Anthony Robinson is still not at full strength as he returns to the US team for the first time in 11 months
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anthony Robinson still isn’t at full strength as he returns to the U.S. national team for the first time in 11 months.
28-year-old left-back Robinson underwent right knee surgery on May 27two days after the Premier League final for Fulham.
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“I’m still not back to 100 percent like I was a year ago, before the injury first happened. But it’s been slow getting there,” he said Wednesday, two days before the United States’ friendly match against Ecuador. “There was no specific conversation about how many minutes I would play on this trip, if any.”
In preparation for next year’s World Cup, the United States will also play Australia on Tuesday in Commerce City, Colorado.
Robinson has scored four goals in 50 international appearances, starting all four of the United States’ matches at the 2022 World Cup.
He started 35 of Fulham’s 38 Premier League matches last season, but was limited to three substitute appearances in the Cottagers’ first seven league matches this season. He came a long way in a League Cup match against fourth-tier Cambridge United on September 23.
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Robinson said that the injury occurred last October when the United States played two friendly matches against Panama and Mexico.
“I got a dead leg at the top of my knee, on the quadriceps tendon, which opened up the tendon a little bit and that bleeding led to calcification and other things, and I developed a little bit of tendinopathy in my knee,” he said.
“It was very painful from November onwards for the rest of the season and I was managing my load and trying to make sure I could play games and things like that,” he added. “And after seeing several specialists and surgeons, the decision was that I probably wouldn’t get through the other side of it unless I had surgery to remove the calcification that was in my tendon and kind of clean up the area.”
Robinson’s recovery took 11 to 12 weeks before he could resume full training.
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“I’m getting in there and doing everything I can on and off the field to make sure I can stay fit and get back to where I was,” Robinson said. “Obviously the coach knows I’m not 100% yet, but even if that’s the case he still sees me as a useful tool at some point.”
Fulham coach Marco Silva started Brian Sessegnon at left-back.
“Ces performed really well, so even when I get back to full fitness it will be difficult for me to get my place back in the team, so I will try to get my game as high as possible and be ready to be called upon when needed,” Robinson said.
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AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer