CARSON, Calif. – Nothing's certain, so nobody's getting too giddy yet, but it looks like the LA Galaxy might have Robbie Keane available for the first time in nearly seven weeks Friday.
The Irish striker, last year's MLS MVP, has trained fully the past two days and says the decision on whether he'll make the 18-man game roster for the clash with the Houston Dynamo at StubHub Center (10:30 pm ET, UDN, UnivisionDeportes.com) – and get a few minutes on the field – will be determined by how he feels Thursday and Friday.
“[I feel] very good. Look forward to getting back,” Keane said following Wednesday's training session at StubHub Center. “It was nice to be back here the last few days, back in practice with the lads. ... We'll have to see, just make sure the next couple of days are fine, and if it is, we'll certainly look for minutes on Friday.”
Keane has been out with a groin injury he sustained in the April 4 loss at Vancouver and aggravated when he tried to return about three weeks later, and he's missed LA's last seven games.
He can't wait to get onto the field in a real game again.
“Very bad,” he said when asked how much he was itching to return. “I think you know me well enough to know I'm not going to enjoy weekends off. I prefer to be playing.”
Keane found he needed as much time to heal after aggravating his injury as he'd needed when he was initially hurt. He's not worried about harming it further.
“It's a lot stronger than it was the first time,” he said. “I have no worries at the moment.”
The Galaxy (3-4-5) are starting to get healthy following an injury crisis that has deprived them of 13 players, most of them vital contributors, at some point during the first two and a half months of the campaign, and that will go a long way toward improving what has been substandard form.
They are 2-2-3 without Keane after suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time since June 2013. They also lost their final playoff game of 2013 and their opener in 2014, both against Real Salt Lake.
Jose Villarreal, who saw time in Sunday's 4-0 loss at Orlando City and in a Galaxy II match a few days earlier after dealing with a hamstring strain, could be back in the starting lineup, and forward Edson Buddle (calf) and midfielder Kenney Walker (groin) could return to the 18.
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Center back Omar Gonzalez, who was on the bench but did not play at Orlando because of a reported issue with his knee, has fully trained and is “feeling good, and I'm good for Friday."
Gonzalez wouldn't confirm that his knee was the problem, only that he was “just worried about some things” and that skipping the game was “just precaution.”
“If it was late in the season, if it was a playoff game, no doubt about it, I would have played,” he said Wednesday. “But it was just an early-in-the-season game, and I wanted to stay safe.”
Robbie Rogers ran some on Wednesday but is still dealing with Achilles' soreness – an “overuse” injury, he said – and head coach Bruce Arena said his No. 1 left back would “probably not” be available. Todd Dunivant, also a left back, hasn't trained this week and is “not back yet,” Arena said.
Defender A.J. DeLaGarza appears uncertain after missing training Tuesday and Wednesday. He's been playing with a foot injury that has bothered him since preseason.
