the last of the Grenadian midfielder in 2006.

Now, four weeks later and following surgery on the injury, Joseph is back in full training with his teammates and is in contention to feature against Chicago Fire in Sunday's Eastern Conference Semifinal Series first leg at Toyota Park.

"This is my second day and the first thing is just to get my sharpness back," said Joseph on Wednesday. "It feels good just to be playing again but I am a little out of shape and I think that it will take the next couple of days to get myself back to where I was."

Joseph has been present on the training field for much of the past two weeks, but has had his workouts restricted to fitness and agility drills at the side of the field. He said his general fitness has not suffered during his layoff but admits that, by not training properly and playing in games, his game fitness is still a little way off where it should be.

"That is the hardest thing to get. You can do as much as you want off the field but, once you get back out there, it's a different type of fitness you're going to need," Joseph said. "I need to work this week to try and earn back my spot."

It may sound surprising that Joseph, the Revolution's Most Valuable Player last year, is not certain of a starting position as soon as he returns to fitness, but that is the case, following a run by his teammates that has seen the Revs end the regular season with a seven-game unbeaten stretch.

Among the men who have stepped up their own games to help achieve New England's second place finish in the East have been Joseph's replacements in central midfield. Before he suffered the injury, in the only previous game the 28-year-old missed this season (through suspension), the Revs were beaten 3-0 in Columbus.

That small sampling sent panic signals through many Revolution fans, who worried about the playoff chances of a Joseph-less side. However, since then, the form of Andy Dorman and Jeff Larentowicz in particular has been so good, that now there are no guarantees that Joseph will walk straight back into the starting 11 -- something he is only too aware of himself.

"I know that, to earn my spot back, I have to come in this week and work hard to show the coaches that I can still do it if they need me," said Joseph. "We have been doing great in the last seven games and I know it will be hard to change a winning lineup."

In Wednesday's training session, Joseph had his injured hand in a protective brace and he admits that he has noticed the difference the strapping has made. However, when it is time to return to competitive action, he is confident that it will not affect his game and is determined to make sure that is not the case.

"I've got a lot of protection it right now and it is kind of heavy. Right now, my safety comes first and everybody knows that," he said. "This weekend, we will try something else. I have had a little bang on it and I've fallen too and there was no problem. I got that yesterday when I ran into somebody.

"It definitely is going to hinder me a little bit because I am a very physical player and I just need to be aware of where my hands are at all times. I'm not going to worry about it but once you get on the field it's going to be a battle. There is a lot on line with the playoffs and I just have to be myself."

As well as Joseph's return, Revolution coach Steve Nicol has also seen Daniel Hernandez come back to playing action following ankle surgery, as well as Pat Noonan, who is back in training following sports hernia surgery. With so many options open to him, the Revolution coach admits that he has a problem when it comes to team selection, though that is not necessarily a bad thing.

"We've got a problem," said Nicol. "We've only got 11 spots so a couple of players are going to be disappointed. For the first time this season, I can almost say that we have got everybody to choose from.

"We are just a wee bit short of that; Noonan is not 100 percent, Danny has been out for a long time and Shalrie is not 100 percent. We're in a decent spot and, hopefully, in the next week or two, we can get everybody at 100 percent. I might have a problem at the moment but I'll certainly have a bigger one then."